I finally tasted #Lemonade and it wasn’t anything like it was portrayed to me. It was a full bodied thirst quenching tall glass of amniotic bliss… It was a rich visual embodiment of the call and response like conversations that women of the diaspora play out internally on a daily basis. It is sheer and utter blaspheme to paint Beyoncé as an “Angry Black Woman” seeking to publicly air a lovers spat…The images… so carefully crafted are delicate representations of our strength as black women… don’t you see?
It’s a celebration of life and vibrancy in face of dull toned turned backs… It’s a chin held high in face of misplaced applause… It’s the acknowledgment of the side eyes we’ve dished out to those whose very image we were trained to covet over our own… It’s an ode to the colored girl… and an antidote to the colorist. If you watched an hour of sunshine and chose to see rain… I can only deduce that it either wasn’t made for you or you were not ready to receive it.
I was ready though…I been ready. I needed this more then I knew I did… a burst of brilliant blue-black ultra violet light. So many talented womenfolk pooled together in a single contiguous heart string… lined up in Formation… calling me with their eyes saluting me, emblazoned with the symbols of our pride.
I’m glad to be alive in these strange times…these fearful, exhausting, yet awe inspiring times. I finally tasted #Lemonade and all I could muster to say out loud was thank you … Thank you to the ancestors for laying the foundation for Formation by turning lemons into Lemonade under the watchful eyes of your little girls…because you never know who you are raising until they rise up.
Almost 20 years after Bernard Weinraub, of The New York Times insinuated that Michael Jackson’s HIStory album was “profane, obscure, angry and filled with rage” and “bigoted lyrics” here we are living the lyrics… Again.
It’s funny that Weinraub, the husband of now notorious Sony Pictures Chief Amy Pascal, penned the review that would doom the album and lead its single ,”They Don’t Care About Us”, to infrequent radio play and it’s accompanying short film to being banned from American TV.
I find it even funnier (and by funnier I mean terribly disturbing) that when Michael Jackson called Sony Music out for being “Racist”, the media chose to scrutinize his claims as if he were imagining things.
Yup… It only took 20 years, an insane security breach and leaked high level emails to confirm the King of Pops assertions.
Now, for some ungodly reason, Amy is able to feign an apologetic stance. Apparently after sitting down with Al Sharpton her (and her counterparts) comments are being brushed off as if they were just an off-color moment. Apparently, 20 years (at least, it hurts me to think that she was raised in a house hold where this type of thought was acceptable or funny) of egregious thoughts now can be equated to an accidental slip of the tongue…keystroke.
The fact that more people aren’t highlighting this absurdity is disheartening.
The fact that Amy hasn’t stepped down or been forced out is fucking ridiculous…
God dammit.
I just knew I could get through this without cursing but this is just too much bullshit to wade through without getting some stuck to your shoe…
Nope. Not for one second am I cool with this. You can try to distract us by focusing on the hackers themselves as opposed to what they uncovered but as an African-American Actress reading the remarks made about my people in these email exchanges, it only brings a realness to my gut notion that as far as Hollywood is concerned,”They Don’t Care About Us”.
Now, because this all just got too real, let’s jive it up again by watching the video that was banned in America…I promise you that your faith in people will be tested by how relevant the covered topics still are and by how nuts it is that they blocked an artists right to free speech because he chose to be the voice of Americans not represented by the power structure…
I guess free speech is only people who color in between the lines.
MINNEAPOLIS (October 17, 2014) – Today at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), Board of Directors Meeting, President Bob Butler announced that long-time supporter CNN has withdrawn support of NABJ for the 2015 Convention & Career Fair.
NABJ issued a statement last week, “NABJ Concerned About Atmosphere at CNN for African Americans“, in which NABJ expressed concern over the large number of African-American staff members leaving and being fired from the cable news network. Several African-Americans anchors have left the anchor desk or CNN altogether in the past few years.
Following the release CNN contacted NABJ President Bob Butler and informed him the association’s request for support was denied.
Since that time CNN announced a major layoff in which at least five senior managers were laid off. In the past year nearly a dozen African American managers have resigned, been laid off or were terminated.”
“I understand the company has a right to make personnel decisions,” said NABJ President Bob Butler. “There were not that many African American managers at CNN in the first place. These layoffs have hurt our members tremendously. I am severely disappointed that CNN has ended our partnership.”
NABJ was established as an advocacy group in 1975 in Washington, D.C., and is now the largest organization for journalists of color in the nation. It provides career development, educational support and other services to its members worldwide.
“I said it 50 times that we should make this movie and at the end of the day, I had to pay for it…I just thought it was an interesting movie … I can’t speak for why [no one would finance it]. I know a lot of people want to make these big, giant movies and I understand … But I thought this movie is just as valid as those movies. So that’s why I made it” – Kevin Costner during the National Association of Black Journalists Convention Q&A.
Costner signed on to produce the racially-charged independent drama under his Treehouse banner. Once he fully invested himself in the project he was on the hunt for his female lead. “We have some very significant actresses out there that probably could play this role, but Octavia became our first choice and the choice of our director,” Costner explained.
The drama centers on the true story of a grieving widower and attorney, Elliot Anderson (Costner), who’s raising his biracial granddaughter Eloise with his wife. Costner’s wife is tragically killed in a car accident, and the widower struggles to retain custody over the little girl, with her African-American grandmother Rowena (Spencer), who believes the child is black and should be raised by the black side of her family . Check out the trailer below.
The cast is rounded out by Gillian Jacobs, Jennifer Ehle, and Anthony Mackie. Relativity is wrapping a deal to acquire U.S. rights to Black Or White, and the film should be released in time to qualify for the Oscars. It is speculated that Relativity will release the film through its newly formed multicultural division.
What are your thoughts on the difficulties faced by those attempting to tell stories about race issues in America?
Lost Below The Fold 