You woke up tomorrow in a different county. Everyone was black. The president and all the elected representatives: black. You turned on the TV and all the commercials featured black actors. All the sitcoms had black characters as well as black storylines, punchlines, and jokes. You went to the local Tinseltown and all the movies were romantic comedies with a black male and female leads. All the superhero flicks featured black superheroes like the Green Lantern and Spawn. There was only one or two of you EVER featured in futuristic sci-fi movies. Every magazine you opened featured black models that look like this and this. There were no blondes anywhere, in fact it was considered odd and undesirable to have yellow hair. You had to go to a special section in the drug store for shampoo, conditioner, combs and brushes. If you are a woman there was no make-up that matches your complexion. Foundation color started at Halle Berry and just got darker and darker and that goes for panyhoses as well. In fact, when you got the color that did match sometimes you looked like you were tinged in grey. You try to find dolls for your little girl that looked like a little “her” but you had to go to three stores to find one. All your X-mas decorations were black: Santa, elves and angels. You attend church and all images of God, saints, prophets and disciples are black. You go to Hallmark to buy a card for your grandmother’s birthday and they only feature wooly-haired, zaftig, dark grandmas wearing brightly colored Kente cloth. Driving home from work where all your co-workers talk about the joy and pain of living with uncles, aunts, grandmas, granddads, and cousins, you lament you can’t relate because you live alone in an apartment in the city. As you make your way to your apartment, every billboard is showing a black hand or foot or family. Many of the very famous or rich men that look like you have a black wife and never even acknowledge, date, or marry a women that look like his mother (in fact, sometimes he even disparages and ridicules them). It’s hard to explain to your baby that it’s okay to have thin lips, a thin nose, straight hair and funny colored eyes. All the cartoons are black characters and have black voices and when your kid colors pictures of your family with the crayon marked “nude” invariably everyone is the color of a luscious Hershey’s bar. 90% of the doctors, lawyers, accountants, police officers, insurance agents, politicians, and fire fighters are black. Whenever you lamented about these facts, your friends or colleagues told you “You’re paranoid. Knock it off.” Imagine………
Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.
-Thomas Jefferson
(current favorite president after Clinton and Lincoln)
6 comments:
no thanks!
It's so different to think that way... reading it, I was uncomfortable and really hadn't thought about how that is the reality for so many people. And why is the haircare section (for black women) in an entirely differnt aisle than the other haircare products (Walmart is where I have noticed this)?
I would think I had died had gone to heaven! Or at least to the Motherland. Growing up in Louisville, Ky and now living in Atlanta I often relish in seeing Black people living large and in charge. Also making a positive difference.
Not saying there are not positive Black folks in the 'Ville but I would NEVER live there again. I just published my first novel and couldn't even get a reponse from the Courier Journal or the Louisville Defender. Sad.
99% of my family lives there so I will always visit, but as far as having my face painted on the side of one of those new buildings scattered about town...no thanks.
I know now my "Old Kentucky Home" will never welcome me with open arms.
Ms. Nu'Man send me directions to this chocolate Utopia.
That’s why we have to go back home. Kentucky is overly white because many of our ancestors left for the industrial north after the civil war. It’s funny how history changes. Less than 70yrs ago the black Mecca was Harlem. Everyone had to be in Harlem. Outside of Harlem our people clamored to get to St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles and yes….even Louisville. Today, if you ask many older people in the West End where they are from you will hear, “Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi et. Al.” Many of the African American from Louisville went north. There are plenty of Kentuckians black and white in Cincinnati and Detroit.
In defense of blacks in Kentucky, I would like to say, that while our numbers have declined, black still maintain some semblance of economic and political power in the Commonwealth. Also, it is still possibly to find some African Americans in rural Kentucky. That’s near impossible across the river in Indiana and Illinois.
Ms. Nu-man, not withstanding your criticisms, you are living proof of this. There is between one and two, “Jack and Jill” organizations in Louisville. There are several chapters of the historical black fraternities and sororities. Besides the well known Mr. Bridgemans and Pittmans of the community, there are several other well known middle class black families in Louisville.
I too live in Atlanta as the last poster. However, I would like to submit, that the status of Black life in Louisville isn’t dire. Blacks in Kentucky actually do well in comparison to our counter parts across the country. Louisville is a well kept secret. I know people who have visited Louisville and are almost surprised by what they find. They expect us to be living in trailers with missing teeth etc….While we do have that. They aren’t prepared to see the houses in the Shawnee and Chickasaw neighborhoods yet alone the neighborhoods of Old Louisville, Crescent Hill, Butchertown and company. I live in Atlanta. Tell me what the Piedmont Park area has over Old Louisville?
This reminds me of something else. Political representation. There are people who claim there is no need for black districts. However, I’ve seen time and again, when given a choice some people will not vote for a black candidate. It’s rare to see a black politician elected in a race where the voters or overwhelmingly white. However, here in Georgia, I see white reluctantly voting for black candidates when that’s almost the only choice. It is no coincidence that Monica Kaufman (From the Smoketown neighborhood of Louisville) had to leave for Atlanta in order to be an anchor! She tells the store frequently.
Monica Kaufman is one of the highest paid local news anchors in the nation! She could easily be on CNN or FOX but she doesn’t have to, because she already makes that type of money and is well known and respected in her field! Ms. Kaufman started out in Louisville in the 70’s. I believe she was with WAVE. I can’t recall. They tried her out and her manager loved her. However, he let her know with out sugar coating it, that, “Louisville wasn’t ready for a black anchor.” He let her know in Atlanta they were looking for someone like her. Atlanta DIDN’T have a black anchor at the time. There was someone before Monica but that didn’t work out for whatever reason. With the blessing of her manager in Louisville, she went to Georgia and auditioned for the position. To put this position in historical perspective and significance, there were other well known people applying for the job. Oprah Winfrey says today, “Monica Kaufman got the job I wanted.” We see what happened to her! :) Monica came to Atlanta and made history. Today she is a local and national celebrity and occasionally does local interview with national stars! She couldn’t do this in Louisville, because they weren’t ready for a black anchor! The population of blacks wasn’t high enough to garner the support she needed. This is just another example of the power of numbers in addition to economic power.
Read what Andrew Young said. Accurate, but completely politically incorrect. http://www.ajc.com/news/content/business/stories/0818young.html
Just the editor of a paper here said, “I believe that once you hit 65 what you think comes out. People lose their decorum at that age. What pops up in their head comes out the mouth.” Have you noticed that about elders?
It’s interesting to see what people say about other groups of people when they don’t think anyone’s listening…
Nu’man, you know that what you say is true and accurate. So do the other people. However, that’s just the fact of the matter in a multi-cultural country. I don’t have a problem with the things mentioned. I just have a problem when some people do as you say, “tell you that you’re imagining it.”
It’s easy to say its just business. However, we can’t forget that many of the most tragic actions in history were justified by being, “just business.” Slavery was just business for the Tobacco and Cotton farmers of the south. Subjugating women was just business. Today with millions of people unable to afford the bare minimum to survive, we are told, “It’s just business.”
Of course we aren’t going to see many blacks in the media, politics, or other public arenas. We don’t represent that much of the population. However, on the other side, it is problematic when blacks are UNDER represented which is the case many times. I understand that we aren’t going to have an exact number all the time. But there’s a problem when you have 1% to represent 13% of the population. Or even 1% to represent 20% of the population. No one wants to talk about this…
Interesting blog...
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