For some content and really useful advice for women and everybody (Breast Self-Exam; Prevenção do Cancro Ovariano; Practical Measures Against Racism) click here.
{Poem: A Song To Heal, by Jean 'Binta' Breeze. Jean was born in Jamaica in 1957. Her poetry collections include the books Ryddim Ravings (1988) and The Arrival of Brighteye and Other Poems (2000). Several recordings of her work are available, including Hearsay (1994) and Riding on de Riddym (1996). Her latest book is The Fifth Figure (2006). in Life Lines 2/Poets for Oxfam/Edited by Todd Swift, 2007}
3 comments:
I am happy that the rumours about Hilfiger turned out false and I congratulate you and your sister on the prompt and honest correction.
However, we should always be alert for this kind of stories and the possibility they might be true in 9 out of 10 cases, especially when involving big names. Have you heard of the story of Oprah being rebuffed by a posh store in Paris a while back? Well, both her and the store in question went suspiciously out of their ways to deny it ever happened, but it did happen and in most people’s minds it was because she was black but… they didn’t recognise her because it was too dark! Or was she too dark?
Anyway, great blog you have here. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!
A sister.
Sister, thanks for the comment/heads up.
Yes, I read about the story in Paris and if I remember well it was at a Hermes store.
You know, I don't mean to pin down this remark on Oprah, who I've always admired for her courage and determination against all odds, including racism to get where she is today (remember her legal battle with some producers of some sort, I think they were cattle raisers or somehow related to the burguer's business - according to her, it was during that case that she got Dr. Phil as her 'life coach' to help her get to grips with what she felt were racist motivations by her opponents). However, one of the facets of vitimisation by racism is that some victims will resort to denial that they are or were ever victims of it, because it is so shameful and humiliating. In fact racist slurs and attacks of any form aim primarily at humiliating the victim. And when such victim happens to be a public 'persona' and, as in the case of Oprah, depends on a huge white audience, it is very likely that 'diplomatic statements' will be 'arranged' to mutually save faces...
Anyway, enjoy your weekend!
N.B.: Sorry everyone, only today I noticed that the correction to the story on "practical measures against racism" attached to this post I made about 2 weeks ago didn't get published because I had forgotten to update and republish the 'google.docs'. It's now done...
The conversation above was of course a spillover from the e-mail exchange some of us had on this issue.
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