May 2013
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Read This Week
This is my 47th Read This Week feature! Every week since Gradient Lair’s inception (it’s a year old now!) with the exception of a few weeks, I’ve posted essays, articles, journal articles and/or papers that I’ve recently read and share with you based on your interest in this blog.
Below are great reads…
I Don’t Mean To Be Dramatic… by @liberated_lez is a great read....
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Patronizing Paternalism, White Supremacy and The...
After learning about the content of President Obama’s speech at Morehouse, I let out a tired sigh because it was actually worse than I expected. To be clear, he is a great orator with a skill that is truly a gift and a honed craft. He will probably be memorialized in history among the Presidents who are great orators such as Lincoln, FDR and Kennedy. But that’s not the point right now....
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A Black Man Asked "Whose 'Side' Are Black Women...
While I was perusing tags related to feminism on Tumblr, I came across a post by a Black man with a sentiment that I’ve seen many times. He posted a photograph of a Black man’s lynched corpse with a White woman looking at it with laughter. His commentary suggested that “feminazism” is destroying Black men (as its goal) and whose side are most Black women on, Black...
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WatchHere’s a commencement address by a Black person that doesn’t involve respectability politics, “Talented Tenth” speak, bootstrap theory and reductionism of the manifestation of oppression by victim blaming via “personal responsibility” politics. (Ahem…Obama).
This commencement address is Toni Morrison at Rutgers University in 2011. Exquisite. Listen to...
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What's Really Going On With White Feminists'...
Yesterday I posted a photograph of Beyoncé on Ms. Magazine with some probing questions that I have for the article, which included this text:
I will be interested in seeing if the article reveals the nuances of her perspectives (such as ones revealed in her documentary), whether they challenge or affirm patriarchy at times (as she, like many women do both) or will the article solely hold her to...
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“White feminists defending The Onion sound an awful lot like male comedians who...”
– T.F. Charlton
These 3 quotes are from her essay The Other Double Standard: On Humor and Racism in Feminism.
(I wrote about the same topic myself last week: The Predictable Cycle of White Liberal “Humor” At Black Women’s Expense)
Interesting how when one is in a position of POWER and not the butt...
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Thoughs About Scandal Season 2 Finale
Some of my thoughts about that EPIC season finale of Scandal includes:
I love that “Fitz” was a part of their secret meetings. It was like a reclamation of power for him, versus being powerful yet a puppet of the group. I cracked up laughing when “Cyrus” made the comparison of mentioning murder in front of the President to mentioning sex in front of the Pope. This is...
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Gradient Lair Is One Year Old!
I started Gradient Lair in May of 2012 and it’s a year old now! Today I reached exactly 2,500 subscribers on the dot. I hope that you have enjoyed my writing and my posts/reposts. Thanks for your interest.
My most important people in terms of my blog’s audience are Black women. Other than it being a safe space for myself, I made it for us. Because I also discuss critical issues in...
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What Kelly Rowland Actually Sang Versus What...
What Kelly Rowland sang: I was in an abusive relationship. He was both emotionally and physically abusive. He was mentally manipulative, turning me against my best friend/sister and telling me she was the last person in the world who loved me. I was feeling low at a time when she was doing really well and that led to some feelings of jealousy and devalued self-worth, especially when I felt like there was nobody I could talk to about it. But when I did let her know what was happening, she was right there by my side.
What the blogs report: KELLY ADMITS SHE WAS JEALOUS OF BEYONCE IN ANGRY, CURSE-LADEN RANT SHE DIDN'T EVEN WRITE; SHE'S A HATER.
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When Male Privilege and White Privilege Shape...
Several years ago, I worked at an educational program for adolescents facing a plethora of socioeconomic, legal, and sociopolitical (oppression via racism, sexism, misogynoir, homophobia and classism) challenges. The staff was more diverse there than at any other job I’ve had, while still of course reflecting the usual hierarchies; White women in higher positions than Black women, White men...
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A Black Woman Does Not Have To Perform Stereotypes...
I am always highly suspicious of people when they suggest that a Black woman “doesn’t have a personality.” Everyone has a personality. Personality refers to the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s distinctive character—what makes them different from someone else. Thus, while Black women share sociopolitical characteristics and have...
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On The Fear Of Being Different: Childhood, Audism...
I was afraid. My 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Worthy, told my parents that there was something wrong with my hearing, or that it was not as good as it “should” be. I don’t remember exactly how it was phrased. I only know that I had to have hearing tests at school, and I was afraid.
I loved this teacher. She was an older Black woman who really nurtured her Black students and made us...
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Read This Week
This is my 46th Read This Week feature! If you’re new to Gradient Lair, each week (though I’ve missed a few) I post essays, articles, journal articles and/or papers of interest to me that I think will be of interest to you, based on your interest in my blog. Below are good reads:
Violence Against (Trans)Women Today by CeCe McDonald herself is an important read. She has faced a gross and...
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I Don't Want To Have To Deal With Racism In Order...
In the last several years, I’ve found it very difficult to talk to many LGBTQ White people. Everything I learn about LGBTQ experiences is primarily from LGBTQ Black people and other ones of colour. Because I am a cisgender heterosexual Black woman, often times LGBTQ White people approach me with the assumption that I am homophobic, transphobic and theist (where theism justifies the bigotry,...
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Legendary Black Women In TV/Film Photoset FIXED
I fixed the Ruby Dee photo; I put Diahann Caroll’s photo by Ruby on accident in my recent photoset. Feel free to delete and re-reblog so that it appears correct. My apologies! :) Thanks to memoirsofmikayla for pointing that out.
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Shonda Rhimes and Scandal Remain On Top
I just read a GREAT piece in The New York Times called Network TV Is Broken. So How Does Shonda Rhimes Keep Making Hits? by Willa Paskin. She reports that Scandal now gets 8 million viewers per week. It is the number one drama at the 10pm slot on any night, on any network and with the coveted 18-49 year old demographic. It hangs with the network television big dogs like CSI, and gets more viewers...
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Examining White Supremacy and Heroism: When Both...
I want to share a critically important comment that Son of Baldwin made on my essay On Charles Ramsey: A Black Hero Cannot Exist At The Intersection of White Supremacy and The Media
Everything Gradient Lair said, and, as I said yesterday: But please keep in mind that we are only really considered “good” or “heroes” when we’ve saved white people’s lives (perhaps because they believe only white...
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Black Women Were Lynched Too
In 1887, a Black woman named Gracy Blanton was lynched in Louisiana. The charge against her was theft. In 1895, a Black woman named Hannah Kearse was lynched in South Carolina. The charge against her was stealing a Bible. In 1898 a Black woman named Dora Baker was lynched in South Carolina. The charge against her was…”race prejudice?”
In 1906, a Black woman named Meta Hicks was...
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On Charles Ramsey: A Black Hero Cannot Exist At...
Like many, I find it incredibly disgusting that Charles Ramsey can only be an object of humor/entertainment or an object of scorn. His humanity is stripped away, callously by the media and the public. These are the options provided to Black people in America, even in a situation where he saved lives.
But it makes “sense” in a White supremacist and racist society and honestly...
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