August 2011
74 posts
Aishah Shahidah Simmons on HealthQuest Live with...
Today (August 23, 2011) at 12pm (est), Aishah Shahidah Simmons will be the featured guest on Sara Lomax-Reese’s HealthQuest Live on 900AMWURD.com.
We’re planning to cover much ground with a range of related issues, including but not limited to Dominique Strauss Kahn’s case, my work with NO! The Rape Documentary within the context of my SlutWalk Philly participation… the release of Gloria: In Her...
Awkward Black Girl Creator Talks Hollywood, Race,...
“Since “The Help” came out, I’ve been reading lots of commentary about race, gender and Hollywood. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve read the phrase, “But we don’t support our own” in response to a critique of mainstream representation of black life, I could start my own studio. The defeatist idea here is that when “we” do manage to create quality, nuanced, authentic or heroic stories,...
I Am Not A Slut by "hassopheret"
“It’s taken me a while to think through my response to Slut Walk, the anti-rape and anti-harrassment marches in which some/many women dress as sluts to make the point that nothing a woman or girl wears (or doesn’t wear) makes it acceptable for her to be raped. (While not denying the experience of male rape, the Slut Walk phenomena is a woman/girl movement in response to...
Facebook, (FYI), rape jokes are NOT okay...
Dear Facebook,
Rape jokes are absolutely positively NOT OKAY.
We do not need to lighten up about rape jokes…
WE NEED TO STOP RAPE!!!
http://ht.ly/1elTSp via @safercampus
Please Report Racist & Sick page to Facebook
PLEASE REPORT RACIST & SICK Facebook page that has pictures of black men hanging from a tree. Visit page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Liberalism-The-Assholes-of-America-/110508072384202
and on left, click “report to Facebok.” It’s a page that’s promoting hate speech.
“”Audre Lorde spoke” without concern for the accusations,...”
– http://www.spirithouseproject.org/
“8 American children were killed in the 9/11 attacks, 1.5 million Iraqi and...”
– Statistics via @IsisPaperzZ via @InjusticeFacts
(In my mind’s eye, NO human being should be killed for ANY reason whatsoever. There is something very, very disturbing about the extreme difference between the number of American children killed because of the 9/11 attacks and the number of...
“Janet (Jackson) paying homage to Britney (Spears) is like Shirley Chisholm...”
– Son of Baldwin in response to “Brittney Spears Tribute planned for MTV Video Music Awards” headline…
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Katrina. I ain't forgot.
newmodelminority:
All I remember was those bodies floating in that water, on the tv
In the student lounge
52 inch screen
Bodies
Swollen with death.
29 tags
I'm 'Help(ed)' Out And Yet, I Still Have Some...
By Aishah Shahidah Simmons
There have been numerous primarily Black feminist critiques of both the book and the film ‘The Help’. Most of the critiques deeply resonate with my feelings about both entities. Since it’s official release on August 10, 2011, I’ve dedicated probably too much time to reading and reposting many of the critiques by both Black and White women. While I’ve shared some of my...
“When you are lonely, learn to experience your loneliness as one of many human...”
– Charlotte Sophia Kasl, Ph.D.
“All conditioned things are impermanent
Their nature is to arise and pass away....”
– Gautama (Sakyamuni) Buddha
“Help! I am so tired of The Help. So much of our best energy and reflection used...”
– Ruby Sales, Co-Director/Founder, The Spirithouse Project
“…My goal is to step into necessary solidarity with black feminists, who...”
– Susannah Bartlow from her essay “Reading ‘The Help’”
READ IN ITS ENTIRETY HERE
» http://susannahbartlow.blogspot.com/2011/08/reading-help-reposted-from-facebook.html
Reading "The Help" by Susannah Bartlow
http://susannahbartlow.blogspot.com/2011/08/reading-help-reposted-from-facebook.html
My question, therefore, is no longer whether black and white women can be friends, but why do we perpetuate the silence between us? Why do we allow our shared history to remain buried when understanding how that history has devastated all our lives might help us to comprehend and overcome the racism and...
“The (SEVENTH GRADE) girl says she was made to write an apology note to her...”
– School Reportedly Made Girl Write Apology To Her Alleged Attacker
“My personal favorite: “If you close your eyes and wish really hard, Minny...”
– “Recipes For Shit Pie As Inspired By The Help”
http://jezebel.com/5831791/recipes-for-shit-pie-as-inspired-by-the-help
“…After analyzing the calls, the researchers identified a five-step process...”
– JAILHOUSE PHONE CALLS REVEAL WHY DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS RECANT
Read in its entirety: HERE> http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/vicrecant.htm
“The perspective I take (in my article on ‘The Help’) is informed by...”
– Stephanie M. Crumpton
Read her insightful article, which shifts ‘The Help’ lens from Black womanhood onto White womanhood. >http://www.urbancusp.com/newspost/the-help-and-white-female-identity/
“Hollywood’s view of the world is that there is a struggle between good...”
– Michael Simmons, Co-Director of Raday Salon
Supporting The Crisis Magazine
Over the years, I’ve dropped so many subscriptions to mainstream magazines because I was tired of being maligned, sometimes even in metaphorical Black face.
Rather than focus on the negatives, I want to uplift, pay homage, and celebrate The Crisis Magazine. Founded 101 years ago by W.E.B. DuBois as the premiere crusading voice for civil rights, The Crisis magazine is still on the cutting edge of...
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“When a woman enjoys her sexuality without hurting anyone else, but someone finds...”
– “Kat,” Slut-Shaming vs. Rape Jokes (via inherhipstheresrevolutions)
“…There is nothing glorious about cleaning up after dirty people and...”
– Excerpt from Joyce Ladner’s, Ph.D., wonderful and poignant No Thanks Kathryn Stockett, I don’t want to be The Help
http://theladnerreportblog.blogspot.com/
“…In real life, after appropriating the voice of working class Black women,...”
– excerpt from Duchess Harris’ “Kathryn Stockett Is Not My Sister and I Am Not Her Help,” in The Feminist Wire
READ in its entirety HERE: >http://www.thefeministwire.com/2011/08/12/kathryn-stockett-is-not-my-sister-and-i-am-not-her-help/
“The first two chapters {of The Help} were written in the voice of a Black maid...”
– excerpt from Duchess Harris’ “Kathryn Stockett Is Not My Sister and I Am Not Her Help,” in The Feminist Wire
READ in its entirety HERE: >http://www.thefeministwire.com/2011/08/12/kathryn-stockett-is-not-my-sister-and-i-am-not-her-help/
On ‘The Help’ And Moral Reckonings by Alyssa... →
“…But other than a mention of unenforced minimum-wage laws and a scene of the aftermath of Medgar Evers’ murder, the movie is disengaged with the public legal framework that let white women treat their white servants dreadfully in private. In The Help, whether you’re black or white, liberation’s just a matter of improving your self-esteem…” ~ Alyssa Rosenberg
READ HERE:...
The Help Inspires HSN Collection →
“What are they selling? Bullets, rape kits, nooses, tear-stained blouses, men’s dress shirts with blood spattered on them? Exactly which pieces from this time in US history are going to be sold on the HSN? Are they going to bottle up the essence of fear, terror, and humiliation in 6oz bottles and sell them as a fragrance trio gift set. What the hell is going on?” ~ Patricia...
“Over the past two almost three days, I’ve read some amazing critiques of...”
– Aishah Shahidah Simmons
“…The Help” should really be called “Seeing the Help.”...”
– Rebecca Wanzo’s Huffington Post Blog “Love ‘The Help,” but Please Stop Asking Me To Do The Same”
Read the article HERE>: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-wanzo/the-help-movie_b_925550.html
“…The morning following my rape, I went back to where the school housed us...”
– No One Is Free While Others Are Oppressed ~ August 6, 2011 SlutWalk Philadelphia Speech
Read entire speech: >http://afrolez.tumblr.com/post/8832805296/no-one-is-free-while-others-are-oppressed-august-6
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No One Is Free While Others Are Oppressed ~ August...
http://notherapedocumentary.org/no-one-is-free-while-others-are-oppressed-slutwalk-philadelphia-speech
“Those of us who stand outside the circle of this society’s definition of acceptable women; those of us who have been forged in the crucibles of difference – those of us who are poor, who are lesbians, who are Black, who are older – know that survival is not an academic skill. It is learning how...
Melissa Harris Perry Breaks Down The Help:... →
“{The Help} is ahistorical and deeply troubling,” she argued, to make the suffering of these laborers a backdrop for a happy story. But there was a silver lining to the film, and Harris Perry concluded on a good note: actress Viola Davis’s buzz was well-earned. “What kills me,” she concluded, “is that in 2011 Viola Davis is reduced to playing a maid.” ~ Melissa Harris-Perry
View/Listen/Read in...
Chocolate Breast Milk: A Review of The Help by... →
“…I write about working class Black folks and domestics in my own fiction constantly, so in this case, it’s not the story of Black domestics that I resent–or that the story the movie is based on was written by a White woman. And I don’t resent seeing Black women looking unglamorous in frumpy uniforms onscreen. I’m not embarrassed by them. Why should I be, when I’m related to women just...
Association of Black Women Historians' "Open...
An Open Statement to the Fans of The Help:
http://www.abwh.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2%3Aopen-statement-the-help&catid=1%3Alatest-news On behalf of the Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH), this statement provides historical context to address widespread stereotyping presented in both the film and novel version of The Help. The book has sold over three...
Black Domestic Worker Solving Mysteries. Not quite... →
Oh My Goddess, how could I forget the Blanche series by the wonder-full Barbara Neely who is a fierce Black woman author/activist …. I own every single book. It has been many years since I read them but YES, YES, YES!
montesireland:
Several weeks ago, I was doing some internet research on the book The Help because 1) the buzz around the book had me curious and 2) I heard it was being...
“…In 1963, when much of (The Help) movie takes place, Charlayne Hunter, the...”
– Valerie Boyd in her SPOT ON film review: “The Help,” a feel-good movie — for white people”
Read the entire article here: http://www.artscriticatl.com/2011/08/film-review-the-help-a-feel-good-movie-for-white-people/
Black leaders give 'The Help' a hand in marketing →
WOW! My expectations are still TOO high for the NAACP. SMDH
Will SOMEONE PLEASE TELL the NAACP that…
“The Masters Tools Will NEVER (EVER) Dismantle The Masters House”~ Audre Lorde
The Real & Fictionalized Lives/Struggle/Triumphs...
Following are Melissa Harris-Perry’s reading suggestions for those interested in the lives, struggles, triumphs, of Black women domestic workers:
Tera Hunter “To Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors after the Civil War” http://amzn.to/nWSL6M
Micki McElya “Clinging to Mammy: The Faithful Slave in the 20th Century” http://amzn.to/oXLj02
...
“The Help” reduces systematic, violent racism, sexism & labor...”
– Melissa Harris-Perry
“…Instead, The Help claims to represent an “untold story” through the genre...”
– Why I’m Not Looking Forward To The Help by Jennifer Williams
Read the entire article: http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/08/10/why-im-not-looking-forward-to-the-help/
“The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class-it...”
– HAPPY BIRTHDAY ~ Anna Julia Hayward Cooper, Ph.D. (August 10, 1858 – February 27, 1964) was an author, educator, speaker, and one of the most prominent African American scholars in United States history.
“I’m that anomalous Black woman who is neither a Michelle Obama nor a...”
– Imani Perry, Brilliant Sister/Scholar/Activist, speaks my mind and my politic. THANK YOU, Sis!
“In one NBC report, a young man in Tottenham was asked if rioting really...”
– Thank you Darryl Jordan and Roxanne Lawson for sharing this sobering and yet poignant quote. 