Thoughts? Terri is young and stupid. Milan shouldn’t have hit Terri first and for THAT should have gone home.

Brandon is feelin himself too much, and should have realized EARLY that Terri was catching too many feelings. I think he owed her an explanation.

Kyle is insecure. Those who yell the loudest usually are.

Chris makes me dizzy. Why can’t he talk without shaking his head? Half of the time he maks NO SENSE. I get the feeling he is a little jealous of Brandon too. And I think he felt more positively about Brandon than Brandon did about him (at first). In the first episode Brandon insinuated that Chris was no competition. Hmmm????

Papa, can you hear me???

After three seasons of coonery Flava Flav has found his true love and decided that the exploitation of Black women ends with the birth of his not-so-Black son. Oh, sweet sweet irony. For you see, this is Flav’s SEVENTH (lucky I guess) child.

The previous six have been featured on both Strange Love, Flavor of Love, and Flava Flav’s Vh1 roast. I remember a particular episode of Strange Love in which Flav explodes on his family in a very harsh and childish manner for making his vanilla pie Brigitte uncomfortable. The second time they were featured of FOL, basically screening Flav’s hos for traces of womanhood. Lastly, Flav stood by while his children cried from shame and hurt during his roast. Particularly when jokes were made about his dark complexion.

So Flav has no problem exploiting his children, exploiting women (particularly Black women), and allowing himself to be degraded and humiliated in front of his children for money…but Sister 2 Sister Magazine has this fool on the cover like he’s Bill muthuggin’ Cosby???? Kneegrows, Puhlease. They just reminded my ass why I DO NOT subscribe.

And is it just me or has Vh1 produced more blaxploitation in the last 5 years than the entire decade of the 70′s. Damn, where the hell is Florence Evans when you need her?

I’m not even gonna go into the REAL reason why I think he’s as proud as pimp on pay day. But you can tell me what YOU think. Thoughts????

]]> http://izzyinthecity.wordpress.com/2008/08/01/flava-flav-is-father-of-the-year/feed/ 0 IzzyInTheCity http://izzyinthecity.wordpress.com/2008/07/30/response-to-when-is-black-black/ http://izzyinthecity.wordpress.com/2008/07/30/response-to-when-is-black-black/#comments Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:45:55 +0000 izzyinthecity http://izzyinthecity.wordpress.com/?p=69 ]]>

So I read this article posted on Racialicious, but originally posted on The Black Snob. Basically, the article takes issue with the debate surrounding on Soledad O’Brien’s Blackness. Racialicious is heavily moderated. I suppose I kinda look at Racialicious as the Diet Pepsi of racial discussions, so I wasn’t totally surprised when my response to this Danielle Belton’s article was “denied”. I initially considered editing my post to their satisfaction, but I just couldn’t. Well, I have a blog (albeit somewhat neglected). so why not publish my opinion anyway??? Here are my thoughts on the article:

The anxiety that Soledad represents is a valid one IMO. Biracialism is a farce, and as long as we give merit to the idea that a HUMAN comes from two races, we encourage it. It is no more accurate than the concept of race to begin with, and yet in this era of “progress”, now more than ever we embrace archaic ideas of what race truly is. You refer to Soledad as multiethnic. But MOST Americans are of multiethnic origins. If you’re Russian/Irish or Nigerian/Ghanaian, you’re multiethnic. For some reason the word “multi-ethnic” has become synonymous with multiracial. That simplifies the complexity of human genetics to simply Black White or Asian. It’s more complicated than that.

To me, biracialism IS racial opportunism. Race isn’t about biology. It isn’t about genetics. It isn’t about ethnicity. It is to a degree about what you look like. But it’s MAINLY about RESOURCES. From the days in which being black meant free labor, to THESE days where being black means shotty health care, bad schools, and missed taxis. It is simply a way to look at a person and gage their societal value, and what they’re worthy of. That simple.

In the case of Soledad, Black people have a right to view her with a healthy dose of suspicion. We live in a White supremest society that has historically (and continues to) dictate to us the standard by which Blackness should be measured. And now, in this era of multiracialism we see groups of people who claim they want to reverse that, but in actuality (consciously or subconsciously) seek to maintain that racial hierarchy using phrases like “best of both worlds” or “deny my White side”. Why SHOULDN’T you deny your White side? Not your French side. Not your Irish side. Not your European cultural ties (which many biracial people I’ve met don’t truly practice). But the side that represents an unjust system of privilege? By embracing biracialism you basically say “I’ll be damned if I don’t benefit from this system” and simultaneously support the notion that one who cannot, simply shouldn’t. Because after all…it’s not your “genetic” right. Right?

Soledad cannot pass for White. I am not one of those people with “super negrovision”-where I can spot the “Black in you” from 10 miles away. But one look at her hairline tells me that woman ain’t White-and not even a damn good relaxer will change that. I believe Soledad is well aware of that, and IMO that’s where this “movement” stems form. Those who physically cannot embrace whiteness, but certainly will embrace whatever privilege comes from being near it. Someone with this mentality has a conflict of interest when they set out to represent the Black community. Political correctness aside, the Black identity and White identity are fundamentally oppositional. They represent two totally different perspectives. If you call yourself both, in essence you’re a racial mercenary. So when someone is Black at 9AM and Biracial by noon, yeah I’m gonna give them the side eye.

Even conservative Blacks who, at the end of the day often times work in the interest of White supremacy are questioned- and much more harshly/rigorously by the Black community. Clarence Thomas ring a bell? Ward Connerly? So why not question the intentions of someone whos racial label is like a pair of sneaker they can toss on and toss of at their will?

Blackness has always represented inclusion (forced or not), diversity, and compassion-almost to the detriment of that group. The result has been a longstanding intragroup hierarchy that can be witnessed to this day. One that often props up the lightest and the brightest to half-heartedly represent a group characterized by social exclusion due to physical darkness. And sure we’ve had our Malcolms and Hueys, but in this era of “racial choice”, where the door is open to let self described biracials sit and nibble at the kiddie table during this great White feast, shouldn’t Black people start to pay attention and reconsider the position of those who choose to eat?

Thoughts?

Yeah, I’m not a consistent blogger. But I’m going to give it a go, once again!!! Still a little miserable. Still a little indecisive. Still a little optimistic.

Too Scripted.

Too Boring.

What did you think?

They’re now calling it “The Golden Ghetto”. Sigh…Here’s the additional info about the show. I’m going to underline the interesting (by interesting I mean interesting AND ridiculous) points:

This reality docudrama explores African-American teenage life from the point of view of 11 upper-middle-class teens.

Baldwin Hills, also known as the Golden Ghetto even with the acquisition of wealth we can’t escape words like “ghetto”, is an upscale Black neighborhood in Los Angeles, where pro athletes, TV and movie stars, doctors, lawyers and engineers live. This reality show will focus on kids who split their time between school, the beach the beach ain’t that damn close. You need to head to Santa Monica for that!, pool parties, high-end shopping, and driving their daddy’s luxury cars. Some of them are smart and hard-working, while some of them are spoiled and overly entitled This might be the most justice they do this neighborhood.

The series will follow these 11 kids as they navigate the mudslides that are their social lives and handle typical teenage issues with their parents, siblings and classmates. Events, such as prom night, spring break, parental conflicts and college visits, serve as signposts for the real-life drama. Many of these kids attend private high schools where they are but of a small handful of Black faces on the campus. They seemingly steer this terrain with ease but, ultimately, know that they are outsiders … not only in their schools, but among their “own” in the hood Now if the kids don’t over act and try to play up stereotypes, this could be a very good angle for the show. “Baldwin Hills” will be sexy SEXY?!?! With teenagers? I fuggin’ hope not!, cool and unlike any other show about Black kids ever seen on television.

BALDWIN HILLS premieres Tuesday, July 10 at 10 p.m. (ET/PT).

Anyway, I see that a lot of people (by a lot I mean 6), had opinions on the show, so I am interested to see how those opinions will change or stay the same. I will definitely keep track of the show on my blog.

The interview said everything and absolutely NOTHING at the same time. Here’s the skinny:

On Girls: leave us alone

On Mom: leave us alone, but we loved her and still think about her.

On what they would do if they were “normal”: Will=work for the UN. Harry=live in Africa (the white/poverty free part)

On the military: we like to play dress up, but we’ll be damned if we die!

Did I miss anything? Comment!