Author: Shamim

So, this Wednesday past marked the beginning of the Lenten season and I have planned to do a special Lenten series on this blog. I know that you are probably hovering over that exit button, but it is not what you think. As a blog, we are going to go over toxic people that we need to cleanse ourselves during this Lenten season and hopefully after these forty days we don’t allow them back in our lives or our timeline. I want to kick off this series with the woman who inspired me to make it. The queen of uncontrollable teenagers herself Danielle Bregoli, also known as Bhad Bhabie.  Bregoli came to us a the tender age of 13 when she appeared on Dr. Phil and muttered the infamous line “Catch me outside how ‘bout that!” sparking vine dances and challenges mimicking her mannerism that most agreed where laughable. However, somehow Danielle Bregoli has turned her 15 seconds of fame into a multi-million-dollar career. [how ‘bout that?] She has been featured on tracks with Megan the Stallion, NLE Choppa, Lil Baby, Tory Lanez, Ty Dolla Sign and even has a budding friendship with 5-time Grammy winner Billie Eillish. [Side note what is up some of these rape names? NLE Choppa? Comment down below with what you would want your rapper name to be.] In 2018, she was named on the top 25 most influence teenager list. So why do I believe we must cancel Bhad Bhabie. Put together all the worst attributes acquainted with black women and then paint it white and you have Bhad Bhabie.

For some that don’t understand what I mean let dive deep into how Bhad Bhabie maintains her fame. [I’ll give you a minute to guess. Okay minute over.] Constantly the rapper has found herself in the center of the drama, which did not exclude fighting other celebs and civilians on-camera, threatening to attack people, and cussing folks out online. “Essentially, Bregoli has been getting a pass or receiving praise for actions that would have different results if a Black person did them (Moore)” Over the summer Bregoli was called out for actions after she posted herself wearing single braids. Many viewers of the video said that Bregoli wearing the braids where cultural appropriation and made her look even more like a caricature of the black woman. Of course, the rapper did not take to the criticism quietly and replied back to her “haters” via Instagram story.

[Warning the content below is rated AS for A lot of Stupidity]

“To all the black females that are saying my hair anit [sic] meant for box Braids,” she started on Instagram stories. “Guess the f*ck what, y’all hair anit [sic] meant to be straight but y’all glue whole wigs on to your heads and sew brazilian/Indian/Peruvian hair which is anyhting [sic] like your natural hair texture at all and I don’t say a god damn thing neither do the other cultures that you get the hair from.”

She continues:

“I completely agree that it would b [sic] out of line and cultural appropriation if I was trashing black girls for wearing braids them [sic] getting them but that’s not the situation at all so leave me tf alone or imma start getting real disrespectful.” She ended her thoughts by saying ‘We all know I look fine asf with any hair style I do from any culture because I’m just that b*tch, I hope ya’ll bald headed hoes stay up all night thinking about this.”

Bregoli went on to post a video with her box braids along with the caption “I want to deeply apologize to everyone who’s life’s [sic] have seriously [been] effected [sic] by the way I wear my hair and from the bottom of my heart I wanted to tell you suck my d*ck.”

The disrespect that Danielle Bregoli had from the same people that she takes from didn’t cease. Recently, Bregoli has found herself in the center of another controversy after going on Instagram live and accusing actress Skai Jackson of being a “Disney thot” because of a comment under NBA Youngboy’s recent Instagram post by an account named @disneyprincess.  In Bregoli Instagram live she threaten to kill Skai Jackson multiple times over the incident.  After getting no immediate response from Skai Jackson herself she goes under Skai Jackson’s mother’s post. And to show how juvenilia this situation sounds their mothers begin to go back and forth with each other.

Hours later Skai Jackson filed for a restraining order for Bhad Bhabie given her past of actually trying to fight celebs and fans. Now if this is not a reason to cancel someone, I don’t know what is. But again, I am just stating the facts and you can decide for yourself who to cancel for lent.

So, I have been rattling my brain for weeks on what I was going to write for this week’s blog post. It felt like I had an additive pressure because of Valentine’s day. Now I have done a few blog posts talking about dating;(Shameless plug) if you want to check them out after reading this blog. However, Valentine’s day just feels more official, so I wanted to do something more sophisticated. While googling all I could about the holiday, I stumbled across another holiday that takes place a day before Valentine’s day. Black Loveday.  The Valentine day alternative is the 3^rd nationally commemorated holiday, the first being Kwanza and 2^nd being Martin Luther King Day.

In 1993, Ayo Handy-Kendi, the founder of the nonprofit African American Holiday Association (AAHA), created Black Love Day. The holiday is based on five tenets: love toward the creator, love for self, love for the family, love for/within the black community, and love for black people.  These five tenets are thought to be carried out throughout the entire. On this day, people of other races are thought to mend their racial tensions through loving actions.

Handy-Kendi prides herself on creating a holiday that is meant to strengthen the bond between black and white communities by reassuring self-love and trying to eliminate the stigmas that have been created in both communities about each other. “ The goals of this day are to increase peace, stop violence, end Black self-hatred and White supremacy/racism, to offer a spiritual, African-centered, alternative to the commercialized, and sometimes violent, Valentine Day(Kendi).”

This year marked the 27^th celebration of BLD, and for 2020 the theme was “Reparations 2 Repair 2 Reconcile 2 Restore the LOVE,” which emphasizes the 5th BLD Tenet, which is “To Demonstrate Love for the Black Race.” Aware of the controversy, Kendi wanted to highlight this year that Black people must love themselves enough to have these uncomfortable discussions. So we can reconcile our distrust, a part of slavery’s conditioning, release our anger, and push forward to heal and grow in unity.

Now I want to explain how I perceive this holiday, thinking about how this holiday may come off more exclusive than inclusive with the name BLD. But I recognize this to be the same as the #BlackLivesMatterMovement. We know that all lives matter, the problem there is that black lives aren’t being valued. BLD is tackling the same situation; black people are devaluing themselves off of the sheer fact that they are black, and this day is to encourage that black culture and black lives are valuable, can be loved. I was unaware of how much I needed this message that of self-love leading to unity. And it is something that I could not agree more with as the world is becoming more interconnected it is very easy to feel inferior. The world seems to value black culture (i.e. Hip-Hop, Jazz, break-dancing, braids, etc.), but they neglect and devalue the people for which they come from. This may sound corny, but I was always taught to love your neighbor as you would love yourself; if we can love ourselves more, maybe we can see more love towards others despite; ethnicity, race, age, or class. That what I believe Black Love Day is striving towards.

 

 

 

 

Happy Black History Month. The time we were accustomed to as to reflect over the lives of key black figures in history benign to us what that really meant. But there is often another occasion that falls into this month sometimes and that is the Super Bowl. Now, I am not a huge football fan (I consider my self more of a basketball person) but I do watch the Superbowl for two things the commercial and the Halftime show. I always get excited to see if one of my favorite artists would weasel their way into headlining the halftime. So, when I heard in 2018, that Justin Timberlake, King of nine-year-old dreams was going to be the headline act. I knew that I didn’t care where I was (my best friend’s birthday party). I was going to find my way to watch this uninterrupted. Now as I was expressing my excitement to my fellow Nsync-er ( my mother) she did not great me with the same enthusiasm. If I accounted for her words correctly it was something like “Justin…..Superbowl…Yikes!”

Now her dismay for the topic is probably because the last time Justin Timberlake performed at the Halftime show there was infamous Nipplegate [insert dramatic gasp]. Now, this is something that I knew about, as it seems to be a topic brought up often during black gatherings. However; I didn’t really understand the extent of this issue until I dug a little deeper.

Justin’s first response to the” wardrobe malfunction”, a term the singer coined, was covered by Hollywood Access in which he said, “Hey man, we love giving ya’ll something to talk about.” Like the end of Janet’s career. His very insensitive comments insinuated that the action was planned. And instead of the blame being placed on Timberlake for doing the actual action. It was put on Janet. The heat that Janet was receiving from the media was terrible. They said that events caused trauma to children watching and the NFL ban her from ever performing at any of their events again. Janet immediately had to issue out a video apology for the incident and any “mental trauma” [insert eyeroll] that it might have caused. The Princess of Pop was ban from all of the award shows despite her album peaking number one that year. All of her projects after that were shelved, the only place her music lived on was in urban audiences. She never had a chance to recreate the success that she once had despite the quality of music improving.  Justin, However, who was the guest performer at Janet’s halftime show, went on to gain tremendous success. As the incident, for him, propelled him into becoming a household name. You think that Justin would be apologetic towards Janet, but Justin himself went on to capitalize even more of the incident by mention Janet Jackson decline of success in a diss track. He also attacked Prince, who were some of the people to defend Janet, by saying he was just butthurt that he was no longer making hits.  Even though years later in 2007, he acknowledged his privileges as a white male in incident never once did he say sorry. Now in 2018, Justin had a chance to make things right. But what did he do? Nothing.  It was unclear if he even extended an offer to Janet to perform with him at the halftime show.

I believe that this incident perfectly highlights how the same situation can impact people differently based on the intersectionality of their identities. Justin, a white young male who fits into the mythical norm perfectly comes out of a situation like this unscathed almost loved by the public. While Janet Jackson, who is arguably a part of the most marginalized groups in America, black females, gets her legacy erased.  To say its unfair would be looking beyond the institutionalized racism and sexism that we have in this country. By our logic, what happened was fair. It was just. Because it upheld the balance of the community. Only one person can get a pass to the top and Janet did not fit the genetic criteria.

Okay, I had something else in mind when thinking about what would be my first post of the new semester, but at this moment, I can not articulate myself in a way that would be enjoyable for an audience to read. So, I am asking for help. It seems like recently; I have been finding myself in situations where I may have come off as a bit of a party pooper. Now I know that you all are probably thinking what does that have to do with the topic of the blog. However, it has everything to do with this blog. Recently my friends and I were on a binger of old seasons of America’s Next Top model, which could be a blog post itself.

For the sake of keeping my rant on the show sort. Let’s say that the show did not age well at all. Particular challenges like the switching of ethnicity *insert intense eye roll here*or the comments that judges made that can come off as very very ignorant. And although I was utterly shocked that something like this could be aired on television even for the ’00s, the people around me found it hilarious. *Facepalm*. Now I don’t know if this was the best course of action, but my silent reactions slowly became more vocal. With some, “this is ridiculous” or “come-ons.” Now let me set the scene a bit more. The episode that we were watching was the one with the infamous meme, “We were all rooting for you.” Taken out of context, the phrase itself was funny but inserted into the events of the episode, and it was insensitive, rude, and borderline ignorant. The contestant, Tiffany, found herself in a tough place when Keenya, a fellow, black contestant, commented on her hood like attitude and jargon. Her words were along the lines of: “just because you are from the hood doesn’t mean you should talk like you are.” I was bewildered watching someone belittle someone just because of the way that they talk. I thought that as a society, we have moved passed the idea that your accent reflects your intelligence, but I guess I was wrong when some of my friends piped up in an agreeance with Keenya.  Every week they have the challenge to do in front of the judges. That week’s challenge was to read a teleprompter in front of the judges. You can already tell how this is going to go. So, when it came to Tiffany’s turn, her usual confident exterior was replaced by a nervous shake.  In my head, I thought it was because what Keenya had said earlier on in the day. Yet one of the people in the room [this one I don’t claim], said that it is because Tiffany can’t read.  At this point, I can feel my blood boiling at the accusation of her ability to read, being linked to the fact that she is a young black single mother from the hoods of Miami.  I took a deep breath deciding to stay silent because despite though odds Tiffany did better than most. And that is not an opinion Tyra said so herself.

Now its time for elimination, as Tyra is calling up girls and despite Tiffany being said to have done best in the photoshoot and the challenge. Tyra puts her in the bottom two because “she gave up.” My skin was crawling when Tyra said that because to me, it felt like she was enforcing that because Tiffany is black, she has to work ten times harder, and any moment of insecurity shown devalues herself as a product.  In a surprise elimination, she sent both girls in the bottom home. As one cried, Tiffany playfully said goodbye to her fellow. This now irked Tyra, and she started ranting to Tiffany about how “if she wanted this, she should be in tears” like tears are the only way people grieve things. Tiffany responded, saying how much she cares, but she can’t change what Tyra just did. Now, this is when the meme moment happened. And although some of us accepted this moment with a chuckle. I was utterly disgusted, so much so I hiked onto my soapbox and began saying how much Tyra’s words are colorist, ignorant, and borderline racist. Let’s just say my outburst wasn’t received well as some in the room just gave me blank stares.  I can admit that when I get on the soapbox, you can expect percentages and facts thrown in your face. Still, I only do it because a lot of people won’t understand if I just say this moment was wrong or offensive I would have to show them (more likely through numbers) why this is offensive. But I don’t know maybe I was too hypersensitive to the situation. My empathy for Tiffany could have blinded me from what everyone else saw.  Did I go about the conversation in the right way? Leave a comment below with your opinion.

Mixed-ish is the second show to come as a spin-off of the Golden Globe Award-Winning show, Black-ish. The show follows Rainbow Johnson as she recounts her life growing in a mixed-race family in the ’80s. While highlighting the constant predicaments she and the family had to face over whether to assimilate to classic American values. After being removed from a hippie commune, Paula and Alicia were forced to move their families into the suburbs. As her parents struggle to conform back to American social expectations, Bow and her siblings struggle with navigating an integrated school in which they’re perceived as neither black nor white In The family’s experiences illuminate the challenges of finding one’s own identity when the rest of the world can’t decide where you belong. In Kenya Barris’s latest installment of the Johnson family, Barris says that it is her goal to follow Bow in her journey of self-discovery and to encourage others to do the same.  While in theory that sounds great- it was not executed to the point of perfection…..-ish. The first thought that probably appeared in your mind is why does this show have to be perfect. When [your choosing]to balance delicate topics like race, class, and identity; it is your job as a producer to ensure that it is an accurate portrayal of one’s life without being exclusive. As much as I would like to think that Kenya Barris was trying to make a show that really encapsulates being a mixed-race person in the black community however the show fails to even address its true premise properly.

For the next two weeks. We are going to have a Hulu and Undue, where I am going to  discuss some of the following topics:

• History of mixed in the United States of America
• History of Black Sitcoms
• Voice of Color
• Colorblindness
• Colorism

And how they pertain to Kenya Barris’ Black-ish, Grown-ish, and Mixed-ish series and why is it that Mixed-ish is not needed in this series. Currently, I have not reached the word limit for this blog post so I am choosing to fill this in a small bio on Kenya Barris so that you understand that my critique of his series are not biased.  Kenya Barris is an Emmy Nominated producer and screenwriter, who uses the show Black-ish to tell a story about his life and raising a black family now. Kenya Barris’s wife is also biracial, a doctor and her name are Rainbow, much like her screen counterpart. At the beginning of this journey, it was clear that Black-ish served as Barris’ passion project. For one episode, “Please, Baby, Please,” Barris up the production cost for the episode to acquire the score for a song that is deeply rooted in the black community, Sam Cooke’s “A Change Gonna Come” and even got Spike Lee to do a voice-over for the same episode.  Kenya Barris has produced cultural relative content that presents black people in ways that we haven’t seen before while also explaining why that is. However, in recent projects, the same vitality that had made him famous has been missing from his projects. Why that is and more will be covered in our next blog post. [Insert Narrator Voice] “Next time on The Confessions of a Black Internet Troll.

 

To entertain my blackness, I took part in observing my first ever Stoop. To be honest, the selling point for me to go was seeing Wale. But the thing that made me stay is the message behind the Stoop. “A place for students of color to express themselves through art” The first question I had about the event is why call this cultivation of art “The Stoop.” So I consulted the top academic journal, urban dictionary, and they defined a stoop as “a small staircase ending in a platform and leading to the entrance of an apartment building or other building” This made me very puzzled. Why would we name such an event off concrete stairs? However, as if God himself was eavesdropping into my thoughts, a flash of the beginning of every black movie (that is not about slavery) and I realized that they all begin at a stoop. The stoop represented a place to gather for the community. All the action in the urban community happens at the stoop.
This year the overarching theme was about mental health in minority communities. What I found interesting is that though there is a theme to keep in mind — Artist was given a free space to express themselves. People sang original pieces while others choreographed to their favorite songs. And our job as the audience was to provide them with this open space.

What can be improved? Given the name, imagine if gave a vibe that was more of an underground vibe. Having it at alumni vibe was fun, yet sometimes it was border lining talent show. Another thing is the celeb guest. What if we gave the celeb guess was brought more into the aspect of the Stoop. Which I know would be hard to do, given that even booking them would be hard but getting someone personable that would want to immerse themselves into the aspect of what the ‘stoop’ is. Whether that be that they either host or sit in on the event until its time for them to perform or say their piece — the sense of community. But I don’t even think that is truly there in the minority community at Penn State, which comes to my problem with the Stoop. It was put by the PRCC, yet the majority of the crowd was black. And to me, that is not the problem. But like Wale brought up in the showcase, what would it look like if everyone supported everyone. It doesn’t feel like that is here at Penn State. And navigating through Penn state is see the clear division.
We Are Divided. That something that we need to realize and address. That was the purpose of the Stoop. To gather minority groups, and it failed. Not to any fault of the organizers, but it is a flaw in our thinking. We, as minorities, are our own biggest internet trolls. I don’t know how many times I have written this line, but it is true. We have this complex that we must excel, and for some to excel at something, someone has to be beneath them. Unconsciously, we are allowing ourselves to fall into this caste system. Instead of realizing that we all have face discrimination. We all are not a part of the mythical norm. The only way for us to break this mythical norm is through If we shared them, that all that matters. We are all we’ve got—so let’s use it.

”Happy Belated Indigenous People Day!’ ‘ As a country which in the current years, feels like we are going backward in terms of social justice, we have finally done something right.  And in light of this change, I would like to talk about what black people were doing in 1492 while Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue. I want to say that I thought of this brilliant Idea by myself; however, that wasn’t the case. This blog post is inspired by one of my favorite YouTubers, HomeTeam History. And I will reference his information throughout this post.

Winners write history. That is the fact that many of us are blinded by unless you are on the losing side. A winner might never understand the benefits of winning. When discussing winners and losers, it easy to think of how slavery affected the family units of African Americans and the loss of ancestral connections and or identities.  This is true; however: African Americans aren’t the only ones who lost their sense of identities. The connects of the old and new world allowed for the loss of histories for Africans. To be considered a winner in 1492 meant to have to most resources.  And if you did not take AP World History you wouldn’t know that there was a point in time where African Kingdoms in the north, like the Benin Empire, ruled over the silk road and produced the highest amount of golds and other jewels sold to Europe and China.

Another thing that people don’t talk about is how Africans already ”discovered” the new world and had trade relations with nations prior to Christopher Columbus “discovering the Americas.” Columbus knew this and ensured that half of his crew where north Africans. I don’t think that at the time, Africans had any clue that helping Europeans with their voyage meant erasing their history. The connections of the New and Old world came at the price of denunding a people of their pride and history. “For generations spanning centuries, Africans spent half their time learning and mastering the languages, cultures, and religion of their oppressors, to the detriment of their overall well-being.” In many African cultures, history was passed down orally through the tribes’ griots. Griots are a type of storyteller or musician that job is to keeps track of all the historical events which take place in a tribe or kingdom. It is part of Griot’s job to pass down all the history of the tribe to future generations.  With no written way of keeping an account, the act of displacing African people replaced its history.

Richard Lonez rendition of the poem we that we were all taught to be true In 1492; expresses the emotion of us towards the former ‘renowned figure’:

In fourteen hundred ninety two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue
He sailed through sunshine, wind and rain
to get to India from Spain

He hit Bahama, he was pissed
His chance at fame and glory missed
He took it out on the local folk
He stole their gold, and they were broke.

He killed their kids and let them know
Their lives would now be full of woe.
We honor him, I don’t know why,
May his soul in hell forever fry.

I’m so sorry for my late submission. I have been feeling under the weather or maybe above the weather since I have been having fevers. Either way, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

This is a PSA. That might fall on deaf ears, but hey what is more public than the inter-web. If you are a black woman who is thinking about going on any dating reality show, rip up the application, throw your laptop out the window and spare yourself and everyone else watching the show any more embarrassment. Trust me. It is not you. It’s them. I can not count how many times in the past four months I have watched a beautiful black woman get subjugated on a dating show. It easy to blame place the blame on black women for why their male cast members do not like them. It is even easier to place the blame on “society.” It is harder to place the blame on ourselves. What if I had told you that producers are aware of this and continue to cast reality dating shows this way for suspense?
In the process of casting, producers want to pick the most outlandish personalities to create great TV. It has come out in countless articles that productions have told black women to ask more aggressive while filming. To production, black women equate to broaden viewership, and that equals the attention of every “black twitter panther.” Like I had stated in my previous blog, black twitter is the center of black culture and influence, and gaining the attention of black twitter unlocks an immense number of viewers. As a culture, we should know that our blind support of these minority contestants may be doing more harm than good.

We are watching these women start to devalue themselves because they feel as if they cannot measure up to euroistic version of beauty that all these men (even black men) are requiring for women to have in order to be attractive. What we as a group of people have to realize is that “inclusion of black and brown people in the [dating] series does nothing to address the sad reality that we are all consciously or unconsciously taught: that slim, heteronormative, cis-gender whiteness and proximity to it are seen as the most desirable qualities in a significant other.(Dash)” These shows are a microcosm of our society and as a black woman to see what we have to deal with in private televised to the masses as a form of entertainment feels like they are trying to desensitize people from this issue instead of addressing it. Our support is only boasting ratings. If we want to make a change, we need to stop supporting these shows so they can realize that their popularity comes from the same group that they openly oppress.

There is so much I could talk about for this blog post. And that’s probably why I hate myself a little for committing myself to one topic. Even if it is just for a bit. Welp that is going to be something I am just going to have to live through. *Deep Sigh* So back to cuffing season. Now, I had come to realize that some of you probably don’t even know what that even is, and I couldn’t explain it in the last post because I would have definitely gone over the word count. For this week I am going to spend 500 words talking about the origin of cuffing season. And why If you are like me, you should not participate.

So what is cuffing season? According to our ‘handy dandy notebook’ aka urban dictionary, cuffing season is a time period lasting from October to February “where people who would normally rather be single or promiscuous find themselves along with the rest of the world desiring to be “Cuffed” or tied down by a serious relationship. The cold weather and prolonged indoor activity cause singles to become lonely and desperate to be cuffed.” In short ‘tis the season to getting a man (or woman).  Now you are probably thinking. What does this have to do with the overall topic of this blog? Well,let me tell explain. Black people branded “cuffing season” and surely they operate by the event. They treat dating like basketball. And just like basketball, you might start off on one team and end the season in another.

The name “cuffing season” is a product of black twitter however; the idea behind it is proven to be scientific. We produce higher levels of testosterone in the fall, which drives us to partner up, Lehmiller said. Our brains also produce lower levels of serotonin. Serotonin is the chemical that helps make us feel happy, and one solution to replacing the shortage is companionship. “It makes sense that we would actively seek out intimacy and connection during these times,” says Jamie J. LeClaire, a sex educator who specializes in touch. “Studies have even consistently revealed that during colder months, people experience a significant rise in testosterone levels, making them more likely to desire the company of a sexual or romantic partner.”

Unless you are me. A troll. Being more specific a black troll. See we are a rare species type of species in the black community.  Black trolls are those of us who do not fit fully into one type of personality trait, which is hard when it comes to dating especially while black, especially at Penn. It seems as if being a black woman you are expected to be promiscuous and loud. If you don’t fall into that category you fall into “the quiet type” and let’s just say that this category while dating still involves ( as Lauryen Hill would call it) the doo-wop. But if you are a troll like me. You not here handing out the cookies for free and is probably not skilled enough in the art of dating to acquire someone without using the trap card.