Eunice Johnson Brought Style to the Hood

 Eunice Johnson founder of the Ebony Fashion Show died Monday. She brought style to places that had only seen real fashion in magazines. She went to the fashion houses in Europe when the only black people they had seen before were coming to clean up. She was a strong black woman with an incredible vision. “Johnson had been the director and producer of the Ebony Fashion Fair since 1961. The traveling high fashion charity event that showcases black designers and models is staged in nearly 200 cities each year. Ads for the show have featured singer Aretha Franklin, and actor Richard Roundtree made his debut as a model with the show.”* The fashion show was also a money making vehicle for black fraternities, sororities and historically black colleges. “Along with her husband, Johnson developed a popular makeup and skin-care line — Fashion Fair Cosmetics — specifically for women of color. The products are sold in many high-end department stores. She was a secretary-treasurer of Johnson Publishing, which produces JET and Ebony, two of the longest-running black-oriented magazines in the country. Mrs. Johnson has always been a woman ahead of her time,” the publisher said. Mrs. Johnson made a tremendous impact on the fashion industry, showcasing the best in style on African-American models of various shapes, sizes and skin tones.”* This fall the decision was made to cancel the annual fashion show. It was very expensive to put on this travelling fashion show and Ebony magazine could no longer support the endeavor. I had the opportunity to see the show years ago and it was wonderful to not only see traditional models, but this show featured full-figured models when other fashion shows shunned them. Mrs. Johnson was a true visionary. Mrs. Johnson also worked with her late husband John Johnson who founded and published Ebony and Jet magazine.  These magazines were once the only place where black people were celebrated. The magazines chronicled the struggles of segregation, the civil rights movement and more recently the candidacy of Barack Obama.  Mrs. Johnson did it all with style and grace and we will never see another like her.

*Associated Press

President Obama’s Approval Rating Dips Below 50% and I Know Why

When President Obama was elected last year we believed things were going to change. He talked about how he was going to change the way Washington did business. He was the idealistic former community organizer with a real vision for the country.  He assembled a powerful coalition of progressives, minorities and people who had long given up on changing the system from the inside. He talked about universal healthcare, ending the war in Iraq and finding a way to combat unemployment. Now we sit here a year later and we can hardly recognize the man we voted for last fall.  The president has compromised on the healthcare bill to the point that it is no longer reform. It has become less about healthcare and more about the 2010 election. Healthcare has dominated the political dialogue for months while other pressing issues have been put on the back burner. President Obama set a hard deadline for getting the healthcare bill passed and in doing so he and his team have created a bill that will not offer healthcare to every one.  President Obama also will be remembered for the bank bailouts. The banks were too big to fail so we had to bail them out. Obama told us if we did not unemployment would skyrocket. Well we did it but unemployment skyrocketed anyway, and those same banks developed new ways to stick it to the consumers.  So what was the point? Unemployment in the black community is close to 20%. The Congressional Black Caucus is asking the president to really look at ways to help the community, but the president’s response is if the economy gets better it will help everyone. The black community is literally bleeding and the president is denying a transfusion and only offering a bandage. The black community was firmly behind him during the election. No one expected 40 acres and a mule but we never expected to be ignored or placated. President Obama’s approval rating has dropped below 50% for the first time and it really is no surprise. In his effort to appeal to the right he has run from his base. He is no longer dancing with the one that “brung him.” and that is sad.  Hopefully, he will enjoy this term because he can not keeping ignoring us and expect us not to ignore him in 2012.

By 2020 There Will be No Black Middle Class

 Over the past few years we have seen the black middle class gradually diminish. In the good old days blacks had jobs at the steel mills, auto industry and the post office. If you worked for either of these industries folks would say “he’s got a good job.” Blacks were able to buy homes and send their children to college. My dad worked for the post office and he was proud to write that college tuition check, but we live in a very different time. Those days of good jobs have given way to no jobs. The steel mills closed and some have moved over overseas, the auto industry collapsed and the post office is on life support. The American unemployment rate is 10%, it is over 18% for black men, and a staggering 35% for young black men. The black middle class is slowly disappearing. It is hard to keep hope alive when all you see is hopelessness. It is hard to dream. So many will defer their dreams and merely try to survive, but Langston Hughes told us so poignantly what happens to a dream deferred. “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore– And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over– like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?”

“Tiger, How Many White Women Does A Brother Need? “

Last week Black radio had a field day with the Tiger Woods scandal. All of the women that claim to have slept with Woods are white which begs the question “how many white women does a brother need?” The interesting thing about Woods is he never has truly identified with the black community, but the community gladly claims him.  “On the nationally syndicated Tom Joyner radio show, Woods was the butt of jokes all week. Joyner said “Thankfully, Tiger, you didn’t marry a black woman. Because if a sister caught you running around with a bunch of white hoochie-mamas,” one parody suggests in song, she would have castrated him. The parody went on to say “The question everyone in America wants to ask you is, how many white women does one brother waaant?” The Woods situation is really not a racial issue. Woods has a right to his preference and obviously he is attracted to white women, but the real problem with Woods is he was attracted to multiple women and he already had a wife. A sister of one of the women said Woods used to treat her sister like a “piece of meat”, what did she expect? This man was not looking for a relationship he was looking for more conquests and to be on his dance card you needed to be white, but I would not call him a racist I would simply call him a dog.

Hair Looks Good, Body Not so Good there Might be a Solution

 Chris Rock recently produced the movie Good Hair. In it he talked about black women’s obsession with their hair. A great deal of the movie was devoted to hair weaves, but many black women struggle with other aspects of their hair. One thing we avoid like the plague is “sweating our hair back”. Most black people know what I mean. It is when you exert yourself a little too much you and your hair becomes wet with sweat, and it literally starts rising. This happens whether your hair is permed or natural and it is something that most of us avoid. Today I was sent an interesting article from AARP which discussed black women and their aversion to exercise. “AARP finds that for many African American women not being able to manage their hair style is a key barrier to exercise. The report suggests that brisk walking for 10 minutes at a time, for a total of 150 minutes a week, can keep Black women active and alleviate some of the hair issues that come with more vigorous workouts. AARP held focus groups with African American women aged 45+ and African American hair stylists. Black women said they avoid physical activity that makes them perspire because it gets their hair wet, which ruins a hairdo and can present a large disruption to their daily schedules.” AARP fitness expert Donna Richardson Joyner said that she wishes African American women would take care of their bodies like they take care of their hair.” Joyner went on to say, “you have to have balance … your hair cannot be an excuse to keep you from working out.” Our physical health has to become as important as our hair and for some of us that is a tall order, but it is not impossible and if we want to avoid being a sad statistic we had better buy a sweatband and start ‘Sweating to the Oldies.’ For more information on health-related issues go to http://www.aarp.org/aarp/black_community/

Magic Throws Isiah Under the Bus in His New Book

Back in the day there were never two basketball players as close as Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas. They were closer than most and all of a sudden they weren’t. Johnson has written a new book When the Game Was Ours and he details why their friendship is over. He claims Thomas spread rumors that he was gay after he announced he was HIV positive in 1991. Thomas denies this allegation. Johnson also said that he was one of the players on the 1992 Olympic team that blackballed Thomas. Johnson said “I’m sad for Isiah. He has alienated so many people in his life, and he still doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand why he wasn’t chosen for that Olympic team and that’s really too bad. You should be aware when you’ve ticked off more than half of the NBA.” Thomas said “I wish he would have called me. I always believed that our friendship was good and close enough that we wouldn’t have to talk about this stuff in such a public venue.” All of the allegations might be true. Thomas has had his share of problems since his glory days with the Detroit Pistons including failed coaching jobs and sexual harassment allegations that led to his dismissal from the Knicks, but is this any way to treat friend, or a former friend? If Johnson had beef with Thomas there have surely been times when he could have shared those feelings with him in private, but then there would be no profit in doing it that way.

Spike Lee Calls Tyler Perry Shows “Buffoonery”

Tyler Perry will be profiled this Sunday on 60 Minutes.  During the interview CBS correspondent Byron Pitts reads a quote for director Spike Lee.  Lee has dismissed Tyler Perry’s TBS sitcoms “Meet the Browns” and “House of Payne” as “coonery and buffoonery.” Perry takes offense to Lee’s assessment, but is it true? Perry claims the characters depicted in his sitcoms do exist and he has the ability to use the characters to share a bigger message. The bigger question is why do we spend so much time obssessing over Perry’s sitcoms? We do this because his shows are the only black shows on television. Sure you might find a black character here or there, but you will not find any other series. Perry’s depictions might not inspire as much ire if there were other shows showing intelligent black people living their lives without a laughtrack. Perry has tapped into something, but is this a case of people laughing at us and not laughing with us.

Morehouse Men Don’t Wear Pumps

Yesterday a friend of mine was talking about the Morehouse dress code. Morehouse is an all male college with a long tradition of producing great men who have helped change the world. One of their most esteemed graduates was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  Morehouse was the place to go when so many learning institutions were not opening their doors to intelligent black young men. I know many Morehouse men who have gone on to brilliant careers in business, medicine and law. Morehouse has issued some new rules that outlaw a number of different things that include no doo-rags, no pajamas, no low riding jeans that expose your underwear, no decorative dental grills and no pumps? The no pumps issue is the part of the dress code that had my friend steamed. Young black men have been committing these infractions for years, but it seems the women’s clothing issue is the catalyst for the crackdown.  The code is in effect even when the students are not attending classes. “Senior Devon Watson said he disagrees with parts of the new policy, especially those that tell students what they should wear in free time outside of the classroom.  I feel that there will be a lot of resentment and backlash.  It infringes on the student’s freedom of expression.” One does have to wonder is this dress code a little Draconian?  The mindset articulated by the college is that they are preparing these young men for life in the corporate world, and on the surface that is a good thing, but are we really talking about issuing a long list of rules, but really wanting to address a small segment of the student population, and that is the gay population.  The college admits this is partially in response to the gay students dressing habits. “The dress-wearing ban is aimed at a small part of the private college’s 2,700-member student body, said Dr. William Bynum, vice president for Student Services. We are talking about five students who are living a gay lifestyle that is leading them to dress a way we do not expect in Morehouse men,” he said.”* So they outlaw things that they have accepted for years, but they just say no to pumps and purses. Is this just enforcing the rules or is this enforcing a bias?

*AOL News

Floating Balloons, Squabbling Gosselins Are All News, but Mitrice Richardson Has Been Missing for a Month and That’s Not News

 This morning I am mad. I am mad that the cable networks watched a balloon glide across the skies for 5 hours yesterday. Finally the balloon lands and we find out the missing boy was at home all the time. We have endured the battling Gosselins as they squabbled over money. Jon and Kate have been interviewed by every media outlet except probably the Disney channel. Both of these stories have received maximum media coverage. In the case of the balloon boy his story has received attention before, during and now after the event, but are either of these stories really news? Who determines what warrants this kind of coverage? Have you ever heard of Mitrice Richardson of California she is a 24 year old black woman who was arrested September 17th at a Malibu restaurant when she did not have enough money to pay her bill. The police searched her car and found a small amount of marijuana. The car was impounded and she was taken to the police station. She was released at about 1a.m. and she has not been seen since. Yesterday an estimated 2 million dollars was spent on the search for balloon boy. The happy ending the boy was home in a box, but Richardson has been missing for almost one month and her story might not end so happily, but maybe if this story could get ½ as much media attention as balloon boy her parents might at least get closure.

Does Chris Rock’s Good Hair Start A Conversation We Don’t Want to Have?

Over the past few weeks I have seen Chris Rock sit down with Oprah and talk about his new movie. By now we all know the story Rock’s daughter supposedly admired her white friend’s hair just a little too much. Thus, the beginning of his odyssey into the hair industry. He traveled throughout beauty shops and barber shops having conversations with women and hair care professionals. So what does he learn? We spend a lot of money on our hair, but is this a bad thing? No if you like what you are doing and can afford it than it’s really nobody’s business, but as far as this new conversation is concerned I’ve got some reservations. Why would I want to admit to anyone that I have hair weaved into my own hair? Do we ask people if their teeth are real or are they dentures or implants? Do we ask men is their hair black or do they dye it? Rock is over 40 he might be a candidate for that question. My point is this somethings are not your business. If someone wants to walk around with hair an inch long on Monday, and down their back on Friday if you want to comment just say it looks nice. If you can’t say anything good say nothing at all. Don’t make the observation statement, “look at your hair”. That’s not a compliment. If they want to discuss their hair with you fine, but I suggest that if you are not the one wearing the weave that you not be the one to start the conversation. This conversation has the potential to go seriously wrong very quickly.