MAKES ME WANNA HOLLA!

In case you didn't hear about this story (seeing that it failed to make national media), I decided to donate Friday to my sister Mildred Beauburn. Like many of us, Mildred was coming back from a night out with the girls when she and her friends decided to stop at a gas station to fill-up and get drinks. Several men in an SUV pulled up beside the ladies and attempted to get their phone numbers. Disinterested, the women drove off only to be followed by the men. The situation turned violent and ended with one of the men shooting at the car, hitting 18 year old Mildred Beauburn in the back. Right now, this young woman is in the hospital holding on for dear life and these two men are roaming the streets of Orlando.

This story did not make national news and we all know why; class, race, gender??? However, I will not dismiss the importance of what happened to this young woman! Mildred is a victim of senseless violence and it disgusts me to think that these men felt that they had a right to take out their anger in such a horrifying and malicious manner. As they hide in the streets of Orlando, I hope that they succumb to paranoia and guilt. I pray that they see her image sprawled across the nightly news and feel some sense of pain because their actions have not just affected Mildred, but everyone who reads this story and everyone intimately connected to this young woman's life.

Sadly, this incident was nothing more than a pathetic attempt to quell the hurt feelings of a bruised male ego. It is completely tied into the systemic pattern of violence affecting our communities throughout the US and abroad and it should make all of us feel like SCREAMING! Not out of fear but ANGER, anger that Mildred's story is not on CNN, anger that our Black brothers are capable of doing this to us, and anger because we are so sick and tired of being VICTIMIZED IN OUR OWN COMMUNITIES! I hope that you all think a little harder about your own safety and begin to see situations like this as more reason to ACT against all forms of violence, both in your personal and private lives, by getting involved in efforts geared towards preventing such horrendous acts!

Link to the article: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-mildred2308may23,0,4112884.story

Link to anti-violence coalitions: http://www.feminist.com/antiviolence/online.html

Peace -

Jamila

The Revolution Will be Televised...or at least Blogged!

I could not resist adding another post today! There is so much work being done to redefine ideas about the Black body and female identity that I would be ignoring how far we have come if I just talked about the NYT piece. The bottom line is that every post on this blog is a call to action and a call to awareness. I wanted to create this forum so that we (women) could have a positive outlet and a non-threatening space to discuss our issues and to highlight the work that women all over the world are doing in the conscious effort to redefine gender stereotypes and negative assumptions about who we are as a collective group.

Ingrid Mwangi, artist/activist, is at the forefront of this reconceptualization effort! Check out her work below. I also encourage all of you to browse the International Museum of Women's website http://www.imow.org/ for more great art! TAKE THAT TYRA!

Peace -

Jamila

Many contemporary women artists use their body to make a political statement. Artist Ingrid Mwangi is one of them, creating work that is innovative, visually striking and often shocking. She spent the first 15 years of her life in Kenya and has been living in Germany ever since. Through photography, performance, sound, installation and video, she's created a "body of work" that questions both social and political conventions. Mwangi writes: My body is the only thing that I own... I react, interpret and question the clichés and stereotypes with which I am faced... I use art to awaken consciences.

Stop Being That Girl!

I just love when media giants like the New York Times blatantly reinforce stereotypical notions of the Black female body. Honestly, just when I started to think that we (Americans) were moving away from our whole obsession with the over-sexualized, ever risqué Black Woman prototype, images like this show up on the front cover of a well respected, globally distributed media outlet. Now do not get me wrong, I would never trade places with my White sisters! I mean, the thought of being bombarded with anorexic, no fried food eating depictions of the perfect White female body is a fate far worse than the big booty/big hip depictions I am forced to accept!

I guess what disturbs me most about this New York Times cover is that the article is an attempt at comparing the success of Tyra Banks with the likes of Martha Stewart and Oprah. I mean seriously, this is suppose to be an editorial piece that delves into the fact that Tyra Banks might potentially be growing into a media mogul and as such is entering the well-respected realm of her counterparts Oprah and Martha Stewart!

So how in the world am I suppose to begin to see Tyra as something more than a Victoria Secret model when her body has been morphed to resemble a Beyonce doll and her hair is reminiscent of some over exaggerated 1960’s beehive? I don’t get it Tyra! I know you approved this photo, I know you worked with the NYT photographer to develop an artistic theme, I even know that you are still pissed about the National Inquirer photos of you in the swimsuit, but COME ON!

I guess, deep down inside, I wanted you to recognize the importance of this opportunity. This milestone in your career because honestly, how many people get a chance to grace the cover of the New York Times? You did Tyra, and in this very important public moment, I didn’t see you as the next Martha/Oprah icon. In fact, I saw just how far removed you were from both of these phenomenal women.

I feel pretty confident that neither Oprah nor Martha would ever allow a magazine to produce an image of them in this way and I guess that’s one of the reasons they have made it so far. Ladies, lets use every opportunity to break away from stereotypes and stop surrendering to what they say we should be!

Peace –
Jamila