Black Girls Rock

[Ms.Wrong]

O 3 O still missing the point that all this thread is tryna say is that black girls rock...

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

O 3 O still missing the point that all this thread is tryna say is that black girls rock...

What are your thoughts? Do you think organizations that uplift blacks and other minorities are racist or helpful? I think they're helpful and they will be here to stay.

Actually it's dead on what the OP was asking about.

 

[Kooriryu]

|8 Gawdamnit W, not gonna lie that shit made me simultaneously hella side-eye and ugly laugh.

Like folk can either get on acknowledgin' exactly why this shit exists, like straight up "acknowledge" not "understand", not "sympathize". Straight up, hardknock, no synonym needed: acknowledge.

Or they can't and you chuck up the deuces and leave 'em be in their shit.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

|8 Gawdamnit W, not gonna lie that shit made me simultaneously hella side-eye and ugly laugh.

Like folk can either get on acknowledgin' exactly why this shit exists, like straight up "acknowledge" not "understand", not "sympathize". Straight up, hardknock, no synonym needed: acknowledge.

Or they can't and you chuck up the deuces and leave 'em be in their shit.

Wouldn't you want the reverse?

Acknowledge simply means one recognize's a thing exist.
Understanding and sympathizing mean one can relate to it, have some sort of emotional investment/relatedness with makes them more supportive of it than if they simply went "Black girls rocks? Oh yea, I know they air that".

 

[Mid]

Tbh, I didn't see it and I'm most likely am not going too any time soon. I think it's a nice gesture but really, I feel people are going to look for ways to complain. Like seriously.

This will probably be forgotten just like #bringbackourgirls was.

 

[Kooriryu]

...

Y'know what, fuck it-- SacredWarrior wanted some thoughts and I know a good chunk of certain people who most indubitably have been fuckin' standin' by with a bowl of popcorn like the schadenfreude-lovin' fuckers they are. Also, I have no work during spring break lololololol. So lemme put on a show for those secret-ass voyeurs and the bystanding kids who were just curious what was in here and did not ask to witness all this shit I'm about to put down. I'mma take this opportunity to air out every shit Sacred's question makes me think of. Which actually makes me feel like I gotta take some quick time out to really hammer in, lay out and clarify:

SacredWarrior wanted some (I'm assumin' real, up close, and fuckin' personal) thoughts on this type of shit and that's exaaaaactly what my ass is gonna do. There is no fuckin' reply to nobody except to Sacred's initial question. So I ain't about to come back here and squawk'n squabble with some kids about my own shit. Once I get my feelings out, I'm gonna dip the whole entire fuck out of this thread.

Now.

My ass never minces words. Never ever, not since forever-- not even when that shit is caked, mired, and marinated in my special sauce of vulgarities and patois type vernacular. When I say "acknowledge exactly why this shit happens", every subject, noun, and colloquialism is there for a reason. Motherfuckers need to stop stewin' around in their hurt feelings and go and acknowledge why shit like Black Girls Rock exists.

Even more plain spoken than I'm plainly speaking now, shit like Black Girls Rock exists precisely because there is no other avenue that bothers to or sufficiently gives a space to commend black girls on their achievements. And that shit is primarily because this society that we live in (the U.S. fyi for our international kids) love to shit on black women. It loves to shit on black women so much that Moya Bailey coined the term "misogynoir" in 2010 to encompass the specific type of discrimination black women face due to their gender and race. Racialized sexism and sexualized racism. Where black women are either Jezebels, wanton seductresses on one hand and loudmouthed "ghetto", unfeminine horror "no man in his right mind" would entangle with on the other hand. Like some serious ignorant fuckin' Hottentot Venus a.k.a. Saartjie Baartman bullshit, 19th century "scientific" posturin' fuckwits couldn't figure out you don't wear a lot of clothes if it's hot-as-shit outside or that human anatomy comes in all sorts of flavors. Motherfuckers even pickled her pussy in a jar 'cuz they had no gotdamn respect.

Fuck all if they also happen to be disabled, not straight, or whatever the fuck else that only compounds how marginalized they are in this gotdamn society. I dooooo nooooot have the time for the folk who are so fuckin' stuck up in their "we all bleed red but I'm gonna ignore whose blood is on the streets" shenanigans because they can't cope that on a baseline this world is not a just place and moreso that they could be afforded the opportunity to not suffer such ingrained bullshit.

Like somehow it's really hard for folk

to step back, take a good and hard fuckin' look around

And see all this shit exactly for what it is

Like it's gonna fuckin' break them or something to acknowledge how shit is in this world

Or they'll fuckin' miss the point and equate acknowledging with refusal to do better by changing it

Because evidently, you can totally change a problem by not even recognizing or addressing it as a problem in the first place

Kids with that low-level fuckin' comprehension piss me off and scare my old ass simultaneously. I don't fuckin' get what this aversion is to sayin' simple fuckin' basic shit like the sky is blue. Or if I hadda really be honest, I see through it best when it's nerd kids on sites like Iwaku who try'n express this sentiment of "we're all suffering the same equally, I should know because I'm a nerd and thus an outcast in my highschool." Like pretending shit like race and subculture don't intersect at all. Or that it's interchangeable with one another because some kids really do like to play that Oppression Olympics shit because apparently bein' structurally, socially, economically downtrodden is a zero sum game that you gotta win to assert... fuckin' I dunno, bragging rights or whatever kids who get caught up in that shit are trying to prove 'cuz they can't figure out that it ain't fuckin' about who has it worse but how all these shits relate to one another to create a certain set of circumstances and a perspective that your ass can't necessarily share on one aspect alone.

(con't.)

 

[Kooriryu]

(con't.)

If goddamn people fuckin' took a good-ass look around it is so fucking easy to see why Black Girls Rock is a thing that happens. Like it seems to really hurt some folk that racism is still alive and kickin' despite their best efforts at being "colorblind". Like people out here are not gettin' accosted for being the same, the problem that a lot of fuckin' children cannot seem to grasp is that what is causing all this ruckus, all this strife is the continuous mishandling of people being different from one another even as superficially as skin color. Like what the actual fuck does crying about how we're all the same inside address the problem of being treated a way because you're different-- that is some of the biggest goddamn cognitive dissonance type of shit I've ever seen. How in thefuck do you see the problem of being treated unfairly by race, origin, gender, sexual orientation and think the most pertinent reply to that statement is to quip up about how we're all actually the same... on the inside. 'Cuz last I check, wars weren't bein' waged 'cuz we're the same. Even Disney could grasp this simple fucking concept

Last time my ass checked, you didn't start shit with someone if they were similar to you. Folk started shit precisely on the basis of other folk bein' different because they don't handle differences well or whateverthefuck. ... Okay, hollon, I got too into this tangent so lemme reel it back some. So, Black Girls Rock is a fuckin' safe space to for black women to celebrate one another. Outside of scrutiny, outside of stereotyping, outside of a context that simultaneously pays them no mind and pokes fun at them on a whim. It is a space that in any other conversation about it would have had played out with Beverly Bond being told that tireless retort for the simple request to see more of yourself on tv, or any other media platform:

"If you're not happy with it, why don't you just go make your own?"

Bond did so, it's fantastic and whiny fuckin' people still fuckin' miss the point of it. Because:

Plain. Simple. Basic. Blatant. Obvious. Because somehow one star finding a place of its own to chill out in and shine is gonna make all the other stars dimmer? Like suddenly, they'll forget those phrases of "do it yourself"/"just go make your own" and once it's made suddenly it has to be about them too otherwise they'll be left out of This Thing, forgetting that This Thing that was made exactly because the creators couldn't be in That Other Thing. Goddamn, even trying to type this foolish phenomenon down is giving me a headache. How the fuck is conceit of this level sustained. Then it loops right the fuck back around to these kids feeling so scandalized that something this shitty happens still in this day and age and my old ass is just sitting here giving the hardest side eye my corneas can muster like:

Like, folk have been here tellin' you that this fuckin' bullshit is going on in this field, that field, that industry, this industry etc. etc. And it's like fuckin' no one wants to hear about it. Because it fucks with their kumbayah vibe too much. But I get it, for these folks having such a hard goddamn time even seeing, acknowledging that all this shit is a thing that still happens. Regardless if folk decide to finally see this shit and go, "Hey... ! Not cool." Because for a lot of folk, it's real easy to shit on what could possibly foster reasons for the creation of things like Black Girls Rock than to simply shut the fuck up for once, look, see, and acknowledge that this shit is happening and whether or not you're being complicit in it.

So, SacredWarrior, I've hella given you heaps upon piles on top of stacks of my personal thoughts about why something like Black Girls Rock is not the least littlest tiniest bit fuckin' racist. Because that shit is not and I am hella side eyeing any motherfucker who takes a statement like "Black Girls Rock", with no mention of any other group as some sort of fuckin' denigration upon whathefuckever other group. An even harder side eye to the motherfuckers who will take that sentiment and cry about some fake-ass X Girls Rock statement being xyz because they themselves forgot how to account for social context both historically and contemporarily.

I just cannot fuck with people that simple and obtuse. Fuck 'em. With all my feelings'n thoughts laid out more or less how I like 'em to be-- now I'm dipped the entire fuck out.

Stay cute y'all.

via http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/blog/archive/2012/06/‘samurai-among-panthers’-life-richard-aoki

 

[Brovo]

 

[Diana]

If you would have asked 18 year old Diana about a one-race awards show like Black Girls Rock, she would have given the "omg no things for only one race is bad and unfair and we should live in a better world and stuff like this makes it worse and white people suffer racism too!!" spiel. o____o I actually remember some argument teen me had years and years ago where I was butthurt about scholarships only being eligible for black people and how racist that was.

Since then I have learned A LOT about privilege and what it takes to actually acknowledge what kind of behaviors are just insecure and defensive behaviors. D: Even now sometimes stuff will put me on the defensive, and I have to stop and remind myself IT AIN'T ABOUT ME. I am not the one who is reacting to and having to deal with a lifetime of racism. I might have had a few situations where I got shat on for being white, but I have never lived with the kind of prejudices not-white people have to deal with on a daily basis here in America. :(

So now I whole heartedly support these kind of shows and events and understand why it's a thing that needs to happen.


Tegan once linked this really cool article and I WISH I had the link now or knew how to google it. O__O It was about why people shouldn't use the "how come it's okay to give a white character's role to a black person, but everyone complains when a white girl gets a black character's role?" excuse about book characters in movies.

The basic example was like: You have two bowls of raisins for two little girls. The white girl's is the one full of raisins, and the black girl's only has ten raisins. If you take a few of the white girl's raisins to give to the black girl - she's not going to notice. She has PLENTY of raisins and there is no reason why she can't share more. But if you take a couple of the black girl's raisins and give them to the white girl - she's GOING to notice and it's super unfair.

That metaphor was the best one I have ever seen and explained so simply WHY it's really important right now to recognize just how big of a problem racism still is in our society. D:

 

[ASTA]

What is there to celebrate exactly? What is there to uplift?

I could see if BGR addressed the modern downtrodden state of black women, but all I'm perceiving is a giant lie expressed in televised form.

The black community is literally headed by a black matriarchy. A 72 percent out-of-wedlock-rate as of 2011? Black women constituting the bulk of the congregation of the average (corrupt) black church that is--might I add--pimping the black community on an annual basis? Just look at Creflo A. Dollar, Jr. He's a prime example of the buffoonery that is allowed to persist within these religious institutions.

A host of effeminate, aimless black men that, for some queer reason, still manage to fall into bed with these women despite the fact that these women could easily reject their advancements?

48 percent of black women become pregnant before they hit 20. Out of this crop, 97 percent are unmarried and lack the financial means to support themselves or their child.

Granted, I'm an atheist, but what of the rampant abortion epidemic? 13 million black children aborted since 1973? And 87 percent of all black women call themselves Christians?

BGR is really nothing more than a fictitious "feel good initiative" perpetuated by Obama's wife.

Again, there's nothing to uplift. If the First Lady wants to help, she could start by addressing the aforementioned issues (and trust me, there are more) instead of filling the heads of these women with nonsense and fairy tales.

This entire race is on life support and everyone is tight-lipped about it.

"Oh, you're just victims of racism!"

Pathetic.

 

[Ser K+]

¬_¬
.........




We just need a worldwide "Human day" or something.

 

[SacredWarrior]

What is there to celebrate exactly? What is there to uplift?

I could see if BGR addressed the modern downtrodden state of black women, but all I'm perceiving is a giant lie expressed in televised form.

The black community is literally headed by a black matriarchy. A 72 percent out-of-wedlock-rate as of 2011? Black women constituting the bulk of the congregation of the average (corrupt) black church that is--might I add--pimping the black community on an annual basis? Just look at Creflo A. Dollar, Jr. He's a prime example of the buffoonery that is allowed to persist within these religious institutions.

A host of effeminate, aimless black men that, for some queer reason, still manage to fall into bed with these women despite the fact that these women could easily reject their advancements?

48 percent of black women become pregnant before they hit 20. Out of this crop, 97 percent are unmarried and lack the financial means to support themselves or their child.

Granted, I'm an atheist, but what of the rampant abortion epidemic? 13 million black children aborted since 1973? And 87 percent of all black women call themselves Christians?

BGR is really nothing more than a fictitious "feel good initiative" perpetuated by Obama's wife.

Again, there's nothing to uplift. If the First Lady wants to help, she could start by addressing the aforementioned issues (and trust me, there are more) instead of filling the heads of these women with nonsense and fairy tales.

This entire race is on life support and everyone is tight-lipped about it.

"Oh, you're just victims of racism!"

Pathetic.

BGR was founded in 2006. Two years before Obama's inauguration might I add. There is much to celebrate and uplift. BGR also celebrates the history of African-American women and the many things they have accomplished over the years. Racism does still exist. It's not as obvious as it was years ago because nowadays there are actual consequences for racism. BGR tells us to rebel against it and aim as high as we can instead of surrendering to it and being a victim.

Everything you just mentioned is false. Race profiling and statistics are usually bullshit. And even if it is true, who are you to judge? People can live their lives however they want and you don't know how they got that way to begin with. Not everyone is you and you're not perfect either. Don't let the media and biased tests fool you.

Black churches and churches in general aren't corrupt. I've been to a few black and white churches and even some diverse ones and they're pretty legit. Don't let wannabe churches like Westboro cloud your judgment. I know many black Christians and they're some of the best people I've known. Once again, negative experiences shouldn't cloud your judgment for everything.

African-Americans are not on life support. If anything, we're thriving better than we ever had. So what if the community has issues? The entire human race has issues. And all of the "issues" you mentioned aren't even exclusive to the black community cause I see it a lot with other minorities and whites as well. Some of them aren't even issues at all. You just see them as bad because apparently you don't understand other people and you're very close-minded. This is 2015 not the 50s. Times have changed so stuff like teen pregnancy and out-of-wedlock aren't as problematic as they once were. Once again, don't judge. You're not the moral police and you're not perfect.

 

[Kooriryu]

Actually, I was gonna get how I usually get with all the snark and hiding links in words and phrases and funny .gifs. Totally gonna sigh as through the five minutes it'd take my ass to google things so I can do my routine of constantly emphasizing recognizing context, how Things Do Not Happen In A Vaccuum, poking fun at myself for not actually staying thefuck away when I said I would. But if skimming through threads in GenChat taught me anything, everyone seems quite happy with just sayin' all these words as they come out of their own mouths, with no attention to providing a background just some of that pure-ass unadulterated, uncited, unsourced opinion so I just had to point this shit out:

ASTA's shit is exactly why Black Girls Rock was created. That type of fuckin' attitude is more prevalent than just this singular nerd on this singular nerd-ass website in this nerdy community, located in this nerdy fuckin' corner of the internet. Like this sentiment of, "How the very fuck dare you attempt to bring light upon accomplishments within your community because Contextless Statistics 1-10, Stereotypes A, B, C, E, G, O, W, and X! How very dare y'all do This Thing when I feel like all this shit I just said should keep you from feeling like you're worth anything, much less an awards show to highlight achievements I don't think should be commended because of all the shitty things I feel like I poignantly pointed out about your community!" That exact, specific, particular goddamn attitude is what black women and girls have to rise through, deal with on the daily, and struggle against.

... k now I'm gonna seriously dip out forreal. Google is a friend. Statistics mean more shit when you fuckin' address the context they were taken in and the reasoning for their collection in the first place. Google is a friend. It also helps when, y'know, you cite your shit, wouldn't wanna give folk the illusion you're talking out of your ass.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

I'll agree that a lot of the issues ASTA addressed is not caused as a result of being Black, but rather by other factors such as environment, level of education in the area etc. There's no 'black gene' that makes someone more likely to commit a crime, be corrupt etc. But something that does need to be acknowledged is that there is a higher than average amount of black people in area's whose environment do encourage a number of the things that ASTA mentioned. That's geography, and it's something far better fixed/addressed with stuff such as improving public services, government support, education etc. in said areas, rather than ignoring the problems and screaming "Black discrimination".

And then in regards to the Black pride stuff, like all races black people have a lot of heritage, culture etc that people should feel proud of. But there's a difference between being proud in a history/culture, and being proud about possessing a specific gene that no one had a say in. There's nothing about being Black that should make someone more proud of themselves than if they're Asian, Native, White etc. Now like I said in my first post, while discrimination is still a thing I understand the need for such specialized pride groups, LGBT for example still has great use/need for it. But when that pride in "Being strong and sticking up to discrimination" turns into "Proud because I possess a certain gene which inheritingly makes me stronger/better". I'm sorry, but once it crosses that line it turns from being pride against discrimination into pride in being discriminating towards others.

 

[SacredWarrior]

I'll agree that a lot of the issues ASTA addressed is not caused as a result of being Black, but rather by other factors such as environment, level of education in the area etc. There's no 'black gene' that makes someone more likely to commit a crime, be corrupt etc. But something that does need to be acknowledged is that there is a higher than average amount of black people in area's whose environment do encourage a number of the things that ASTA mentioned. That's geography, and it's something far better fixed/addressed with stuff such as improving public services, government support, education etc. in said areas, rather than ignoring the problems and screaming "Black discrimination".

And then in regards to the Black pride stuff, like all races black people have a lot of heritage, culture etc that people should feel proud of. But there's a difference between being proud in a history/culture, and being proud about possessing a specific gene that no one had a say in. There's nothing about being Black that should make someone more proud of themselves than if they're Asian, Native, White etc. Now like I said in my first post, while discrimination is still a thing I understand the need for such specialized pride groups, LGBT for example still has great use/need for it. But then that pride in "Being strong and sticking up to discrimination" turns into "Proud because I possess a certain gene which inheritingly makes me stronger/better". I'm sorry, but once it crosses that line it turns from being pride against discrimination into pride in being discriminating towards others.

That's pretty much what I was trying to say. Because of geography and environment, blacks and other minorities feel as if that's all they have going for them and that's all they're going to be. Media, peer pressure, racism, and many other things can cause them to emulate it or may cause them to have low self-esteem and shit like that. Don't be a victim. Combat the problem and kick it in the nuts so you'll be victorious. Rise up against the odds and become a leader. I grew up in Memphis, TN in an area known as Frayser and it had its issues but I loved my childhood there as well as the people. I'm proud of my heritage and culture but I'm definitely not discriminating towards anyone. I love and adore my white people. I love people of all races. I'm not saying any race is better than the other either. Yes there is a line that should never be crossed with groups that support minorities, LGBT, and the like and honestly I have yet to see that.

 

[Zachary-Sama]

Please do not take this the wrong way, because this is me trying to be supportive. I'm a white male, and I fully support having pride in one's race, as long as you don't think yourself superior to others based on your race.
So here's what I think. In America, I don't think it's politically correct to consider African Americans a minority, as there's about 1 African American for every 1.5 white/caucasian American. I think that the BEST way to help, would be to send those kinds of organizations to South Africa, where being black actually does make you a minority. I mean come on, they only had their first black African president in 1994, Nelson Mandela. I sincerely think that the organizations would do more good there than here, since black people were oppressed far longer in South Africa than they were here in America. That's just my opinion.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

That's pretty much what I was trying to say. Because of geography and environment, blacks and other minorities feel as if that's all they have going for them and that's all they're going to be. Media, peer pressure, racism, and many other things can cause them to emulate it or may cause them to have low self-esteem and shit like that. Don't be a victim. Combat the problem and kick it in the nuts so you'll be victorious. Rise up against the odds and become a leader. I grew up in Memphis, TN in an area known as Frayser and it had its issues but I loved my childhood there as well as the people. I'm proud of my heritage and culture but I'm definitely not discriminating towards anyone. I love and adore my white people. I love people of all races. I'm not saying any race is better than the other either. Yes there is a line that should never be crossed with groups that support minorities, LGBT, and the like and honestly I have yet to see that.

Then there seems to less disagreement in this thread then I originally thought. :P
I'm glad to see we're on the same page here. :)

I mean come on, they only had their first black African president in 1994, Nelson Mandela.

And Obama became the first black president in 2005 for America. :P
And some people have even argued it he falls under brown, not black.

 

[Ser K+]

And some people have even argued if he falls under brown, not black.

Hold on... What the hell? Aren't all "Black" people brown though? XD

 

[SacredWarrior]

Then there seems to less disagreement in this thread then I originally thought. :P
I'm glad to see we're on the same page here. :)

And Obama became the first black president in 2005 for America. :P
And some people have even argued it he falls under brown, not black.

Correction Obama was inaugurated in 2008 :P Yeah I'm being a smartass XD No prob ^_^ I was just sitting back and eating popcorn at the responses

 

[SacredWarrior]

Hold on... What the hell? Aren't all "Black" people brown though? XD

HELL NO! Some black folks are darker than 12:01 am LMAO!