Saturday, January 9, 2010

Images V: Black n Whites


Washington Square Park



Episcopal Church



Astor Place subway entrance













The t Building















Candlelight



St. Paul's Church



Harlem Street



St. Nicholas Ave




St. Nicholas Park



Snow-covered leaves



Benches



Two dogs fighting over a tree branch



You and two dogs trying to figure out what that is



Trees



Trees 2



Trees 3


Where are the stairs?






St. Paul's Church and City College
























St. Nicholas Park too





















St. Nicholas Garden

Monday, January 4, 2010

Who Loves You, Baby? - Our Indifference Towards Dark-Skinned Sistas

Whenever I watch Hip Hop and R&B music videos I play this little game of counting how many times I notice a dark-skinned sista.
I'll watch bunny after bunny as the Machine pushes the money. Not that light-skinned ain't fly. Just over-exposed. No balance. But record companies, the videoHeads and the lawyers who gladly represent them would push back berry if berry was in demand...



This
not new. House and
Field



Yet both still slaves...





Paperback test
To see if you can come in...



Gals only allowed to be sexual objects
Like shaking a thong but you run the jungle

And bucks only allowed to be sexual objects
Like Mandingo (dingo is Australian for dog)...




He called you a dog...
Now you call your self dog...





Black boys and girls
Know how to say
Liteskin and Blackie

Lauryn is darskin but beautiful
We don't think about the but
Though it's always there
Like wearing more hair
To be noticed...








It's a scar


To have to look away,
To pit sista against sista...






Deeper scar if you wanna stand out
Make a difference
Tell the whole story
But you don't in order to keep your job...


That says something about the industry; about us...







Says video pimps ain't thinkin' with their diks
But wit their delusion
Says we're still working out our residue
From the very first slave auction.

Race-ism is Big Bizness
But internalized racism is you and me believing in the hype

(Remember Don't believe the hype?)


"When a child is born into this world
It has no concept
Of the tone and skin she's living in...

Nothing can move us
We should be moving...


Don't see me from a distance
Don't look at my smile
And think I don't know
What's under and behind me...

Nothing can move us
We should be moving..."

--Youssou N'Dour



In the end, what matters is not skin shade but pan-african consciousness. Loving your complexion, your nose, lips, hair length and texture, no matter what the politics or trends decide, and simply be. That's the problem with us. We're still learning how to love ourselves. So used to glorifying others and putting others first... Who loves you, baby? I do, mama!!!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

2010 Star Power!!!

Star Power means making 2010 the year to shine!!! To put an end to resolutions that never actualize and to finally take action on those plans we promised to fulfill...


...means taking your jewelry bizness to the next level by introducing your beads to an even larger customer pool...


and getting that PhD, so that those of us without them letters can fund programs for the Com Unity...



...means developing your skills as an artist while still working on that PhD...


...getting them bizness cards made so that the rest of the world, if not New York City, can know about your mad graphic skills!...


























...and finding that right job that only you can do...


...means saying goodbye to the no longer living and remembering that there's a reason why you're still here...


...means leading a student empowerment organization and calling the shots...


...means finally making that cd because you and your voice are that good!!!




...moving on to graduate school and showing what female leadership and self-empowerment looks like...


or finally self-publishing and not waiting for someone to tell you you're worth the read...


...means being the badest student senator we've ever had and getting that degree...




...means moving to New York to study music...


...rejecting indoctrination and taking charge of your education, defining who you are and what you stand for on your terms...




...means making a documentary of your life cos you're the most under-rated Hip Hop icon I know!...

















...means completing that photobook and finding an ideal space for showing your work...


...means opening yourself up to your divine blessings...


...means collaborating with me on a help guide for young gay Black males...


finding true love and not looking back...

means going on a cruise for the very first time...

or starting a newsletter to bring back the real sexy; as in african-centered philosophy...









means blowin up to the point where folks gotta make reservations!...

...reaching your ideal weight and returning to the mic...


or finding that scholarship to make da damn thing happen!!!...


...means picking up that guitar and starting that songwriting career,


taking the band cross country and international...


and reflecting on the bless
ings you have and not worry
about what you don't have.





Star Power means having your power come from within and not by pushing a title, flashing your bling or putting down others in order to feel good about yourself. It means continuing to inspire, and maybe even save lives, and more on-line interviews with progressive Dreds--as in we don't bash our own; as in keeping it nat'ral--and starting a book for and about American Black males....Stay blessed. Stay beautiful. Stay strong. Stay tuned...