The "PolitiChicks" l-r: Jennie Jones, Victoria Jackson, Jannique Stewart, and Ann-Marie Murrell
While visiting a conservative blog early last week, I learned of a new Internet talk show called "PolitiChicks". Headlined by former SNL-er and Tea Party darling Victoria Jackson and featuring Jennie Jones, Jannique Stewart and Ann-Marie Murrell, the show has been billed as a conservative alternative to The View.
The conservative blogger posted the 1st episode of "PolitiChicks" and it was even worse than I anticipated. In less than 15 minutes, the hosts managed to touch on practically every trait that currently passes for conservative "thought" in some circles (lies that an 8 year old could debunk, victimhood, projection, hypocrisy, etc.). You can judge for yourself here.
As bad as episode 1 of "PolitiChicks" was, I decided to watch further episodes because the program does have a "train wreck" appeal. In episode 2, the ladies delved into President Obama's citizenship:
At times, it's hard to tell if Victoria Jackson is serious or if she's pulling off a satirical mindfuck which would have made Andy Kaufman proud. When she proclaimed that the president's birth certificate contained a smiley face I was like, "Come on, she's got to be kidding!" Sadly, I don't think she is. Her "PolitiChicks" cohorts aren't any better. Outside of the lunatic fringe, there shouldn't be any question that President Obama was born in the United States.
Regardless of one's political viewpoint, I don't see how anyone can take "PolitiChicks" seriously. If conservative women feel they are underrepresented in the media, they have every right to make their voices heard. However, if "PolitiChicks" is the best they have to offer, it doesn't bode well for female conservatism.
Here is a clip from earlier this year in which President Obama has fun with the birther conspiracy.
Earlier this week, the anti-abortion group Life Always caught some flack for the above billboard which they put up in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan. The head of Life Always, pastor Stephen Broden (who is African American) said his group's intention was for the billboard to be provocative. Suffice it to say, they succeeded because the billboard has elicited both positive and negative reactions throughout the country. Here is a link to a story about the Life Always billboard.
Now a discussion about abortion, race, and the reasons women choose abortion is worth having. However, to say the womb is the most dangerous place for an African-American is over-the-top. To me and many others, the billboard is equating abortion rates among African-American women to genocide.
In terms of chances for survival, who would you bet on: an unborn African-American or me at a KKK meeting?
I was on another site that asked if black people and women in particular should be offended by what John Mayer said in his Playboy interview that sparked some debate.
The highlights of what he said (and mind you dude had a whole lot to say in that piece).
“…it’s sort of a contradiction in terms, because if you really had a hood pass, you could call it a nigger pass. Why are you pulling a punch and calling it a hood pass if you really have a hood pass? But I said, “I can’t really have a hood pass. I’ve never walked into a restaurant, asked for a table and been told, ‘We’re full.’”
“…it’s sort of a contradiction in terms, because if you really had a hood pass, you could call it a nigger pass. Why are you pulling a punch and calling it a hood pass if you really have a hood pass? But I said, “I can’t really have a hood pass. I’ve never walked into a restaurant, asked for a table and been told, ‘We’re full.’”
Now let me be put on record as saying this dude's ego is GARGANTUAN!!!
The balls on this dude are a sight to behold!
I thought I could be a grade A douche but this guy right here..........
But that at worst is all he is in my eyes, I looked at the context of what he said with the N word and I can not bring my self to be offended.
You can argue if he should have used the word, which he shouldn't have, but you cant argue about his "pass" black people have been handing out black cards to anyone of another race who acts like he can sit in a room full of black people and not squirm.
Remember Bill Clinton was the first "Black" President, I didn't give him that title but there was some sorry black who did because he gave off the appearance of addressing the needs of black people and acted like he listened.
Mayer has been cosigned by black artist who have appeared on his records and he vice verse, giving hime the street cred he wants so he can be hip and they getting a door open to "white" money.
No that is a symbiotic relationship right there.
The black women part....ehh here is the whole little bit he said on the subject,
PLAYBOY: Do black women throw themselves at you?
MAYER: I don't think I open myself to it. My d**k [penis] is sort of like a white supremacist. I've got a Benetton heart and a fu**in' David Duke c**k [another word for penis]. I'm going to start dating separately from my d**k (penis again).
PLAYBOY: Let's put some names out there. Let's get specific.
MAYER: I always thought Holly Robinson Peete was gorgeous. Every white dude loved Hilary from "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." And Kerry Washington. She's superhot, and she's also white-girl crazy. Kerry Washington would break your heart like a white girl. Just all of a sudden she'd be like, "Yeah, I sucked his d**k [penis yet another time]. Whatever." And you'd be like, "What? We weren't talking about that." That's what "Heartbreak Warfare" is all about, when a girl uses jealousy as a tactic.
This is t a little tough for me because unlike a lot of people out there I do not believe who you sleep with is a litmus test of your racial tolerance because you are attracted to your own kind does not mark you as the Grand Wizard of the KKK in my mind.
And because you like to give it to someone of anther race does not make you the second coming of MLK.
I think history has taught us that much.
So I cant work myself up to give this dude even a half a scowl.
No the real problem here isn't Mayer it’s black people, there is such a thing as a hood pass and there are fools giving them out with out vetting the person there giving it too.
There the ones cosigning and allowing the use of the word by whites because their buddies and everyone acts shock when things are taken too far.
There the hypocrites who call out a white dude for saying what some BLACK men have been saying, black men who they sit with and chat it up and call friends.
I didn't hear jack out their mouths when Young Berg came out his neck with I don't like dark Butts crack, or when Dave Chappelle talks side ways with the N word, ?uestlove genius ass sparked a race debate at the studios he worked for that got blamed on white people.
Naw, John Mayer ain't got jack to apologise for as usual it’s certain black people who keep throwing shade on themselves who need to be saying sorry.
John Mayer just has a big ego and I thank him for speaking his mind.
'Barbie So In Style' designer Stacey McBride-Irby. Photo courtesty of AP
In an effort to inspire young black girls and promote their self-images, Mattel launched its "So In Style" line of black Barbies last month. The dolls come in varying skin tones, have fuller lips, a wider nose and more pronounced cheek bones and two of them (Trichelle and Kianna) have curlier hair. This is a vast improvement over Mattel's previous attempts at creating a black Barbie (Francie and Christie were basically white Barbies painted brown). The designer of the dolls, Stacey McBride-Irby, said her goal was to address the needs of the African-American community.
While many black women have praised Mattel for the "So In Style" line, the dolls aren't without their detractors. There are some who have expressed concern over the fact that none of the dolls have shorter, natural hair. The thin frames of the dolls have also raised eyebrows (the unrealistic body image issue has been an ongoing criticism of Barbie, regardless of skin color).
Although the criticisms leveled at the "So In Style" line are valid, Ms. McBride-Irby did get many things right. In addition to the varying skin tones and facial characteristics, the line also stresses the importance of education/career aspirations and promotes mentoring among females.
The dolls are experiencing success already and there are plans to expand the line. Hopefully, the concerns raised will be addressed and we'll see "So In Style" dolls that look like this:
and this:
For more on the "So In Style Line", please click here to read the story by Megan K. Scott.
If you'd like to hear Barbie designer Stacey McBride-Irby discuss the "So In Style" line, you can do so by watching the following videos:
When I was younger me and the fellas would hang outside and catcall all the pretty girls that would walk by.
It was what young guys who had absolutely no game about themselves and nothing better to do did to try to get the attention of young women.
It is always done in groups where courage against what you didn't understand can be drawn from your buddies.
Back then the idea was to be funny, charming, persuading a girl to give you the attention you wanted and eventually those digits.
Rejection was part of the game and to save face a rude remark would go flying hard at the girl who dared turn her nose up a little too high at you.
But it was something on the lines of "you ain't all that anyway", a small measure to save face in front of your boys, who wouldn't hesitate to let you have it despite the fact that they too got shot down in other colorful forms.
That was about as far as it went though.
It was all part of growing up, boys figured out what worked and what didn't in the safety of their comrades and girls learned to be selective and to get tough.
My favorites were always the ones who had a slick mouth, shooting back comebacks as fast as I gave them.
It was all in fun then, when we were all feeling each other out.
That was then.
Somewhere between the 80's and 90's something changed drastically.
A cold blooded mean streak developed in some men, where women no longer became someone you won over but "something" you conquered.
It went from us getting with them into us vs them.
When women walk the street it is as if they are outsiders in who have to pay tribute before crossing into the territory that is man.
I to tell the truth have been completely oblivious to it, hell it has been awhile since I have seen it take place.
But by all accounts by women this goes on with the full gusto.
The topic has been brought up before by various bloggers with various degrees of effect on me.
Some of the writing and videos made me shake my head and wag my finger, shame on those bad men and just as quickly out of sight and out of my mind.
Others made me question the purpose of the video, as if it had a black male bashing agenda than an actual message of street harassment.
Either way I didn't get it, it didn't stick, it was something that happened "over there" so I had no reason to take it seriously, when I walk the streets with a woman I do not hear a sound, when i am not there I am not there.
That's how I felt about it till this old video popped up.......
This made me real uncomfortable because of the familiarity of the situation, this I understood completely better than any other public service video that was out there ranting against street harassment.
Reason why is because I have been in crowds like that, where packs of men would commit assault on women passing by.
Back in the 90's Atlanta had an event that started off as a quasi college spring break/roving block party.
It wasn't long before the name changed into Freaknik, a name to fit an event where men and women took flirting to extremes.
That was where I first saw a woman sexually assaulted, men surrounded a car where the girls were flashing them and proceeded to grope them through the window.
Things got out of hand quickly as the women went from laughing and teasing, to shock and fear at what was being done to them.
Windows were busted, the hood was dented in on their car, as men jumped on for a better view, a better reach.
The driver with fear in her eyes forced the car through the traffic and the crowd trying to make their escape.
I witnessed similar incidents like this all over the city during Freaknik, each year it got worse and the city finally had enough and did whatever they could to undermine the event, till it finally stopped.
But the truth was the cops didn't have to do a thing, women stopped feeling safe so they stopped coming.
It was as good as dead then.
Now this is an extreme version of street harassment, but it brought things into perspective, I understood that the catcalling was just a first step in the genesis of this behavior.
Now I am no psychologist or scholar that can explain how these actions by these men is a form of oppression against women.
How their assaults is a way to put fear in women's hearts and thus gain some type of control over them.
I can't break it down like that or understand it that way, I don't know that way.
But what I do know is thugs, Ive been surrounded by them all my life, I know how that mind works because my mind worked that way.
I understand this behavior for what it is, dominance, it is saying that no matter what you do, where you go, who you are with, you are beneath me.
You belong to me and I can do whatever I like to you no matter what.
You are my bitch in every definition of the term.
You can't get any simpler than that.
But I want you to remember that I used the word thugs to describe these men because those are the exact type of men who do this.
You see Freaknik didn't go to hell because of college boys with fast mouths and girls with short skirts, it went to hell the moment the men and women who didn't go to college showed up.
Older men and women who never went to college, but wanted to party, started showing up.
This was followed by teenagers skipping school to join in, then you had strippers, prostitutes, pimps, gang bangers, and drug dealers popping up looking to get paid.
It became a deviant gold rush, that's when thing got serious and very unsafe.
The reason I bring this up is that to solve a problem you have to address the cause, the disease if you will.
Let's be real here, women are not the problem, you can build up little girl's and women's self esteem all you want.
Have all the women rights organizations and girl gatherings you want, make all the videos, and blog all you want, scream to the high heavens about how bad these men are.
Tell yourself that you are in control of your life and you can do whatever you want.
But if men and particularly those type of men ain't listening then what?
If the "gold" standard of women, Michelle Obama, walked through that crowd of men in the above video she would have got groped like the rest of them.
Cause on the streets it is you and them.
That boys and girls is real.
The disease is not even black men but criminal black men, thugs, basic to poorly educated, lower working class to unemployed, men who grew up in neighborhoods where violence, crime and poverty were the norm.
Until those issues are addressed I don't believe street harassment is going anywhere, when you are at the bottom of the muck barrel of society you are going to look for anything or rather anyone to step on to make you feel that you are that much higher in the world.
And black women, no matter her status, is always seen as the stool for this purpose.
That's the way I see it, get men off the streets and you break the street mentality that is fed by their station in life and women can feel safer walking the streets than they do now, not much safer but safer nonetheless.
