Fatima
I am not a fan of Formula One racing but I started paying some attention when Lewis Hamilton shook up the rafters and brought some real excitement to the sport.
Hamilton, a 23 year old Black Briton, has however angered some Spanish fans who support his Spaniard team mate and rival, Fernando Alonso.
So what is a bigotted Spanish fan to do when your hero is left looking quite ordinary by a brilliant Black kid?
Well taunt him of course. And what better way to taunt him than by showing up in blackface and wooly wigs with shirts that read "Hamilton's Familly" (sic).
These bigots showed up on Saturday as Hamilton was testing at the Montmelo circuit in Barcelona.
Sad huh?
Hamilton says he is saddened by this behaviour. But he is not alone in facing this kind of racist abuse.
Sports figures who are not white are often racially abused at sporting events in Spain.
Last year there was a spate of racist insults at football (soccer) matches.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
La guayabita: Why Afro-Colombians Oppose the Colombia FTA
La guayabita: Why Afro-Colombians Oppose the Colombia FTA: "Marino Cordoba, founder of the Association of Internally Displaced Afro-Colombians (AFRODES), submitted this post as a guest blogger for The Hill.
The U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is considered a non-starter in the U.S. Congress because the country is the world’s deadliest for union activists. Less known, but equally disturbing is the systematic violence now confronting Afro-Colombians.
African descendants comprise 26% of Colombia’s population. As with other African descendants, we face racial discrimination which results in economic hardships far worse than those experienced by the average Colombian. However in Colombia, a vibrant 1980s civil rights movement won full recognition of our cultural rights and collective ownership and community control of our territories and natural resources. The 1991 Colombian Constitution and the landmark Law 70 explicitly enshrine these rights and recognize official democratic Afro-Colombian governance structures, similar to those of your Indian tribes."
The U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is considered a non-starter in the U.S. Congress because the country is the world’s deadliest for union activists. Less known, but equally disturbing is the systematic violence now confronting Afro-Colombians.
African descendants comprise 26% of Colombia’s population. As with other African descendants, we face racial discrimination which results in economic hardships far worse than those experienced by the average Colombian. However in Colombia, a vibrant 1980s civil rights movement won full recognition of our cultural rights and collective ownership and community control of our territories and natural resources. The 1991 Colombian Constitution and the landmark Law 70 explicitly enshrine these rights and recognize official democratic Afro-Colombian governance structures, similar to those of your Indian tribes."
Monday, February 04, 2008
Saturday, February 02, 2008
The Unbearable Whiteness of Fashion
Thanks, Ann.
Each year, Black women contribute to fashion and beauty industries in the amount of 40 billion dollars. We go to malls outside our communities to buy the latest in fashion. Are we going to believe the oft-repeated lie in the fashion industry that they can't hire a Black model because we're not profitable to the world?
The fashion and beauty industries are 75 years behind when it comes to race. People of Color make up 33% of America's population. Yet the fashion industry's runway and ad campaigns remained lily-white.
What about modeling agencies? Most of the modeling agencies are located in relatively affluent white areas and often dispatch modeling scouts to mainly white shopping centers and malls instead of cities and neighborhoods of Color to recruit models. What the industry wants to project is a false lily-white image of America to the world and most people fall for it.
The faux idea that white women are the epitome of beauty, virtue, and affluence is being exported to the far corners of the earth along with hateful images of Black women. This racist/misogynistic duality of women has harmed women in America and the world. The fashion industry wants to project the image of white models so that brainwashed and gullible public buy into the peculiarly American notion of the cult of white womanhood.
This is what the industry wants and prefer and want it to continue because the industry, like everything else is soak completely in the oil of racism/classism.
Each year, Black women contribute to fashion and beauty industries in the amount of 40 billion dollars. We go to malls outside our communities to buy the latest in fashion. Are we going to believe the oft-repeated lie in the fashion industry that they can't hire a Black model because we're not profitable to the world?
The fashion and beauty industries are 75 years behind when it comes to race. People of Color make up 33% of America's population. Yet the fashion industry's runway and ad campaigns remained lily-white.
What about modeling agencies? Most of the modeling agencies are located in relatively affluent white areas and often dispatch modeling scouts to mainly white shopping centers and malls instead of cities and neighborhoods of Color to recruit models. What the industry wants to project is a false lily-white image of America to the world and most people fall for it.
The faux idea that white women are the epitome of beauty, virtue, and affluence is being exported to the far corners of the earth along with hateful images of Black women. This racist/misogynistic duality of women has harmed women in America and the world. The fashion industry wants to project the image of white models so that brainwashed and gullible public buy into the peculiarly American notion of the cult of white womanhood.
This is what the industry wants and prefer and want it to continue because the industry, like everything else is soak completely in the oil of racism/classism.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Frank On TV
Frank testifies in the Nixzmary Brown trial of ... (more)
Added: January 31, 2008
Frank testifies in the Nixzmary Brown trial of Cesar Rodriguez
Black Inventors
Today is the first day of Black History Month. For today, I'll start with Black inventors since Blacks have contributed to American science and industry since its founding. Here are several links of bios of important inventors:
Black Inventors A-Z
Famous Black Inventors
Contemporary Black Inventors
Black Inventors A-Z
Famous Black Inventors
Contemporary Black Inventors
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