Guess Ya'll Finally Learned Today

It kills me when certain shall I say, "mainstream" folks  wants to cry foul when someone calls them offensive and/or racist. They want to run around and talk about their Black or Latino BFF or their trip to Africa. But in their heart of hearts, many of them still view us (minorities) as others.  We will always be people unlike them; less human. To too many of them we are simply people to be made fun of; the brunt of their jokes. Now, I'm in no way condoning these terrorist threats or saying that hacking personal and private information is fine or appropriate. (Also Ms. Angelina please sit down with this I want to play Cleopatra bullshit. First and foremost you are WHITE AS SNOW (but I guess that didn't stop Ridley Scott and his trashy ass Exodus: Gods and Kings). But secondly, ma'am you can BARELY act on a good day. I enjoyed Maleficent but that's probably because I'm a six year old child at heart.

What baffles me is the fact that The Interview  got green lit in the first place. Literally MILLIONS of dollars went into this ridiculous ass film which would have probably bombed anyway, Meanwhile, Ride Along (which wasn't particularity good but still) made $134,938,200. And they were only trying to pay Kevin Hart $3 million dollars (which is pennies if you know anything about studio films and the amount of money that they typically pay leading men.)

I think that the first amendment should be taking extremely serious, I am able to say what I want and do as I please on this platform because of it.  But there is one thing that I do know, something that I think many minorities know in this country, something that those with white privilege can't seem to grasp is that all words, actions and reactions have consequences. You can not just open your mouth and say whatever you want thinking someone is going to respond favorably. Just like Black and people know we can't walk down the street an expect the police to treat us like human beings.  Just like women can't walk down the street and expect to be left alone. (SMH).

I disagree with President Obama here completely. Why would Sony release the film?  They're losing all the money on earth right now, why continue to bleed out? They are already completely humiliated and exposed why continue the circus. I'm even more exasperated I think at the fact that trash like this can be made and fantastic talented people with great scripts fantastic acting skills can;t even get a break.

I would say that the only way for people to see how absurd the film was is if the tables were turned, but we all know that Sony and Amy Pascal thinks that POTUS is simply a chicken eating, Friday watching coon. Some of the biggest bullies I've ever met have worked in the film and television industry. Likewise, though I love this country despite its numerous numerous faults America has continued to be one of the biggest bullies globally.  It's always been a game of whose dick is bigger. I guess we've all learned today that North Korea had the bigger dick, but not only that, they also have us by our balls. Like I said previously, feel free to do whatever you please, just don't be alarmed when someone lays your shit bare. Don't continue to create storms and expect it not to rain.

xoxoxo Chocolate Girl in the City xoxoxox

 

PS. In an ironic twist of fate, Sony has hired scandal crisis expert Judy Smith. (Olivia Pope is based off of Ms. Smith.)

PPS: Did y'all know they even came for Denzel?!!!!

 

 

“Hey Black Girl" Part II: Thoughts on the "Dark Girls" Documentary

In my previous post I discussed my personal experiences growing up with very dark skin so now I want to get into the actual Dark Girls documentary.  In spite of my irritation with the trailer two years ago, I really enjoyed the film itself. It was very well done and I’m actually horrified that it took so long to be distributed to the public. I found that the experiences were enlightening, and the directors were sure to gain insight from a vast number of people.  Everyone from  white men who dated darker skinned women to Black people globally whose cultures were riddled with their own issues concerning skin color (skin bleaching and the like) put in their two cents. I think what stood out to me the most in the film were two things.  One was how the disdain for dark skin was passed down from generation to generation. And secondly as always  was the opinion of Black men concerning darker skinned Black women.

I’ll address dark skin as its perceived throughout the generations in the  Black American community first.  I think that what we teach our children has the most profound impact on who they are as people. I believe that because my parents instilled in me that I was beautiful no matter what did a great service for me as an individual. If we as a people continue to hate ourselves, and our children pick up on it then of course this problem will continue to fester into the next generation and the next.

 I’ve written before that the ignorance that permeates in our community is a large part of what continues to ail us. (This can be seen when we consider education, sexual health, sexual preference, health in general and so forth). It's something that we have to unlearn so that we do not continue to foster it.)  I think once we begin to consider things that make a person great despite their physical appearance then we will begin to move forward. In the documentary, there was the cutest little chocolate girl talking her skin with her mother.  I honestly found myself rather irritated the entire time. The mother, was a lighter brown woman who essentially said that before she had her daughter she never considered the plight of darker skinned women. I can’t fault her for that, but what I can fault her for was the fact that during the duration of the documentary her daughter barely looked into the camera. She at the age of seven or eight was already ashamed of her appearance. I don’t care what anyone says, that’s not something that just learned from the outside world. That's something you pick up at home before you interact with others. The older generation and those who are having kids especially, need to unlearn their own prejudices and ignorance.

Now on to addressing Black men. Actually, I won’t address Black men, instead I’ll address Black women of all colors, sizes and so forth. I’ll specifically address myself because I’m also guilty. We as women, need to STOP allowing men to define our beauty and how we feel about ourselves. Its really that simple. Once we begin to do that a lot of these fuck boyz (definition from Crissle )will no longer be a factor in our lives. Its really disturbing that as women we have allowed them to define who we should be, how we should look and so forth when quite frankly a vast majority of them are no where near up to par. (Now that was a partial read to Black men I realize that not all of you fall into this category so I choose to address those of you who are).  As I’ve repeatedly said, your preference is your preference but do not shame or look down upon Black women who do not fit into whatever standard that you’ve molded for the woman that you want to be with. Ok that was my read. LOL

So anyway, the Dark Girls documentary was well done. Honestly its nothing that many of us “dark girls” haven’t thought of or considered before but its something that I believe everyone should see. In order to see any change we must first change our behavior as a people.

Xoxox Chocolate  Girl  in the City xoxoxoxo

Ps. If you are not subscribed to Kid Fury and Crissle's podcast The Read. You haven't lived. I recommend listening at the gym. You'll get the best work out of your life.

http://sofurious.com/category/the-read/

My Thoughts on the "Dark Girls" Trailer

So, I don't know if you've heard, but there has been a lot of buzz surrounding this upcoming documentary by Bill Duke and D. Chassin Berry entitled Dark Girls. Watch the Trailer As one of the darker black women that I know I feel like I have some authority on the topic. Let me start off by saying, I understand what they were trying to do when they made this documentary and I also understand that these are only a few clips from a much larger film. So let me get into how I feel so far, I really really wanted to like this trailer and feel inspired by it, I really did. Instead I feel upset and somewhat insulted by what I saw.  During my childhood, I will go ahead and say it, one of the biggest insults that got thrown my way related to the how dark my skin was. From what I can remember it was mostly about how dark my hands and feet were compared to my classmates and other kids. I think being called a "burnt duck" because I was also rather thin and had glasses is probably the biggest insult that I can recall.  Because of incidents like this, I can say that I have had the experience of others trying to make me feel bad about myself, because of their own personal ignorance and hang ups. However, as the women began to talk about how their parents (their mother's especially) also felt that their dark skin was somehow inadequate or unclean I began to lose interest. (Some people should never have kids). I realize that many of these thoughts and feelings have been historically ingrained into the Black community and the result is a rather large chunk of color struck Black people. However, one thing that my wonderful parents ingrained in me was how beautiful I was as a person inside and out and how beautiful my skin was as well. I suppose I never personally had a problem with my own skin color, instead it also seemed to bother other people. I remember once in about seventh grade, a boy asked my why I always wore so many bright colors when I was so dark. ( If you know me you know that I love my bright ass colors.) I suppose that comment made me feel some type of way because  I began to wear only dark colors for the remainder of the year until I stopped and considered things for myself. I came to the conclusion that I loved color so I was going to wear it and I felt silly for letting someones rude comment influence me.  When it comes to dating Black men (which I must say are the only men I have yet to date), I am mostly approached with lines that have to do with the color of my skin. My personal favorite was "Aren't you afriad all that chocolate is going to melt in the sun?" Sometimes fools even just shout CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE!!! at me as I go down the street.  I can go ahead and say that I suppose it is and exotic attraction for some men which is cool. (Its that same thing when men like multiracial ambiguous looking women.)  However, others are just creepy as hell and have a dark skin fetish (which trust me is GROSS). It seems to me though that most me are just attracted to women in general and have no regard or preference for skin color etc :). Others may just simply have a preference for lighter skin women which is also cool because  if he's not looking at me then I'm certainly not looking at him. Instead of just stating this fact, the film directors had to show a clip of this ignorant buffoon saying that dark skin girls look funny besides him, and he likes light skin girls with long hair don't care. To which I would have politely responded "Negro please, you have on a five-doller hoodie from the beauty supply store", but that's neither here nor there. He could've just said he preferred lighter women. What his fool ass failed to realize is that beauty does not come in a certain shade or with a certain hair length or texture, there are plenty of unattractive and attractive people in all categories.   For example once, this fool at my school who is right about my skin tone grinned up in my face and told me that I was, "the most beautiful dark skin girl he had ever seen." Apparently he expected me to somehow be grateful and happy that he'd looked my way. Instead, I gave him my signature side eye and look of disgust and I promptly walked away.  In the Dark Girls trailer the women go on to say that though men might approach them it was always on some sort of down low type of thing. This is the part where I was most insulted and annoyed. I feel that it is each individual person's responsibility to build up some adequete self worth and self esteem for themselves. One woman talked about how some dude she talked to, would only meet her after school and around the corner and how she was never in public with him. Personally, I feel like thats what you chose to accept and with any woman if you allow a man to treat you any type of way, then he will. So in that I'm sorry I cannot understand why they would allow themselves to be treated any less then they are worth. I do realize that self- esteem is also an uphill battle for most ( I had my own struggles in puberty and even at times in high school) but, we are all human beings here so being treated like one is the first step. (Also poor self- esteem is never attractive). The trailer goes on to discuss how the subject of hair length and even texture is also a subject that can be talked about when discussing skin color. Like I discussed in my previous blog Hair my own hair was always somwhat of a sore subject with me and it is something that I have to personally work on. However, hair length has nothing to do with the color of your skin, many Black women simply do not take care of their hair properly and the constant manipulation into different styles is also harmful at times. All of the really long haired Black women that I peronally know have actually brown to dark-brown skin.  The trailer then went on to show this ignorant broad who was absolutely ridiculous.com saying that "natural hair looks unclean." I'm not even going to waste my time being annoyed, I shall simply blame her lack of education and not comment any further. The trailer ended with a woman discussing racism among members of the Black commmunity which I agree is a big problem.  Admitly, we like to hate on one another and that becomes problematic when our children are still picking the white doll from the Brown v. Board experiment sixty-plus years later because they feel that white or lighter skin is better. Once we as a people stop buying into that foolishness then other poeple will too. I also wholehardly disagree with the woman who says that we in the Black community have no tangible connection to one another. If you are Black and you don't claim it  then that seems like a personal issue to me. However, the rest of us can watch Black films and television shows and even comedy specials and at once have an intimate understanding of the content and subjects because of our collective memory and experiences. (Secretly, when I'm lonely for Black people at school (which is about 3% Black) I watch episodes of Soul Food the series).  Like I've said everyone has their prefereces and there is nothing wrong with that, but as a beautiful dark skin black woman with some decent self- esteem I'm not going to pretend that I have problems getting men or that I somehow feel less than because of my skin tone.  (If dark skin Black men are seen as some of the most beautiful people in the world, then their feminine counterpart should be right there with them.) If you want to buy into the fact that its harder because you are darker then by all means go ahead and sit at home alone, or let men treat you any type of way. The only person that you are hurting is yourself.  I really hope that the documentary is much more well rounded and less sefl-deprecating then the trailer because thus far, it seems like a pity party that I will not be attending.  Anyway as my mama use to say, "Good Black Don't Crack". Watch the trailer and let me know what you think. xoxoxox Chocolate Girl In the City

Love Jones

Basically my favorite movie of all time. As a Cinema Studies student I study films and television and trust me when i say there are some films that if i never saw them again for the rest of my life it would be entirely too soon. SMH i mean seriously have you ever had to stare at the same image from an hour as the camera slowly panned out. LOL Im not spending a ridiculous amount of money at NYU to fall asleep in class. Anyways back to the best movie of all time. I literally could watch this movie every single day and never grow tired of it. This may sound pathetic but I will go ahead and admit that I spent this past Valentines Day alone in my NYU dorm chowing down on Mexican Food and watching the film for the millionth time. It was a fabulous time. Anywhoo if you're interested and I hope that you are peep the review below and then if you haven't seen it NETFLIX that bad boy ASAP:

Love Jones

In describing her experience with Black Cinema, Black female filmmaker Julie Dash (Daughters of the Dusk) said, “…some people assume that because they’ve never seen or heard of something then no one has…it doesn’t exist.” It seems to me that according to Hollywood, Black people don’t even like one another, which means there is certainly no room for love and romance between them. What is so brilliant about Theodore Witcher’s first and only film is the authenticity that he brings to the screen regarding the lives of urban young Black people; an authenticity almost never seen in Hollywood. According to the scholar Amiri Baraka, “Witcher apparently wants us to recognize these verbal exchanges and their accompanying bodily attitudes with a contemporary performance–oriented African American culture.”

Using black and white photographs of Chicago’s still very racially segregated South Side, Love Jones opens, immediately thrusting the viewer into the urban space of Black Chicago in the 1990’s. Darius Lovehall (Larenz Tate) meets Nina Mosley (Nia Long) in a neo-soul poetry café. Neither individual is too much focused on their love life; their careers seem to be at the forefront of their consciousness. But alas, we humans typically succumb to the desires of the flesh. Initially, their relationship is not really a “love thang”, though the sex is good; Nina and Darius realize their connection is a bit more than causal.

What I find most interesting about the film is that initially, Witcher allows his characters to step out of their traditional gendered roles. Nina approaches Darius outside of the poetry café on the night that they first meet. Despite the fact that he is with a group of his mostly male friends, she boldly checks him out, giving him the once over, typically reserved for the male gaze. Darius on the other hand, though masculine in his assertiveness, is also depicted as extremely sensitive. On their first date, he’s attentive and caring to Nina, even cooking her a cheese omelet the next morning. However, as their relationship continues, the couple reverts back to their traditional gender roles, which makes for the main conflict and tension in the film. Witcher has enough confidence in his material and in his audience to allow us to watch the relationship deteriorate, moving from the new and exciting to the mundane and emotionally unbearable.

The only major issue that I have with the film is that during a hiatus with Darius, Nina goes out with his homeboy Hollywood. Really?! Witcher loses me for a moment here. Nina reacts as if she does not realize Wood has a sexual interest in her and she’s simply being led to believe that they are just “chillin”. Witcher in this instance strips Nina of any redeeming qualities that I so related to, she’s suddenly pathetic and ridiculous seeking any male attention that comes her way. Nina is not even framed as if she were trying to get revenge on Darius, which would have made the most sense to me.

Otherwise, the film is near perfection, Lisa Nicole Carson (Ally McBeal), Isaiah Washington (Grey’s Anatomy) and Bill Bellamy (How To Be A Player) add brilliant humor and dialogue. Larenz Tate (Menace II Society) is at the peak of his career and Nia Long (Soul Food) is stunning and wonderful as always. The Chicago backdrop versus the typical New York or California one is also a refreshing and welcomed change. The steamy sex scene alone, with Maxwell crooning in the background, makes my lower regions tingle, and makes the film worthwhile in itself. Love Jones may never be a place you’ve ever been, but it will not leave you disappointed.

Physics this shit ain’t. Love…passion doesn’t make sense. It just is.

Citations

George Alexander, Why We Make Movies: Black Filmmakers Talk About the Magic of Cinema (New York: Broadway Books, 2003), 237.

Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. “Muzing New Hoods, Making New Identities: Film, Hip-Hop Culture, and Jazz Music” Callaloo, Vol. 25, No. 1(2002): 318