All Money Ain't Good Money- The Continued Devaluation of Black Women in Pop Culture and Society

ALL MONEY AIN'T GOOD MONEY!ALL MONEY AIN'T GOOD MONEY, I GUESS?
by Pearl Jr.

We all know what a sensation Dreamgirls is. Even though the story doesn't have the ever-lacking promotion of long lasting Black love, it is still a well-delivered theatrical play that transitioned into a major motion picture just a mere 25 years after it's Broadway launch in 1981.The proverbial "we" isn't the "we" that usually applies. Did "you" realize that the launching of this movie that features an Oscar winning Best Actor (Jamie Foxx), a veteran box office leading man (Eddie Murphy), a world renowned superstar that many consider the most beautiful woman in the world (Beyonce Knowles), a finalist in the number 1 rated TV show American Idol (Jennifer Hudson), and was a successful Broadway musical, winning over 13 major awards that tells the story of the number 1 successful independent record company in the history of music, doesn't have nationwide big screen saturation? Seems ridiculous and counter-productive, right?Well Dreamgirls, the movie, first launched to a few screens on December 15, 2006 and then was again minimally released on Christmas Day to only 852 theaters. All movies of this caliber are released in no less than 3,700 theaters, but Dreamgirls can only been seen by 25 percent of the American public. Furthermore, why do the promotional posters display these fabulous women's backsides and not their beautiful faces along with their figures?Now to add to this dysfunctional marketing campaign, the confusion continues. Since Dreamgirls has smashed the per audience average take of around $7,000 per screening with a whooping $20,000 average per screening revenue's bonanza, Paramount is now releasing it in less than 50 percent of the country on January 12, 2007, totaling around 1900 theaters nearly a full month after it's official launch date. Furthermore, due to it's limited release, Dreamgirls couldn't attain the coveted NUMBER 1 MOVIE IN AMERICA title even if it sold every seat in every theater, plus the soundtrack, too, was destined not to attain the other number 1 spot on soundscan (currently number 3) that it would have surely reached if the movie had full distribution.I'm totally NOT understanding the thinking of the movie executives here. I guess, just like in the game of dominos, "all money ain't good money", if there is another strategy in play. Why else would they cut their own profits? Why are they holding back on saturating the entire U.S. of A with such a blockbuster film? Aren't "we" always hearing that racism is a thing of the past? If racism is really gone, then it couldn't possibly be due to this movie being a "BLACK" movie, because Pursuit of Happyness (featuring just one proven Black star, Will Smith) was released in nearly 3,000 theaters? It's because it's a "Black female" movie in which Black men are assisting Black women in a traditional sense.Let's be frank here, Black women are under attack everywhere in the media to being unloved and single. The Black woman is a target to being completely devoid of any attribute that is redeeming or the Black woman is virtually missing, especially in the life of a Black man on the big screen or the little screen in our own homes. Then check out the trailers for Cedric the Entertainer's new movie, "The Cleaner" that features ALL non-Black women as his co-stars. I wonder how many theaters this movie will be in?The media saturation of calling Black women bi-atches, hos, and the most ridiculous gold diggers (65 percent of Black men who earn over $100,000 per year marry non-Black women) has gotten to be just a fallacy that intends to destroy the value of Black females in general. It has even gotten so bad that Black men who don't have any gold are labeling so-called desirable Black women, who may suggest a measly paid for meal on a first date (for Christ's sake), gold diggers.Ladies, the writing is on the wall and the process for our demise is truly underway. Just this morning, I read (TMZ.com) that Tyrese has allegedly punched his pregnant Black girlfriend (not wife, just like with Kim Porter, Diddy's long time girlfriend and mother of his son and twin daughters isn't good enough to marry either) TWICE. I guess baby's daddy is no longer a ghetto welfare momma thing—it's now widespread abuse (and abandonment) for a Black man to diss Black women, especially when she is in her weakest condition?To put the writing on the wall in big-ass neon lights; the children of famed, fortuned, and deceased celebrities like Richard Pryor's, Lou Rawls', and James Brown's children are having to go to court against White women (not their mothers) for their own father's inheritance is screaming and signaling an all out assault on the Black race's prosperity in general.
Racism is growing fast and quick, picking up steam at every turn. If you just scratch the surface and look to see how filthy your nails are.Coming soon, Eddie Murphy, Tyler Perry and Martin Lawrence will all be doubling as big fat loud angry Black women in their next films for everyone to laugh at. Damn, a real life hefty Black actress can't even get a job in today's world. It seems the mindset of the few that decide what movies get produced is really getting Black actors at a serious discount, making them play several characters for a similar fee.We, Black Women, must unite and boycott every single media image that is NOT in our BEST INTEREST and that includes ALL celebrities who have lost any type of respect or eyesight for us or don't care about our upward mobility as a whole.
I mean, Jermaine Dupree hasn't married Janet Jackson.Jay-Z apparently told Beyonce he needed more time before they wed. Reportedly, they were supposed to get married in November.Kelly Rowlands got embarrassed when her fiancée, just out of the blue, stopped the wedding plans after she was scheduled to be on the cover of a bridal magazine.I, also, was personally told by a Ciara insider that Bow Wow dawgged the beautiful and talented Ciara, and she didn't deserve it.

I could go on and on.
The reason why I bring up these high-profile celebrities is to prove that life is hard for Black women all around. If these successful, hard-working, rich, beautiful, great bodied Black women can't catch a break and have Black men love, honor, and cherish them, then we are all in a very challenging position.

Oh yea, even Oprah can't get Stedman to marry her, and she is the richest Black person in the world and generous too!

We are the ONLY us who are obligated to stop these half-positive, half-evil, half-man, half-parented, and temporarily loved media images that promote our own half-satisfied lives that are present IN EVERY BLACK MOVIE. We must no longer look the other way, we must no longer pretend it doesn't exist, we must no longer suffer from the it doesn't matter syndrome, we must no longer make excuses for Black men's deplorable behavior, and we must no longer say, it's just entertainment.
We must rise up together and stop this form of mental and emotional racial cruelty.I'm NOT suggesting that all Black men are deplorable. I'm rather asking for the men who always preach, "THERE ARE STILL GOOD BLACK MEN OUT THERE" to join in to help stop the complete destruction of the Black race family. WE do not have another minute to waste thinking this problem will be fixed by others, or it will just magically one day disappear. Our children are failing (over a million of them are living in 12 x 9 feet cages). Black people are poorer than any other race. We are simply not doing well as a race and our degradation must not be allowed to grow any more widespread with the media leading the charge.I'm doing my share to research valuable information for you. In return, all I'm asking is for you to circulate this information (and purchase my book), so that we can stop paying for our own demise and begin to appreciate those who take the risk to say the hard to expose realities of being Black American citizens.
WE, Black people, don't have to participate in a public march, confront the system, or put our jobs in jeopardy to make a difference. All we have to do is think about our BEST INTEREST before we spend our dollars, and then chose to support those of us who have dedicated their lives towards our upward mobility, SO WE CAN AFFORD TO DO THE HARD TO DO WORK.
It's called voting with our dollars, and today that's the ONLY vote that really counts.God Save Us because "Black Women Need Love, too!" The book is available on amazon.com. Order your copy today, so that I can continue to deliver to you the information that many of us are too busy to find.I'm going to love my people, even when a few people hate me for it!
BLACK WOMEN NEED LOVE TOO! AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM~ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY~PLEASE SPREAD THIS INFORMATION ALL OVER THE INTERNET, VIA YOUR ONLINE MAGAZINES, PERSONAL DATABASES, YOUR WEBSITES, YOUR WEBGROUPS, AND NEWSLETTERS.
Talk to your friends and tell them that we must stop financing our own pain and suffering like we did with rap crap!
If you repost this article, please be sure to link it to my website: http://www.blackwomenneedlovetoo.com/To hear a court played recording of a message from Lou Rawls' widow to his daughter, visit my website to listen to it in its entirety. Please be warned this is shocking and not suitable for everyone's state of mind.

A New Year

Newslinks for 1-5-2007:

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi said that this year is going to be a good year for the Democratic congress. Click here.

Current Color Q Pet Sins issue discusses cross-cultural interests and how those translate into respect for diversity and cultures. Click here.

Donna Britt wrote an article on coolness. Click here.

This is all I have for this week.

Gerald Ford, R.I.P.

Former president Gerald Ford dies at 93.

Former president Gerald R. Ford, who inherited the daunting task of calming a divided nation when he assumed the presidency at the height of the Watergate scandal, died Tuesday at the age of 93

More on the late Gerald Ford, please go to:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-12-26-ford-obit_x.htm

Bush Remembers Ford's Integrity
Ford pardon sealed Watergate shut
Important Dates in Ford's Life

USA Today's Tribute To James Brown

Here are several more James Brown tributes:

http://blogs.usatoday.com/listenup/2006/12/james_brown_a_2.html

http://www.newarkadvocate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061227/NEWS01/312270003

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2006-12-25-brown-obit_x.htm?csp=34

James Brown, R.I.P.

The Godfather of Soul James Brown died today at age 73. His music influenced generations of people around the world. Many artists today owe their success to Mr. Brown. His influences reached to funk, rap, R&B, rock, and hip hop. He is best known for his songs such as "Papa's gotta Brand New Bag", "A Man's World," "I'm Black and I'm Proud," "Living In America," "Please, Please, Please," among his many songs. May he rest in peace, always.

James Brown (1933-2006)


Links on the late singer James Brown:

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/entertainment/james_brown
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/scp_v3/viewer/index.php?pid=1
http://music.yahoo.com/ar-289615---James-Brown
James Brown's 'Soul on Top' Reissued
A Legend Dies from CNN News Network
The influence of soul 'Godfather'
James Brown Top 10 singles
James Brown- The Godfather of Soul Official Site

Bunch of Links 12-22-2006

Here are a bunch of links to various issues of the day:

On Blackprof.com, there are several postings regarding race, aesthethics and interracial marriage, esp. the one on Taye Diggs and Idina Menzel. Click here.
Then there's one on one grandmother's objection to the casting of a black dancer in a Christmas ballet, The Nutcracker. Click here.

Sailerfraud writes an entry on a xenophobic congressman who doesn't want to see Muslims aspire to higher political offices of this nation. Click here. The article also appears in Crooks and Liars. Check here.

David "the bigot" Yeagley is at it again with his bigotry and is lashing out at fellow Native Americans who don't share his racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, and misogynistic views he espouse on a daily basis on his website. The article at the counter-Yegley website is "What's Wrong With David?"

Xenophobes just can't take a break from their insecurities!

Mr. David "The Hater" Yeagley on Barack Obama

His stupidity gets worse every time he writes anything about people of Color. His latest target of hate is our Senator Barack Obama. He said, among many things, that he's not Black enough and that African-Americans and multiracial African Americans despise Africans. When did he get information like that? He got it from right wing conservatives anxious to divide and conquer people of Color. Here's his rant:

"The Obama Dilemma, the Obama Effect
The Democrat senator from Illinois, Mr. Barak Hussein Obama faces some interesting identity challenges. As Bad Eagle continues to examine the power of linguistics, the usurpation of words, and American political process and American society in general, Mr. Obama provides an opportunity to look at words and names even more closely.
Mr. Obama has been billed as an "African-American," but some commentators have noticed that this isn't exactly true, because Mr. Obama is half white. I say this is still missing the deeper point: Mr. Obama's father is Kenyan, that is African. From Africa. Even Sam Francis (VDARE.com) failed to make this point in his astute assessment of Mr. Obama. African-American, as used in this country, means American Negro--descendent of slave. This is a special heritage, not one that can be or should be manipulated. Mr. Obama is not "African-American" at all, in the American sense of the world. (And, after all, we are in America, lest we forget.)
On the other hand, Mr. Obama accentuates the fact that the name "African-American" for the American Negro is really a misnomer. American Negroes, for a number of generations now, are from America, not from Africa at all. They have no connect but for their genes. Most American Negroes know little or nothing about Africa, and couldn't care less, usually. (Some, like Keith Richberg, actually despise Africa.) "African-American" depicts no connection with Africa, but for historic origins of the race. American Negroes have outgrown all meaningful linguistic, religious, or cultural associations with anything nominally African. Their behavioral characteristics, though maintaining some possible similarities, have come to be understood as "American" Negroe, not African.
So, Mr. Obama is technically truly African-American, but in a sense of the word entirely foreign to way the American Negro uses the word. "

For more of his BS, click here.

Can he keep his pen to himself for once!

Rudy Youngblood

Awww... Isn't he just the handsomest new actor on the block? He's Rudy Youngblood in Mel Gibson's Apocalypto.

Already, we have some haters who are so jealous of him. David "the bigot" Yeagley is one. He's so resentful that a person of color is making it in Hollywood and is good-looking. He make so much of his race that he's blind to see talent when it's in front of him. So resentful that he writes not one, but two articles disparaging him.

Memo to Dave: If you don't have anything nice to say, be quiet and keep your evil thoughts to yourself. He's going to be a bigger star.

White Weddings- Part Two

Here are several links dealing with the ideology of white weddings:

Interview with Chrys Ingraham. Click here

Chrys Ingraham's book, White Weddings

An old Slate magazine article concerning the history of antimiscegenation laws in the United states at: White Weddings: The incredible staying power of the laws against interracial marriage.

An analysis on the the popularity of Western-style weddings at Westminster Papers. Click

here

The original ReviewJournal article on the lack of Black brides in bridal magazines. Click here.

Love Has No Color Website. An excellent website that has a wealth of resources regarding racial/ethnic intermarriage and its history in the United States.

Medieval Miscellany peers into class/gender aspects of marriage.

WHITE WEDDINGS

Here's an article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal saying that Brides of Color are rare in bridal magazines.



WHITE WEDDINGS: Bridal magazines reflect white world Study finds no black women on covers, fewer than 2 percent of brides in ads were black By LAWRENCE MOWER REVIEW-JOURNAL

UNLV assistant professor Erika Engstrom, above, along with University of Missouri assistant professor Cynthia Frisby, conducted a study that found that black brides are severely underrepresented in conventional bridal magazines. Photo by Craig L. Moran.
Thoughts of getting married generate images of white -- white dresses, white flowers and white wedding cakes.
But according to a recent study, they also generate images of white brides. White, thin and attractive brides, to be precise.


Women of different ethnic groups, particularly black brides, are continuously left out of advertising and content of the three major bridal magazines, creating a reflection of which group of people should get married in American society, according to Cynthia Frisby, an assistant professor at the University of Missouri at Columbia.
Frisby, along with Erika Engstrom, assistant dean of the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, conducted a study that found fewer than 2 percent of brides featured in the three major bridal magazines were black.
The sampling consisted of covers and advertisements in 57 randomly selected issues of Bride's Magazine, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride published between 2000 and 2004.
Of the more than 6,000 ads, fewer than 2 percent featured a black woman as a bride, the study found. No black woman was featured on the cover, and the most frequent image of a black woman in the magazines was as a bridesmaid.
The phenomena points to a larger problem in society and could have negative effects on black women, according to Engstrom.
"It kind of tells black women who is supposed to get married, and basically re-establishes the concept of a white wedding being white," Engstrom said.
Statistics show that black women are less likely to get married than other women.
According to a 2005 U.S. Census report, 43.4 percent of all black women have never been married, a rate that is far higher than for whites, Hispanics and Asians. The national average for women who have never been married is 25.8 percent. Figures from 2004 show that 12.8 percent of the U.S. population is black.
The study, published in the fall 2006 issue of the journal Media Report to Women, also says the lack of black brides in the magazines communicates "a negative assumption that it is better for African Americans to stay in background roles as opposed to positions equal in status and power to their White counterparts."
Bridal magazines, because they consist almost entirely of advertisements for dresses and other wedding products, are an accurate projection of what group of people businesses cater to, according to Engstrom.
"Bridal magazines are basically a specialized form of publication. It kind of tells us something about society in general."
The results were little changed since a similar study looked at bridal magazines in 1999, she said.

"Despite significant improvements in media representations of African Americans," the study stated, "images appearing in popular bridal magazines are fairly homogenous, and contribute to the notion African American women seem to be socially unimportant in this form of media."
Bridal magazines are available that cater to women of color, such as Brides Noir, but the report said those were insufficient and shouldn't be viewed as substitutes.
"We believe such demarcation between 'White' bridal magazines and 'Black' bridal magazines only emphasizes segregation of races," the report stated.
The study suggests advertisers, not readers, could be the only party interested in seeing only white brides.
"Whether bridal industry advertisers and those who publish bridal magazines believe this or not remains to be seen," the report stated.

For more reading on the racial/class/gender aspect of the bridal industry, please read Chrys Ingram's White Weddings.

Update: Keith Turner Sentenced

Keith Turner Sentenced to 90 Years in Prison
01:20 PM CST on Monday, December 11, 2006
From 11 News staff reports

A 17-year-old suburban teen was sentenced Monday to 90 years in prison in the brutal attack of a Hispanic boy who was beaten, kicked, stomped, burned and sodomized with the plastic pole of a patio umbrella.

For more information on the sentencing of the teen in the hate attack, please go to:

http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou061211_ac_turnertrial.1a991b54.html

He got what he deserved!

Links for 12-11-2006

Links for 12-11-2006:

Writer/activist Sonia Sanchez and ten grandmothers were arrested in Philly for trespassing while protesting against the war. Cindy Sheehan isn't the only one protesting against the war. Click here.

Dartmouth's Conservatives (Try to) Demonize Indians by Rob Schmidt

Read that, David Yeagley! Since he's too quick to judge other people except himself.

A suburb of Houston objects to the building of a mosque within the city limits. Click here.