links for 2010-02-09
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"But now a Jewish D.J. in Brooklyn finds himself defending his right to market what he calls an 'Israeli remix of the keffiyeh,' featuring the Star of David.
"An article last week in the Abu Dhabi newspaper The National compared the effort by Jewish hipsters like Erez Safar to claim the keffiyeh for themselves as just the latest in a series of battles over symbols of Middle Eastern culture whose appropriation by Israelis has enraged Arabs."
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"The billboards — there are 65 now and will eventually be 80, Ms. Davis said — were created in conjunction with a new Web site, www.toomanyaborted.com, which says that all of Georgia’s abortion clinics are in “urban areas where blacks reside.” The Web site connects abortion to segregation, saying that after the civil rights era, racists went “underground,” and that today “abortion is the tool they use to stealthily target blacks for extermination.”
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"But now I think maybe Black stars should help African-American women release the hold that blond hair has had on us. It's not a natural hair color. It's not really a good look if you're over 30. It's not particularly healthy for your hair. We don't need the woes that blond hair brings. Black women, let's do something different."
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"Has anyone else noticed that a staple of many a vegan cookbook is a recipe for African Peanut Stew or African Yam Stew or something similar? I’ve also seen (though less frequently) recipes for, say, Asian-Style Tofu or whatever. I cannot recall ever seeing a cookbook featuring anything like European Bean Soup. Is it because to most vegan cookbook authors/food bloggers, it would be preposterous to assume that there is anything universal or overarching about the many countries that make up Europe, or their cuisines? And yet we don’t often see the same distinction granted to countries in Africa."
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"To be gay and Muslim, at times, people will say that it is an oxymoron. But in actuality, it’s a formulation that shows the diversity within Islam; that people can be a variety of backgrounds. The Quran says to look to the nature of the world. And from that, you can see the diversity and understand that Allah’s understanding of the world and the universe in which he created is full of diversity; but you find the oneness, the tauheed unification of all, through those various diverse aspects.”
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"I know that there are folks from all ethnicities who will be troubled by Scott Fujita claiming a Japanese American identity. But take a step back and think about the radical potential of not just what his adoption shows but why he identifies as he does. His adoption of a Japanese American identity isn't just about eating white rice (as he says in the above video) or about having Asian aesthetic objects in his home (as this ESPN piece was surprised that he doesn't, until getting to his home office and seeing a large sculpture). Scott Fujita's adoption of a Japanese American identity seems as much rooted in a history of social justice causes as a celebration of culture, born out of his deep love and connection with his family."
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"Unfortunately, the civil rights movement has often lagged on the question of women’s equality even as it has led the nation on matters of race. Much of the blame for this must be borne by the religious institutions that have played a predominant role in the struggle for racial justice. Until recently, most black churches refused to grant women leadership roles, depriving them of the platform that so many black men have used to rally followers and challenge injustice."
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Celeste wrote:
Re: black blonds. I’m kinda ambivalent about it. I think it’s sad that such a high percentage of the performers went blond. I don’t think it looks natural for most black women and I wish people would stop catering to this beauty ideal. However, I have natural blond hair that I’ve been complemented on for my entire life. I’d like to think that I woudn’t dye it if it were darker. I’m aware that people make a fuss over it because of the white supremacist beauty ideal but it’s hard to just disregard something that I’ve been praised for my entire life. To be honest I’ll be a little disappointed if at least one of my kids doesn’t inherit it, which probably won’t happen since my husband is taiwanese. Recently my 4 year-old niece’s eyes changed from blue-gray to brown and my sister (who has light eyes) got all upset, which I thought was a little silly. Then I thought about what if my kid’s hair went from blond to black and realized that I probably have no room to talk.
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 11:49 am ¶
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist wrote:
re: the 1st link. Aaah YES!!! the Israelis, as usual, trying to claim ARAB culture as their own, just like when the Israeli government tried to copyright the hummus as an Israeli dish, when in fact the hummus was an ARAB dish, way long before the creation of Israel in 1948!
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 12:16 pm ¶
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist wrote:
re: the 3rd link– blonde hair on black women– this has been bothering me for so long. While I am *not* black, I can speak of the same for Indian women who lighten their hair and get light contacts, in order to look WHITE and look less Indian. It makes me so fucking angry.
STOP TRYING TO BE WHITE AND STOP MAKING YOURSELF LOOK WHITE! Embrace your dark skin, your hair hair, your dark eyes and scream- DARK IS BEAUTIFUL!
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 12:25 pm ¶
Celeste wrote:
Copyright hummus…..
Re: anti-choice nonsense
Womanist musings had a great piece about this. It really irritates me when people seem to be more focused on saving fetuses than actual people. Oh and how much you wanna bet that the same people support abstinence only sex education?
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 12:34 pm ¶
Ike wrote:
Endangered SPECIES??
People are not wildlife, and it is VERY socially irresponsible to equate Black people, who have a history of struggle for equal rights as humans, with animals.
Those billboards need to come down YESTERDAY.
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 12:40 pm ¶
rebecca wrote:
wow, those white hipsters wearing the keffiyeh as a neck scarf makes me so inexplicably angry. it strikes me as both disrespectful and cheaply provocative, regardless of whether it’s meant as a solidarity gesture.
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 12:55 pm ¶
Shauna wrote:
Re: Black blondes
I’m so sick and tired of everyone putting their two cents in about black women’s hair. We can’t do anything with it without being judged, and it is infuriating!! Don’t we have enough social pressures on us as it is?
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 1:12 pm ¶
Ras wrote:
Re: 2: I, too am bothered by the Israeli appropriation of Palestinian culture, particularly the powerful symbol of the keffiyeh. But as a Sephardic Jew, I find these kinds of comments about Israel and hummus somewhat irritating. My ancestors lived in the Middle East for centuries. Growing up with my grandma’s cooking I got the message that Middle Eastern food was our ancestral food. And it kind of annoys me when people erase the existence of Middle Eastern Jews in these ways.
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 1:52 pm ¶
The Chemist wrote:
@Rebecca,
Being of Palestinian descent, I have no problem with white people wearing the Keffiyeh (hipster or not). Whatever their intentions, I find it aggravates the pro-Israel crowd (which means that the symbol retains its potency), and I’m all for poking them in the ribs symbolically whenever possible.
Of course, I would prefer if it was intentionally a solidarity gesture, but hey.
This guy’s remix does rub me the wrong way, though. This is a clear cut case of a privileged group seeking to render harmless what has become an important symbol of Palestinian identity and solidarity.
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 1:54 pm ¶
Queen B wrote:
I was thinking about the “Black Blondes” story and sometimes I think people are making too much out of the fact those particular singers have blonde hair.
I believe the choice of hair color is simply another way for those artist to stand out among the crowd since most black women are not born with that kind of hair color.
For example, Beyonce without the blonde lace front wig looks ordinary but her hair extensions have become her trade mark or signature style. Rihanna for many months had jet black hair and for her new album she decided to go blonde.
I have never understood the fascination with blondes. Shakira, Gwen Stefani, Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera and Madonna have all bleached their dark hair blonde in attempt to stand out among the rest.
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 2:14 pm ¶
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist wrote:
“I have never understood the fascination with blondes. Shakira, Gwen Stefani, Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera and Madonna have all bleached their dark hair blonde in attempt to stand out among the rest.”
hahahahahahaha. I totally feel you on that one. HEY, EVERYONE, LOOK AT ME, I’M SOOO EDGY SO I’M GONNA DYE MY HAIR BLONDE. There are plenty of Blonde pop divas on the scene– Miley (although her hair is darker now), Shitney Spears, Taylor Swift, the list goes on.
It’d be more edgy if they had black hair or red hair, because red and black hair are underrated and shunned.
this coming from a proud raven-haired beauty…
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 2:32 pm ¶
Celeste wrote:
@QueenB: Not many female pop stars have big afros or natural black hair. Wearing one would make Beyonce et al. stand out even more so than yet another blonde lace front. It still catering to the white beauty standard.
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 2:33 pm ¶
sweeterjuice wrote:
My brother has naturally blonde hair, and blue eyes–a legacy from our father’s grandfather’s father, who owned our family back during slave times. Dark blonde, with a curly Afro. He’s also got blue eyes and very light skin.
Two of my dad’s sisters also have dark blonde hair and very light skin. One of them has blue eyes, too.
I guess because they all came by their appearance genetically, it looks good on them. I have yet to see an African-American with hair died blonde that looked truly good that way–not Tyra, not Beyonce’. To me, it simply proclaims “fake”. It’s just not a hair color that looks natural with the majority of African-American skin shades.
At the same time, blonde’s just coming back as a trend. Wait long enough, and it too will pass.
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 2:44 pm ¶
Eh eh wrote:
Um yeah, the whole Africa this, Africa that thing annoys me to no end. There are 50+ friggin countries in the continent, if only people would stop being lazy gits and do their research properly about where their recipes come from
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 2:53 pm ¶
TierListE wrote:
I’m going to have to agree with Celeste and DIMA.
Even with white women in media brunettes stick out to me more since blonde is, imho, becoming over-saturated in hollywood.
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 3:17 pm ¶
Jess wrote:
re: Israeli Keffiyeh
it might be more than “rendering it harmless.”
First, no matter how you slice it, Israel is located in the Middle East, whatever Ashkenazi Jews might think or like to pretend. So you’re kind of stuck there. Pretending the surrounding people have no influence nor ever will have any on you is simply silly. It’s the old “well, we live in the same country/region, but we’re not really like those people.” I recall they tried that one in the Balkans too, and Rwanda, and just about any number of places I am sure people here could name. The results are never good.
Second, as Ras noted, Jews lived in that area before and after the Romans tried to depopulate it. I mean, Sephardic Jews exist, let’s put to rest the myth that there were no Jews in the area currently covered by the State of Israel and they all returned in 1900. That myth serves the Zionists, and the radical-right-settler movement. Nobody else.
Given that, and given that even a lot of Ashkenaz cooking for instance, has rather Middle Eastern roots, it could be read as simply acknowledging in a tiny way — finally ! — that Israelis are part of the region, and have to live with Arabs, and you can’t go around pretending you are all that different or superior. (And a keffiyeh is a pretty practical item, given climate and such).
People have been mixing it up around there for thousands of years. You can’t say, in a cultural sense, “this is mine” and “this is yours” in such a place — not without descending into madness, I think.
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 3:28 pm ¶
Evan Carden wrote:
Copied from the linked article:
“My family originates from Yemen, where my ancestors had lived for close to 2,000 years. Nearly 100 years ago, my grandmother’s side of the family decided to move to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and then to Israel, in 1933 (Southern Syria/Mandate Palestine at the time). On my grandfather’s side, our family emigrated to Israel in 1924. Jews indigenous to the Middle East, such as my family is, have worn some variation of the kefyah (cap/kippah) and keffiyeh (head/neck scarves) for thousands of years.
…
The way that symbols are politicized and used to divide people, rather than as common ground for discussion and dialogue is exactly the kind of thought-provoking topic that we at Shemspeed explore with our music, as well as our programming. Our Israeli remix of the keffiyeh, available through Shemspeed, is just one more interpretation of a scarf worn by our brothers for thousands of years.”
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 3:46 pm ¶
A.D. Nix wrote:
I live in New York. In Brooklyn. Black women everywhere. Beyonce aside, I don’t see much evidence of blond hair’s “hold” on us. Or at least those of us without record deals (because I can’t think of any black stars outside of music who are “victims” of this “affliction”).
The said, constant positing of “looking natural” as the only appropriate endgame of self-presentation for black women is getting ridiculous.
I get the criticism of eurocentric beauty standards as hemming in options deemed acceptable to and for black women. More of that, yes please. Always. But I’m not interested in seeing it replaced by something just as (if not more so) limiting. And shame-focused.
And balls to anyone who puts forth a reason as asinine as “It doesn’t look good after 30″ (because if someone out there thinks it isn’t attractive, no woman should do it as being attractive is the only most best really terribly important thing) as cause to put away the peroxide.
(Also: I’m no fan of Beyonce but she would not look ordinary without the lace front. I’ve seen that skin in person and there’s only so much one can attribute to make-up)
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 3:55 pm ¶
Phil wrote:
Go Saints! Scott Fujita is an interesting story. I say, good for him.
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 4:43 pm ¶
kaninchenzero wrote:
In the US media I think we get a lot more exposure of black women who look like Beyonce Knowles than we do of women who look like Erykah Badu. Whiteness still dominates the decision-making there. So there isn’t as wide a range of “This is what a beautiful woman looks like. This is also what a beautiful woman looks like.” portrayed as there is of beauty in actual people. Which is an issue so not limited to black people or to women. (Forex: What the hell happened to body hair on men? A lot of people aren’t naturally hairy but no one on TV seems to have any hair at all any more.)
It’s none of my business what any individual person does with their hair. But the structural issue of what gets defined and portrayed as the standards for beauty, that is our business. I don’t know how we can fix it. Lately it seems to be getting more homogenized and less representative of us as a varied people than it has for a while. Maybe I’m just getting more cynical.
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 7:24 pm ¶
Big Man wrote:
On the abortion billboards:
I’ve seen some pretty damning quotations from Margaret Sanger that seem to paint her as a eugenicist. I also find the logic that because black people asked for planned parenthood clinics they must be a good thing and not a nefarious plot.
I mean, that’s the logic that’s behind the refusal to eliminate the crack cocaine and powder cocaine sentencing disparity.
Abortion wasn’t the best way to solve problems with unwanted preganancies. Not in my opinion.
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 7:37 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:
@Big Man –
I actually write quite a bit on this, most recently here:
http://www.theroot.com/views/blacks-and-roe-v-wade
Both Margaret Sanger and many of her contemporaries were very active in the eugenics movement. And they didn’t just target women of color – they also hit the poor, people with mental health issues and people with disabilities.
However, their beliefs don’t impact the issue of why so many women seek abortions and why it’s been such a long ranging practice (along with herbal birth control).
As I wrote in the article, there is a much larger conversation to be had about why the African American community has such a high rate of abortion, but taking this option off the table is not possible, feasible, or permissible.
Oh, what the pro-life movement could do if they took that 10 million they blew on Superbowl spots and applied it to shoring up our social services…
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 8:30 pm ¶
miga wrote:
I’m not a football fan, so I didn’t know a thing about Fujita, but I say good for him for owning his family and speaking out about what’s right. There should be more actions like this in the world! (even though his team beat mine in the superbowl…waaah!)
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 9:42 pm ¶
Little Bee wrote:
@Jess: Just one problem: The Palestinian keffiyeh has come to symbolize RESISTANCE to Israeli Apartheid and should not be interpreted as anything else, especially by the oppressor in this case. The Israeli “remix” of the keffiyeh is indicative of the wearer’s blatant ignorance of history and their own positionality as a person of privilege to be able to culturally appropriate from another in order to profit economically. Considering that Palestinians have already suffered the loss of their homeland and the right to be recognized as a state, must we really be telling them to concede their symbols of resistance to for the sake of “sharing”?
Also, make no mistake- this goes beyond “sharing”; the guy behind the remix is marketing these scarves on his site for profit. That reeks of cultural appropriation, and is akin to the widespread phenomenons of Western folk taking it upon themselves to teach yoga and bellydancing, or those who cannot identify with Rasta culture sporting dreads. It’s the ERASURE of history and culture that is perverse and worrisome. We shouldn’t be responding by telling Palestinians or other racialized groups to essentially get over it or rationalize that the blending of two cultures is the norm given that there is a POWER IMBALANCE at play.
Posted 10 Feb 2010 at 2:17 am ¶
Jess wrote:
@Little Bee– See the comment above from Evan Carden.
Y’see, that to me is sort of the problematic thing whenever anyone discusses cultural appropriation. There are very few things that are “purely” your culture or mine or anyone else’s. Even describing the culture I am in — that of the US — as purely anything is insanely problematic. Culture isn’t some static thing like that.
It isn’t like there are culture particles that are conserved and neither created nor destroyed. What anyone else does doesn’t make you less.
If Madonna wants to take up Kabbalah, that doesn’t make me less Jewish. If some white dude wants to be like a Rastafarian the real Rastafarians don’t disappear. And what would constitute a “real” Rastafarian? What about Lenny Kravitz? I doubt he IDs as a Rasta. (He hasn’t said anything publicly as far as I know). He sported dreads for a bit.
The keffiyeh — and specifically, those with a certain pattern — has become a resistance symbol, a solidarity symbol. But before that it was just a piece of clothing. And Jews wore it too. So who gets to say they identify with it? In what way? What about Levantine Christians, who also wear it? And it isn’t like the Palestinian resistance disappears no matter what anyone does with it.
That’s why I say that too often you end up on a road that at worst buys into all the worst right-wing, even racist frames about how culture works.
I’m not saying that I am good with, for example, the New Agers taking up Native American spirituality in the usual way they do. But to me that’s just stupid and deserves to be mocked for what it is — plain old foolishness and stupidity.
(The invasion of sacred spaces to me, falls under the same category as being a jerk in Notre Dame or St. Patrick’s during Mass).
This one is different, I think. Judging by the statement from the guy who designed the thing, there’s more going on than that, you know?
Posted 10 Feb 2010 at 9:46 am ¶
Little Bee wrote:
@Jess: I read the NY Times piece, so I have seen what Evan Carden has quoted. I don’t buy a word of it. If his ancestors have been wearing the keffiyeh for thousands of years, why does he feel the need to “remix” it by redesigning it with the Star of David? Why is transforming the keffiyeh into an exclusively religious symbol? That to me is a prime example of strategic anti-essentialism, which can be described as a dominant group using another’s cultural symbols in order to define their own group.
Also, why is he marketing it for profit following a Western, Urban-Outfitters-spawned trend to don the keffiyeh without reference to its political meaning to Palestinians? He’s trying to cash in, and he’s doing so by marginalizing its symbolism to Palestinian peoples. The keffiyeh can be worn as is by those who are conscious of its meaning, and therefore Israelis, Jews and allies are in fact welcome to wear keffiyehs in solidarity. No one’s forbidding anyone from wearing the keffiyeh just because of their ethnic background, but in choosing to don an emblem of someone’s else’s culture we have to be respectful of its history rather than go out of our way to erase it/transform it.
The key words I think you’re overlooking here are POWER IMBALANCE. Cultural appropriation here does have a negative connotation because once again there is a dominant culture that is doing the appropriating. In order to borrow or claim from other cultures you have to be a position of privilege to do so. Yes, we’ve been appropriating from other cultures for years, but we did so through colonizing other countries and helping ourselves to their resources and all that they hold dear under the guise of “sharing”. It would be a different story if we were all on an equal playing level, or if Palestine and Israel were, but they’re not, so this guy needs to step off.
I think Tami provides a good overview of cultural appropriation in this post at Racialicious:
http://www.racialicious.com/2008/09/18/cultural-appropriation-homage-or-insult/
I, however, am done discussing this because I find it infuriating that his actions are being justified.
Posted 10 Feb 2010 at 12:56 pm ¶
umm....what wrote:
Re: Black Blondes
Interesting article, but I found it telling that the writer didn’t name one living blonde that is widely considered attractive by guys. I’ve NEVER heard another guy talk about how attractive he found Madonna or Lady Gaga (in fact there has been widespread speculation/rumoring that Lady Gaga was born male or is a hermaphrodite). Pink gets a little attention but not much. As for Marilyn Monroe, she’s a unique case. Her body type would render her fat (and thus undesirable) in today’s market but she still holds her value. Somehow I don’t think its the hair in her case.
As far as black women wearing blonde hair, I don’t see that as being any different than hair straightening. Both are ways of engaging with non-black beauty standards (whites are not the only people on earth with “straight” hair). Its disingenuous to focus on one as problematic without mentioning that it is part of a broader practice which is quite widespread.
Posted 10 Feb 2010 at 1:06 pm ¶
Evan Carden wrote:
@Little Bee
I come to exactly the opposite reading, that a piece of shared cultural ‘property’ was co-opted to mean support for a specific agenda. Which is why he felt the need to ‘remix’ a piece of his culture, to demonstrate that while it was still his, he didn’t agree with the symbol that the shared cultural property had become.
I’m not sure how it’s cultural appropriation unless he has been banished from Lebanese culture because he’s an Israeli (or American, I wasn’t quite clear) citizen (and presumably partakes of the relevant dominant culture as well), which, if I’m not misunderstanding you, I have to say I find fairly offensive.
I’m sorry to have infuriated you.
Posted 10 Feb 2010 at 4:47 pm ¶
cityofspheres wrote:
Let’s compromise: Sephardic and Yemenite Jews are allowed to wear a keffiyeh, but Ashkenazi Jews must wear a remix of this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_Jewish_Autonomous_Oblast.svg
(If clicking doesn’t work for you, it happens to be a rainbow on a white background, symbolizing a Yiddish alternative-to-Israel region, designed long before the rainbow was adopted as a LGBT symbol).
Posted 11 Feb 2010 at 12:33 am ¶