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Originally Posted by naughty  I have a question. In the past month, I have twice shown avatar's of black women in slave garb. I have expressed my feelings about certain words related to my own ethnicity. I have never in my life received more comments from people outside my own ethnicity about it than here. Explain to me what it is about seeing me in slave garb or showing a picture of a black woman in slave garb that so upsets the nerves here? If I as a black woman chose to put this up as my avatar , who is to tell me how I interpret my ethnicity? I am not in any way making fun of servitude or being black. What is the issue here? Are you reading things into my avatars that are not there? Who is to tell me what is offensive about interpreting my own culture? There is no self hate here. I celebrate the men and women who lived this life and died in silence. If this offends you what does it say about you and how you see the world? Please comment.... |
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Originally Posted by vinny_spiruccino Uh oh, here I go...
Pocahontas is one of the most well know figures in American folklore, and is mostly heralded as the Native American who saved the white man... at the expense of her own people. Nonetheless she had a strong diplomatic skill set even when she was considered "savage" and dressed in native clothing, long before she was civilized and became a Christian wearing European clothing.
Now follow me... "Mammy" & "Prissy" from GWTW, Aunt Jemimah, you know the stereotypical slave woman as prtrayed in Naughty's avatar - though they were technically wearing European clothing, they managed to arrange it in distictively African style - headwraps and all. Though their own culture had been denied them, they managed to subtly maintain their identity and THAT is a beautiful thing. Though facing brutal oppression, they survived and so did remnants of their culture. In the scraps they were given as clothing, they distinguished themselves as individuals. Likewise in the food, the LANGUAGE, the church service ritual... they rejected the white classification of them as non-persons, embraced their humanity, and celebrated their culture.
I've posted before about my experiences growing up in the Black Church, and to this very day on any given Sunday you may not see slave-era clothes, but you'll still see remnants - bright clothes, rhyme-stones (sorry Naughty; couldn't resist) and big flying saucer hats, tipped over to the side taking the place of the traditional head wrap... |
Now here I go. My wife sitting across the table from me hearing me read this thread had this to say to Vinny's very on point post:
"I see it as more of a sign of their strength. To have to survive under those circumstances and still maintain their culture. They should be celebrated."
Naughty, you and I have had this chat. I am black and proud (No need to shamelessly out me Arliss
). My Aunt collected the slave-ploitation stuff. Growing up we saw it all... Aunt Jemimah, Uncle Tom, Brer Rabbit (VERY much slave related), etc. When asked why she collected all that she would tell us this:
This is our strength as a people. Those who tried to strip us of our ancestry and culture, failed and these are the signs of how they failed. Yes, these are images the white man has of us back then, but look at Aunt Jemimah? Women did dress that way and they dressed to show their indiviuality. This is also a reminder of where we once were and where we have gotten to through years of bettering ourselves under adverse situations.
As Vinny said, they Africanized it.
Anytime this issue comes up, I think about Jimmy the Greek.
Most members here won't rememberhim, but he was the top sports statistician in the 60' and 70's and worked for CBS Sports. One day he was having lunch with a reporter and having an "off the record" chat. Came the first question:
Why are there no black managers in major league sports?
Answer:
"Because nobody wants them there."
Next Question:
Why are there so many black athletes then?
And the answer that started a firestorm:
"Because they are built for it. They have leg muscles that are powerful and go up into their backs. It goes back to slavery. Master would get a big black man and mate him with a big black woman and get a big black baby that was strong and fast."
Suddenly, it was all over the media and oddly enough, more white people were offended by this than black people. The black people who got offended were more the younger, more militant crowd, but I remember thinking:
"He didn't say that is what he believes, he just told the truth about what the mindset was about us during slavery."
Our ancestors were seen as livestock. We weren't people in the eyes of the typical slave owner. Hence why Aunt Jemimah, Mammy, Prissy, etc. are such historical icons. They maintained their humanity and in doing so a good amount of their dignity as people.
Our family is a rainbow coalition (I'm black, wife is white, two stepsons that are white, an adopted son who is white [I adopted my youngest stepson], and a gorgeous daughter who is multi-racial). They have all been taught that I laugh at the stereotypes, do not use the "N" word, and pretty much laugh at those who try to pidgeon hole me through race. they are taught to truly combat racism, you have to learn to laugh at the stereotypes. In doing so, you take the wind out of the racist's sails. Racism is about anger and if you laugh at these idiots, you've already won.
Sorry to go on so.
Naughty? I love your avatars and I'm honored to know such a gracious, warm, and educated black woman such as yourself.
