India.Arie Pens "Open Letter" On Grammy Awards & Racism

by: April D. Byrd

The 56th Annual Grammy Awards caused a big stir in the entertainment industry as usual. The residual buzz surrounding Beyonce's titillating thong and Kendrick Lamar's surprising snub is just a smidgen of the controversy that has kept the Award's show in the headlines.

Singer and Performing Artist India.Arie is standing out a bit more substantially and making her voice heard. The songstress wrote an open letter about the small amount of honor and support the Grammy's has shown to R&B and Hip Hop artists. India refused to let the awards show off the hook for behavior she refers to as racist.

The singer wrote these words (below) via her personal tumblr:

@Kendricklamar WAS robbed, BUT he was not the only one who was robbed. Personally, I was pleased he was able to perform and they KILLED! IT! One of the FEW moving moments of the night for ME.

Though it’s called “Music industries biggest night” the #Grammys are NOT about the music, it’s a popularity contest. The voting process allows people, to vote on name recognition alone - the music industry politics is a whole NUTHER conversation.  Too much to go into here.

The American Music Awards is a show that awards sales and popularity - the #Grammys are SAID to be about the music. If the hip hop community voted on hip hop -  r&b COMMUNITY the same -  same for each category - we’d see winners that reflect the MUSIC ITSELF. We all know that’s just not the way it goes. 

NOW the BIGGER losers, are ALL of black music. Where was the black music community represented in last nights #Grammy show? Performers and Winners (or not) … Where were the black artists?

And this isn’t the first time the #Grammy’s has had a show all but excluding young black America and black artists in general, although we set the worlds musical trends. Why NOT televise the lifetime achievement awards of the Isley Brothers? SURELY they deserved to be on televised stage LAST NIGHT! While other artists were on stage TWICE?

The truth is in a perfect world diversity would matter, and respect would be rampant, but the TRUTH is, The #Grammys is a television show, and in THAT world ratings reign supreme.  So, in general, bigger names take the stage, and sadly the biggest names often times ARE BIGGER drawn along racial lines from the release of an album. i.e. marketing dollars, and just general support.  It’s unfortunate.

I don’t even get surprised any more, but, it still hits my sense of fairness, because I KNOW many of the artists who are overlooked. I LIVE in that world. We keep showing up and subjecting ourselves to the game, hoping MAYBE we’ll win. I was so HAPPY to see @Kendricklamar take that stage - because it is a FORM of winning, at LEAST, he was SEEN.

Speaking of diversity, congratulations to my PERSONAL favorite albums of the year -  @I_GregoryPorter #LiquidSpirit @Realsnarkypuppy and @lalahhathaway on your win and THANK YOU! @pharrell for acting RIGHT in the presence of the greatness that is @Nilerodgers and #StevieWonder

Love to all #SoulBirdsWorldWide

@IndiaArie

P.S. No mention of Nelson Mandela at ALL? … and THIS is why we NEED the Image Awards AND the BET awards.

Does India.Arie have a point?  What did you think about the Grammy Awards this year?

Why I Disagree with Jada Pinkett Smith's Question of If White Women Should Ever Grace the Cover of Popular Black Women's Magazines?

The absence of black womyn in mainstream media and specifically on the cover of magazines has been a problem that has lasted for decades and with the exception of a few faces (i.e. Beyonce, Halle Berry, etc) it is still an issue that persists today. This is why I found Jada Pinkett Smith’s latest post that posed the question that if the black community wants to see more diversity on mainstream publications then perhaps black magazines such as Essence, Ebony and JET should consider offering covers to white womyn. She presents the idea of diversity, openness and solidarity amongst womyn which I think is a great idea in theory but the issue is that those 3 magazines specifically were started as a resolution to the gap in the marketplace that failed to tell our stories as womyn of color. There was nowhere to share our unique beauty, experiences and stories, more importantly there was nowhere except these publications that celebrated us.

I’m not opposed to featuring other cultures and races within these magazines because I do believe in diversity. I remember years ago there was an issue over at Essence magazine because a white womyn was hired to be a fashion editor. People were in uproar about this because they believe that black magazines should remain strictly black. I simply think that there can be diversity throughout the staff of the magazines and within the glossy pages of the publications but where I think the line should be drawn at is on the cover. Think of the pride felt by black children to womyn (and men) who see beauty that looks like them consistently smiling on the covers of these pages month after month. It’s always refreshing to see a familiar face smiling back at me when I walk past the newsstand so until mainstream publications start consistently putting our beauties from Kerry Washington to Viola Davis on their covers, I am happy keeping the prime real estate of the front cover to beautiful brown faces for now.

Here are Jada's thoughts on this that she posted to her Facebook:

Will there ever be a day in which women will be able to see each other beyond race, class, and culture? There is a question I want to ask today. I’m asking this question in the spirit of thinking outside of the box in order to open doors to new possibilities. These possibilities may be realistic or unrealistic. I also want to make it clear that there is no finger pointing here. I pose this question with the hope that it opens a discussion about how we can build a community for women based upon us all taking a deeper interest in one another. An interest where skin color, culture, and social class does not create barriers in sharing the commonality of being… women. With love and respect to all parties involved, my question is this…if we ask our white sisters, who tend to be the guardians of the covers of mainstream magazines, to consider women of color to grace these covers, should we not offer the same consideration to white women to grace our covers? Should women extend their power to other women simply because they are women? To my women of color, I am clear we must have something of our own, but is it possible to share in the spirit in which we ask our white sisters to share with us? I don’t know the answer and would love to hear your thoughts.

J

What do you think, should white women be featured on the covers of black magazines? Would love to hear your thoughts!

Skin Lightening – an ongoing and international issue that just won’t go away

I can’t believe that it is the year 2012 and we are STILL talking about skin lightening. I always think that we have come so far and are living in a world where people have come to realize that no skin colour is better than any other. And then, I come across a story like this – it seems that in Senegal they are selling low-grade skin lighteners that are banned in other countries, without a worry about the many dangers and side effects.

Although this article is about Senegal, skin lightening is an issue all over the world including the Middle East, Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean.

It is sad that people have such low self-esteem and devalue their own looks so much that they are willing not only to spend time and money to change their skin colour but that they are even willing to endure pain – whether it is risking chemical burns while bleaching their skin or sunburns while tanning it. And unfortunately, the problem is not an individual issue but a symptom of our societal issues around race and beauty.

Perhaps the most disheartening thing of all is that the article ends with a sentence that only serves to reinforce the racially prejudiced thinking that causes people to try and lighten their skin. The article quotes a dermatologist, the expert opinion in the piece, as saying "When women who use these creams stop, they look horrible. They actually start looking more black, all the side effects manifest at the same time, which they just can't accept."

It seems even in 2012 (and even in an article discussing the dangers of skin lightening) black is still interchangeable with horrible.

Check out the story here and let me know what you think in the comments.

MONDAY MOTIVATION: Why BET's Black Girl's Rock and a Few (Less Than Kind) Twitter Comments Prove Celebrating You in All of Your Fab Glory is So Necessary

Photo: Clutch Magazine

Guest blog by: Safia Bartholomew

Black Girls Rock! Why do we rock? Because we are strong, resilient, beautiful, talented, intelligent, poised, funny and too many more reasons! Last night BET aired the annual awards show by DJ Beverly Bond, created to celebrate young black girls, build self-esteem and showcase positive and alternative images to the often stereotypical displays that we see of black women in the media. The concept of the show is fantastic and one that I believe that EVERYONE should get on board with. But of course, when peeping through my Twitter timeline while watching I saw quite a few comments bashing the importance of the show and debating whether or not it is necessary.

I have to say that I almost got out of character a couple of times when reading these comments and it left me absolutely shocked at the complete ignorance. But I digress...the main criticism that these folks had was that it's an unnecessary program because black girls are not the only ones who rock - what about Indian girls, Asians, Spanish, white and other ethnicities? My answer to that is we ALL rock. All of us brown girls, black girls, ivory skinned girls and so on ROCK.

This is reminiscent of arguments that roll around every February about the lack of importance of Black History Month. This should not even be a matter of debate as we are all amazing and beautiful in our own right. There is absolutely nothing wrong with shedding light on and building a platform to empower your own community. If mainstream media consistently did this (or even did it at all) then there wouldn't have to be separate shows. But, until then there will have to be a black show, a Spanish show, etc for each special channel and for each ethnicity. We all deserve to shine.

I would definitely tune into a show that celebrates women who are doing their thing of any ethnicity. It's not just about the color though - it's about the message, the sisterhood and the solidarity that matters. The shifting of perspective so that young girls and women are not just celebrated for their beauty (as we are in most cases) but for our smarts and our service in giving back and lifting others up as we rise higher.

To this, I think Janelle Monae hit it on the head in her acceptance speech when she said, "Embrace what makes you unique even if it makes others uncomfortable." We should all go out into this week with a feeling of love and acceptance of ourselves in all of our differences. Be the first to celebrate you when no one recognizes what makes you amazing! There will always be critics, haters, naysayers and so on who will tell you why you should sit down somewhere and be quiet but to this I say shine brighter, speak louder, dance harder. It may be difficult, but ignore the noise!

Take this chance to shine, leave a comment below telling us why YOU ROCK ! Would love to hear from you.

Happy Monday!!

- Safia
  xo

P.S. Check out this clip from the red carpet where some of our favorite famous black girls, Janelle Monae, Megan Goode, Taraji P. Henson, Regina King, and more tell us why they rock:

TEDTalks - Touré Aalks About Dealing With Racial Slights

I love watching TEDTalks.  They can be so inspiring, uplifting, informative, funny....you name it!

If you've never heard about TEDTalks, they are a series of conferences delivered by people from round the world, on various subjects.  TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) was formed to dissect "ideas worth spreading."  It started in California, where the main conference is still held,  but now many major cities host their own TEDx Talks locally.  There's even a TEDWomen and TEDMED (that focusses on health and medicine.)

And for those who don't know, here's my TEDxToronto talk:

What I like about TedTalks is that you get a chance to hear from speakers who have wonderful ideas, and are very passionate about their platform.

I stumbled on this audition from Touré (writer and TV personality) for TED2013: The Young. The Wise. The Undiscovered.  He was speaking on how to deal with racial slights.  (I'll let you watch the video below to fully grasp his concept)

We've all come across our share of racial slights in our lives and it's how we deal with them that dictates our character.

My favorite part of his audition was when he said: "Look for existence proof role models: people went before us, who succeeded. So you're not dealing with the entire race on your shoulders as you try to get through something."

Also, if you have a chance, go through some of the TED and TEDx talks that are available on YouTube.  I guarantee you'll find something you'll enjoy!

Who knows, maybe this will inspire some of you to speak at a TEDx event near you!