Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Zendaya & Giuliana Rancic (I am Not My Hair)
I unfortunately wasn’t able to catch the Oscars till Monday due to prior engagements on Sunday night. However, when I heard of the latest controversy involving E! Fashion Police co host Giuliana Rancic’s comments I felt like here was another topic to address. I’ve seen the many times in life where the image of a black woman is torn down and made to feel less than or ugly for the benefit of racist ignorant perspectives.
Having several sisters I know very well, how much this issue affects them personally when it comes to hair. And to be clear hair issues aren’t exclusive to black women, afterall there is the term “Bad Hair Day”. I’m sure it’s pretty universal that most if not every human being has had at least one “bad hair day”. All that said, this issue isn’t about a bad hair day but simply the disparaging, disrepectful, and stereotypical comments made by Giuliana Rancic regarding a young black woman in Zendaya Coleman on the red carpet at the Oscars.
Rancic stated that she felt like Zendaya’s hair smelled like patchouli oil and weed. In my opinion those comments are just a reflection if not reminder of the fact that the more we think times and things have changed, the more they’ve stayed the same. Racism, prejudice, and stereotypes aren’t going anywhere. Neither can the fight against those things go anywhere. We as people must continue to fight against these divisive issues, call them out when we see them, and not give a pass or an “Oh she didn’t know any better”.
It also reminds us of the power of the media platform and social media. Those comments uttered by Rancic were heard by millions of people and think of what those comments would/could do to the self esteem of young Afro American girls, teens, & young women not to mention the impression of black women and beauty in general when they’re broadcast on television.
Zendaya’s hair was flawless and beautiful just as she is. It is representative of the power, grace, strength, & beauty of black women. The comments offered by Rancic came off as jealous, ignorant and stupid if not racist yet far more sincere than her Paula Deen impression of an “I’m sorry I got caught speaking what I really feel on air moment”.
While I could take the low road and let loose a slew of offensive comments about Rancic, I think Zendaya’s response to the unprovoked, and unwarranted attack are far more appropriate. They exhibit the intelligent thoughts of an eloquent young black queen speaking truth to a bitter woman that likes to throw rocks at her throne.
Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Black History Month 2015
I wanted to start this post with the question what does Black History Month represent for each of us? A quick Google search to find out the origins of Black History Month turned up the fact that what is now observed as a month long tradition actually began as “Black History Week”.
How interesting our history was only initially considered to be worth note for a single week in remembering Frederick Douglas and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays. Both birthdays two days apart. And while I won’t get into whether or not Lincoln’s should be as celebrated as Douglass’s the fact remains both were celebrated in Black communities since the late 19th century.What would be called today (at most colleges across the nation) the “Black Student Union” of Kent State University proposed the expansion of Black History Week to Black History Month in 1969. By February 1970 the first year of the celebration of Black History Month began. It was recognized by the U.S. government and celebrated informally in 1976 as part of the U.S Bicentennial.
All that said, I have mixed feelings when I think about Black History Month. On one hand I see the need for the recognition of Black History. Especially in lieu of world history & in particular American History as a whole. What happens to those whose history is forgotten? Should our collective accomplishments be relegated to footnotes and bywords? On the other hand if we can only say our history is worth mentioning on a specific month, once a year, what are we really saying?
I acknowledge that there is a need for there to be an emphasis in the teaching and learning about Black History but can that be separated of American History like the segregationist era? I’m not so sure. Black History I agree with Morgan Freeman, is American History and to be honest one month doesn’t do it nearly the justice it deserves. Am I in favor of abolishing Black History Month? I say no. Am I in favor of seeing it expand like it did in the past from a single week to a single month to a year? Absolutely.
I think all human history as part of world history is important and worth learning about all the time and year round. Maybe one day we won’t be divided by our nationalities, our ethnicities, or cultural diversities.
Maybe one day we’ll simply say in the annals of Human history…this person did this and this person did that, seeing each person as what they are… a person, a human being, a creation in the image of God, worth mentioning not for the color of his/her skin but for the mark they left on this world while they walked in it.
Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: The Day’s Climate: NYPD & Protests For Justice
I took the following photos during the day on weekends during this winter’s street protests in the city following both the grand jury’s in Ferguson, MO and NYC failing to indict officers in the killings of unarmed black males Michael Brown Jr. and Eric Garner.
The biggest difference between the two cases being one of the killings was actually captured on video in its ENTIRETY. There can be no justification or excuse as to why after seeing that video his killer is not charged but allowed to continue receiving a paycheck and go about his daily life.
We don’t condone the recent killings of two NYPD officers murdered in cold blood in their patrol car over the weekend. However, this is what was alluded to in previous posts. Now that killings of NYPD have happened people want to have “real serious dialogue” about race relations, the police, their interactions and policing of minority communities as well as Accountability.It’s important to note that with regards to Michael Brown Jr. he gets lumped in as a “man” even though he was only 18 yrs old because of his size, & ethnicity. Legally Michael Brown Jr. would be considered an adult at 18, but for all intents and purposes most reasonable people acknowledge that being 18 doesn’t make one a “man”. He was a kid. He was not perfect and he did make mistakes in his life as we all have.
The question is, does that mean he deserved to be gunned down in the streets like a wild animal and then be blamed for his death? With regards to 12 yr old Tamir Rice, there is no justification for gunning down a 12 yr old playing with a toy gun in 2 seconds. Can we recall a year hotter than 2014 for the police with the continued rampant reports of their killing of unarmed black males and youth?
Akai Gurley is yet another recent example. This man was shot dead in a stairwell by a police officer who then waited six minutes to call not an ambulance but his union rep while Akai lay dying. Tensions are boiling over and little is being done to quell the emotions of those who are unstable or unwilling to wait for the wheels of justice to turn in their direction especially when justice seems not to turn in their direction at all. Whether we like to admit it or not there has been a war waging for a long time against the disadvantaged and/or the poor. Addressing the symptoms or consequences of inequality, prejudice as well as injustice, instead of the source of these issues is part of the problem. The question is where does NYC and the nation at large go from here?
All images are the property of THEJNSREPORT.com (c) 2014
It’s hard to believe that 13 years have past since the worst terrorist attack in U.S history took place. Us New Yorkers are especially aware of it when we think back to that awful day.
Everyone remembers where they were. I awoke that morning thinking I was watching a movie it was so surreal.
I remember my sister and I waking to the local news channels because the signal for the other stations were knocked out due to their broadcast coming from the antenna at the World Trade Towers.
My thoughts immediately turned from shock to horror when I saw the Towers fall. Psychologically, it was a devastating blow to see those massive buildings and all those lives lost in one moment.
Retribution was called for and in the blindness of people’s rage and desire for someone to pay, we the American people were deceived into waging two wars in two different countries (Afghanistan and Iraq) simultaneously.
A non substantiated link was fostered by the media utilizing public outrage to invade a sovereign country in Iraq. It seemed “2 birds with 1 stone” was the strategy of the day. To this day no “Weapons of Mass Destruction” were ever found in Iraq. Government apologists stepped forward to say what we “did and didn’t know at the time” in the aftermath.
All we kept hearing initially, was Osama Bin Laden and his terrorist organization Al Qaeda did it. Then it became Al Qaeda is Iraq too. “Let’s go get em in Iraq”. Those of us who said hold on, wait a minute, let’s think this through were vilified and labeled as anti-American or non patriotic.
This is the danger when we surrender our ability to think and process information rationally and logically. Information is power and those who control the information have the power.
Misinformation allowed the U.S to go further into debt to oppress other people in the name of “freedom” and at the same time weaken the protections of the citizens rights here at home.
Since then we have seen the widespread abuses of our government against us the U.S people it is supposed to serve and protect. We are no longer secure in our persons.
We have no expectation of privacy when all of our communications are sifted, screened, and stored by our very own government intelligence agencies.
Eric Snowden’s exposure of this widespread surveillance proves that. His having to flee from the supposed “Land of the Free and Home of the Brave” tells us what’s really happening when the perpetrators of abuses into our privacy and lives can make him the bad guy for revealing the evil they are doing in the dark.
A steady disarm the public campaign has been underway leading to increased purchases for guns and ammunition. Problem, Reaction, Solution has not stopped it is continuing and getting stronger each day. We now live in Orwellian times.
The foot prints of the two World Trade Towers are visual and visceral reminders of a horrible day in American history. The new “Freedom Tower” erected in their place gives others a sense that we have built back better and stronger than before the attacks.
In my mind I see two towers symbolic of world financial power destroyed as the precursor to the unveiling of really what it has been all along, one power source. The design of the building shows this if you look at it closely. The two buildings are merged together as pieces forming one structure.
Today Isis or “The Islamic State” is emerging as the new most dangerous enemy and “face of terror” on the world stage.
The destruction of ideology today is at the forefront on the news. You can’t kill an idea or can you? Bombing people breeds a self defense ideology, it breeds those who would quickly join up with an extremist group to exact retribution.
Indiscriminent bombings overseas don’t get as much notice as it should. Many of us citizens are unaware of what our troops are doing overseas. Many of us don’t see the cost of war, we’re comfortable, and as long as we are safe, generally we don’t care.
Since 9/11 a massive war on the American people has steadily been waged. Our civil liberties have been chipped away at and disregarded as relics of an ancient and primitive people.
We are being conditioned to accept whatever “authority” tells us simply because they are in a position of power. The narrative as to whom the enemy is constantly changes. There’s an ever present atmosphere of fear permeating throughout the world (not unlike that in the film The Lord of THe Rings).
I’ve heard people say they believe we the people should “give up our liberty for freedom”. That in an off itself is repugnant and dumb at best because liberty is synonymous with freedom. America today in only a few ways resembles the great country/nation the founding fathers envisioned.
I pray to God to guide our leaders going forward. I pray for the families of the victims of 9/11 and I pray for us human beings in the world as a whole. We are lost without God. Proof is in the pudding. Look at what is happening everyday all around us.
Still believe the Devil isn’t real or that God doesn’t exist? Think again.