Sunday, January 31, 2016

COLDPLAY'S COLORBLIND HYMN FOR THE WEEKEND

Cultural Appropriation in white music videos is not new. Beyonce' participating is not new either. Nobody is going to accuse Bey of being a brain surgeon, not even of the Ben Carson variety.  

Sooo... Let's see what we've got.
1) I see cultural appropriation event #25 for Beyonce.
2) I see Beyoncé appearing very nearly white in some shots...again.
3) I see Indian children break dancing like black kids.  
4) I see Cold Play with another light-skinned black woman made even more acceptable by being otherized via Asian culture put on like a costume. The black woman in their video can be anything but a straight-up black woman.
In my opinion there's some cultural appropriation, cultural appreciation and cultural sharing (maybe) some exotic fetishizing of light-skinned black woman with a Asian twist. More importantly though, I think there's some colorblind race theory here too. But let's stop looking at Beyonce. It is Cold Play that has the pattern to worry about here.
COLD PLAY COVERED IN COLORS
AND GUEST SINGERS BEYONCE AND RHIANNA
Beyonce is using Indian Culture like a costume in this Coldplay video. Rhianna just played a "China Princess" in another one of their videos. Nicki Minaj oughta be dancing through a Coldplay video in Japanese garb any day now. Then again, Minaj may not be the lead singer's taste. Maybe if Halle Berry could sing, she'd be the one to slink her way through one of their next music videos in a Japanese get up. 

The white men of Cold Play and the Indian children in "Hymn For The Weekend" are all painted in different colors. And it seems to me that all these pieces together are sending the same old message: 'I don't care if your red, blue, or purple because I love everybody. I don't need to respect differences because i don't see any. Color blind race theory reigns supreme AND cultural appropriation doesn't exist. Racism is entirely about hate and nothing else.' 

This ignorant, predominantly white, interpretation of race, ethnicity, and racism is at least 50 years old.
In 2016, we need to look at the message maker NOT the deliverer.

CULTURAL APPROPRIATION
AND
COLORBLIND RACE THEORY
TOGETHER
WHEREVER
THEY
GO
?
When the I-don't-see-race folk stop insisting on being on the same page as KKK members, maybe the anti-racism movement will increase in size. I like Coldplay's music. But I'm going to continue to take a pass on their videos. And I'm going to join "woke" people of color in raking them over the coals until they get it. (You can keep trying to get Beyonce and Rhianna to think if you wanna. I"m kinda done.)

Changing how Beyonce' presents herself in this video is the key to fixing it. If she had been a straight-up black woman learning from a woman that's from the area, dressed in traditional clothing, and that woman was either showing Beyonce different things about her culture or teaching Beyonce a dance etc, that would have fit into the "cultural sharing" and "cultural appreciation" zone for 75% of people that are conscious and respectful of other cultures.

If they could have gotten a real Bollywood actress, Priyanka Chopra of the television show "Quantico" to perform in the video along with Beyonce, as described above, That could have been a kind of advertisement of/support for the television series, which has Priyanka as a lead actress and another black actress, Aunjanue Ellis as a supporting actress.


This music video could have been win, win, win and win for Coldplay, Beyonce, Priyanka's Quantico, and reaching and teaching on cultural appropriation.


And oh yeah, I would keep the little Indian kids break dancing like little black kids. They were way cute.





VIDEOS
RACE IS JUST A LABEL /WELL-MEANING IDIOCY. (Makes me mad so many brown-skinned people participated in this mess)
THE NEARLY SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE-MUSIC VIDEO IN QUESTION COLDPLAY"S "HYMN FOR THE WEEKEND"
****************************************

Saturday, January 30, 2016

SAG AWARD WINNERS SO BROWN (AND FEMALE)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series: Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder




Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries: Idris Elba, Luther
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in Television Movie or Miniseries: Queen Latifah, Bessie
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series: Orange Is the New Black
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series: Uzo Aduba, Orange Is the New Black



And if anybody asks, the votes were taken before the #OscarsSoWhite, the sequel became an issue. It looks like the deadline for SAG nominations was back in December. I've seen all of the performances.They were all amazing.


I'm starting to wonder if an Oscar Watcher boycott can break ABC (who broadcasts it) without black actors joining in.

If ABC can't profit from broadcasting the Oscars, I wonder if we can make the SAG Awards the maker and breaker of careers, make it more important than Oscar for who gets the power. 

**********************************


  

WE SEE YOU

THOSE THAT SEE RACISM BUT NOT SEXISM
AND
THOSE WHO SEE SEXISM BUT NOT RACISM
PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT 
WE
SEE
YOU



Black Feminists and Womanists STAY WOKE

GYNNYA McMILLEN UPDATE 3: STAFF USED MARTIAL ARTS RESTRAINT DUE TO HOODIE

ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. -- The day before a teenage Kentucky girl was found dead in her juvenile detention cell, staff used an "Aikido restraint" on her, a spokesperson for the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice confirmed Friday.
16-year-old Gynnya McMillen was restrained after refusing to remove her sweatshirt in order to be searched and photographed for booking at the Lincoln Village Juvenile Detention Center, the spokesperson, Stacy Floden, wrote in an e-mail.




And if we hadn't started screaming about what happened to her, we'd have never known.





IT IS TIME TO BOYCOTT "THE VIEW" UNTIL THOSE THAT OFFEND US ARE GONE

Whoopi Goldberg said she's not an African American (or a "Black American") She said that she is just an American.
Read it here folks http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/whoopi-goldberg-says-shes-american-not-african-american_568d25e9e4b0c8beacf503d1 For the love of colorblind white people, what is going on with The New Blacks? I am so done!

You know what? The One-percenters? They can go to h*ll especially if they're black (a.k.a. "The New Blacks." Whoopi should take Bill Cosby's hand and take him with her. I'm not interested in an apology or a clarification. Just make her leave "The View" and the public view.
Photo: Whoopi Goldberg public domain David Shankbone
Seriously though? We need to boycott The New Blacks. The reason they got the jobs they have in the first place is to diversify the program and ATTRACT US.

Between Whoopi and Raven on this show ALONE, white producers SHOULD have to decide whether the controversial things these idiots say is going to attract ENOUGH WHITE people to the show to make it worth losing people of color.

We, people of color, are 1/3 of the population. WE CAN DO IT NOW. If white people were enough to keep these shows on the air, Whoopi wouldn't have a damn job. Time to retire her black elitist @$$
There's already a petition to remove Raven. There needs to be one to remove Whoopi too. http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/abc-responds-to-petition-to-remove-raven-symone-from-the-view-2015111
I decided to boycott this show a long time ago, so I can't join you.. I can't boycott something I already refuse to watch. I can only hope that the rest of you will join me.

Friday, January 29, 2016

GYNNYA McMILLEN UPDATE 2: NOTHING NEW, NOT EVEN THE CALLOUS DISREGARD




They called her breakfast. 


She didn't move

They didn't check on her



They called for a snack

She didn't move.

They didn't check on her



They asked her if she wanted to take a phone call

She didn't move

They didn't check on her



They, the adults running Kentucky's Lincoln Village Juvenile Detention Center, were supposed to check on her every 15 minutes. The interactions I just listed were much further apart than 15 minutes. Clearly, they didn't even check on her then.


Official excuses begin and end with Gynnya's behavior being consistent with non-response.

An expert quoted in the article below says that kids are in a kind of shock when they are first put into a juvenile detention center. Gynnya's behaving as if depressed --before they ignored the fact that she was dying or already dead-- doesn't require an expert's diagnosis. Someone should have been trying to get her to interact, to talk, telling her everybody is scared at first.

I'm straddling fury and tears.


* * * * *


"My mother was calling her to check on her and see what was going on. And they hung up on her like four times. It kept getting disconnected. And then when she finally got through they said (McMillen) was unresponsive," Simms said.
It is not yet clear what time McMillen's mother first called, or why she was disconnected. It is also not clear why McMillen was alone in a cell or how often she was checked on throughout the night. In Kentucky, youths in isolation must have video surveillance at all times. That footage has been turned over to investigators.

McMillen's death is currently under investigation by the Kentucky State Troopers and the Justice Cabinet's Internal Investigation's Branch. Officials have so far indicated they believe McMillen died in her sleep...

Last week, Justice Cabinet Secretary John Tilley requested the investigations be expedited along with McMillen's autopsy, but Simms criticized the slow trickle of information so far....

~CBS NEWS

Read More:  
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/alarms-missed-day-gynnya-mcmillen-died-in-kentucky-juvenile-detention-experts/


Like I said, when 16 year old male, football players drop dead for no reason there's an expedited autopsy that shows SOMETHING.  People are paying attention long before the autopsy. Experts have something to say about what they thing MAY have happened.

Another article I read says that the-anonymous-they don't think her death was heart related.

We'll have to wait and see what killed Gynnya other than her care givers not bothering to give a damn  



More Info Here (unfamiliar website)http://wfpl.org/new-details-emerge-in-gynna-mcmillens-death/


Thursday, January 28, 2016

GABRIELLE UNION CLOWNS STACY DASH



I know Gabrielle Union did this old school who-dat?  mess on purpose. But it was perfectly played. She is a fine actress.



Gabrielle Union Blasts Stacey Dash At Sundance
"Who is Stacey Dash?" BET Gabrielle Union
Posted by ET Canada on Tuesday, January 26, 2016


I promised myself I wasn't saying anything about Stacy Dash. I see her face and click the off switch almost as fast as when I see Anne Coulter. But this was funny.  

OSCAR'S BABY STEPS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION


PEOPLE ARE LISTENING AT THE OSCARS  ACCORDING TO THE ARTICLE BELOW


But, I'm not even willing to call this a baby step to tell you the truth.  
If the gender and race percentages polled by the LA Times are accurate, that would account for an increase from 23% women to 46% women members. African American members would see less growth, from 2% to 4%.


Last I checked, black people were 13% of the population not 2 percent or 4 percent. But if women (mostly white) don't go through the door first, we don't go through either. So I suppose I have to be some what happy about this. 

Read More
http://distractify.com/entertainment/2016/01/22/dan-so-they-listened-its-a-start


IDRIS ELBA IS TALKING ABOUT BLACK REPRESENTATION IN MOVIES 




ELBA'S IN ENGLAND BUT THIS IS STILL RELEVANT
Things are so bad over there in Great Britain, that black actors come here to the United States to work -- which keeps Black American actors out of work.


I hate to complain, since that's how we got Idris. But Ava DuVernay actually said she went out of her way to hire a Black Brit for "Selma" in a rather snooty interview (I'm not holding it against her. She could be right about better quality actors coming from there for all I know. But as long as they KEEP coming, there's not enough investment in Black American Actors.)


The other reason I'm not so hot on British actors coming over here is that, other than Naomi Harris, I'm not sure I've seen a black leading lady from across the pond that was darker than a paper bag yet.  Comparison: Gotta love Halle. We pushed her through the door first. But we've got enough of THAT going on over here already. It's time for women that look like Viola Davis and Rutina Wesley to have their turn in the sun.


Idris Elba addresses Parliament on diversity
WATCH: Idris Elba: "Today, I'm asking the TV and film industry to think outside of the box."
Posted by NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt on Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

SICK OF READING ABOUT WHITE BOYS AND DOGS, 11 YEAR OLD STARTS HER OWN BLACK GIRL BOOK DRIVE



Having grown tired of her school's reading syllabus, Dias decided to start #1000BlackGirlBooks, a book drive with the aim of collecting 1,000 books where black girls take the lead:

"I told [my mom] I was sick of reading about white boys and dogs," Dias said, pointing specifically to "Where the Red Fern Grows" and the "Shiloh" series. "'What are you going to do about it?’ [my mom] asked. And I told her I was going to start a book drive, and a specific book drive, where black girls are the main characters in the book and not background characters or minor characters.”

The little black girls rocks for real. This girl will go far. Remember her name: Marley Dias.



Read More:

ON ANGELA DAVIS

“We have inherited a fear of memories of slavery. It is as if to remember and acknowledge slavery would amount to our being consumed by it. As a matter of fact, in the popular black imagination, it is easier for us to construct ourselves as children of Africa, as the sons and daughters of kings and queens, and thereby ignore the Middle Passage and centuries of enforced servitude in the Americas. Although some of us might indeed be the descendants of African royalty, most of us are probably descendants of their subjects, the daughters and sons of African peasants or workers.”




---

Do you remember the popular phrase, from a James Brown song entitled, “Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud?  How about the four black brothers, from the Olympics, who saluted Black Americans, with clinched fists only to have their medals snatched away? What about the bombing of the 16th Street Church, in Birmingham that left four innocent little black girls dead?

I can fondly remember a time when Flagg Brother shoes and Eleganza Pants donned the bodies, of most young black males, as they sported huge Afros called “bushes”, that were accompanied by peace-sign picks. When the city, of Nashville, Tennessee hosted its annual Black Expo at the Municipal Auditorium, and the general public was allowed to mix and mingle with those in the know.  The celebrities, singers, activists, dancers and entertainers of a generation gathering to support the struggle for the generations that followed.


When Jessie Jackson and Operation Push were the voice of hope for civil obedience, which proceeds a time when Black America had witnessed the assassinations, of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Meagar Evers and Malcolm X. I remember the vivid image, of a young intelligent black woman who was sought by the FBI, and listed on their Top Ten Most Wanted List, after the failed prisoner break to free the Soledad Brothers.  The woman named, Angela Yvonne Davis....


Read More Of This Black Girl Biography
http://www.jayepurplewolf.com/PASSION/ANGELADAVIS/ 

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

SOMEBODY PLEASE EXPLAIN WHY NOBODY'S HEADED TO JAIL IN FLINT



In what's looking like an executive CYA move (and outside pressure), Michigan Governor Rick Snyder released a flurry of emails this week relating to the Flint, Mich. water crisis, essentially throwing his staff under the bus for the disastrous, heinous debacle that has gotten worldwide attention and even calls for his arrest.

~ The Root 



That's because he and a bunch of other people should be arrested. The e-mails are so redacted as to be unreadable.But what is made clear is that the people's complaints were dismissed. There are other articles which suggest the white entitled politicians made fun of the mostly black residents that complained.

But the thing that gets me is this. There shouldn't have been any need for complaints. 

http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2016/01/emails_reveal_republicans_dismissed_desperate_flint_residents.html



THE STORY BELOW SAYS THE GOVERNOR KNEW WATER WAS TAINTED A YEAR AGO

AND MANY SAY IT WAS BEFORE THAT....as it is common knowledge that the Flint River was an "industrial waste dump"

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/1/6/1466585/-Flint-is-a-disaster-zone-And-Michigan-and-federal-officials-made-it-that-way


This is likely to be the worst case of environmental racism you'll see in your life time.

You'll never convince me Snyder, Walling, and the rest of republican gang would have changed to the Flint River as a source of drinking water had that water been going to rich white homes.

Never.  







It was common knowledge in the area that the Flint River was a toxic waste dump for decades.  If you had walked up to me on the street a decade ago and asked me if I'd drink river water near Detroit, Flint and the car industry, I'd have told you you were crazy. And I've never lived anywhere near Michigan.

You'll never convince me these jackals would have changed to the Flint River as a source of drinking water had that water been going to rich white homes. Never.  




When local residents heard of the plan to change the water source from Lake Huron (which they had to pay Detroit for) to the Flint River, they thought it was a joke. 



"A generation of Flint children have been permanently damaged. As whistle-blower Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha sadly observed, “in five years, these kids are going to have problems with special education. They’re going to have cognition problems. Seven to 10 years, they’re going to have behavioral problems.” 

http://www.occupydemocrats.com/obama-to-gov-snyder-water-poisoning-is-no-natural-disaster-you-knew-about-it-a-year-ago/




FLINT WATER CRISIS TIMELINE

     Here are a few highlights
April 25 2014: This is the day the switch from Lake Huron to polluted Flint River is announced.
Aug. 15 2014: E. Coli bacteria is found in the water. Residents are advised to boil the water. A second advisory for the same reason is issued a few weeks later.

Oct. 13 2014: General Motors plant in Flint refuses to use Flint water because this new water source is rusting their car parts. The city gets different water for a different water line especially for GM...but not for the people still drinking the water

Jan. 13 2015: Protesters rally outside City Hall to demand a return to Detroit's supply and lower bills. Hundreds turn out at a forum, some complaining of rashes on children. Detroit offered to let Flint switch back, but the city's emergency manager says it would cost too much.

June 24 2105: "EPA water expert Miguel del Toral sends internal memo to his bosses flagging Flint's failure to use [EPA required] chemicals to control corrosion [that cost $100 a day], which can cause lead to leach from pipes into drinking water. The warning was not made public until the ACLU leaked a copy of the memo weeks later."

Sept. 24, 2015: "Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician at Hurley Children's Hospital, says a comparison a blood samples she undertook shows a jump in lead poisoning in Flint's children. State officials told the Detroit Free Press their own samples don't show the same increase."


~NBC NEWS



READ MOREhttp://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bad-decisions-broken-promises-timeline-flint-water-crisis-n499641

* * * * *


Independent water tests show lead problems far worse than Flint claims  (Original Story from September of 2015)





How are they going to fix these pipes? What kind of biofilm can fix this mess. It's too late. And I've read, in passing, that it's illegal for residents to sell their homes. And I can kinda see that. How can you sell your home with a known lead problem.

Actually, the state should be forced to buy the homes at 2006 prices (Prices prior to the economic downturn) or prices prior to the water change over, whichever is more.

If I was President Obama, I wouldn't send Flint one sent more unless it was to have them act as a sort of bank to pay residents for their homes. I'm make them pay their own staff etc. Every cent above the 80 million Obama's already given Michigan, I'd have put in a fund to buy the homes or give apartment dwellers a 6 month(?) stake (6 month's worth of rent) somewhere else.

I wouldn't give Michigan another dime to control and spend on their own.


http://www.metrotimes.com/Blogs/archives/2015/09/01/independent-water-tests-show-lead-problems-far-worse-than-flint-claims


* * * * *

Former Emergency Manager, Darnell Earley, says that the Flint River has been a back up source of water for decades 
(Original Story Published October 2015) 

"It is critically important that the record be set straight about the decision-making and approval processes that led to Flint joining the Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA) with the use of Flint River water as the interim water supply. The fact is, the river has served and been used as the back-up supply for decades, and this was the rationale given to me by staff and Mayor Walling, who also serves as chairperson of the KWA board. Contrary to reports in the media and rhetoric being espoused by individuals, the decision was made at the local level, by local civic leaders".  http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2015/10/26/opinion-flint-water-disaster/74657458/

The Flint River Was An Industrial Waste Dump. So what does "back up source of water for decades" mean? Does that mean the city of Flint has been feeding this water to the Flint residents, off and on, for decades?

So you tell me: Why isn't somebody headed to prison over this?


UPDATE 1/28/16:  HERE'S A PETITION TO SEND SNYDER TO JAILhttp://petitions.moveon.org/sign/hold-gov-synder-accountable?source=s.fb&r_by=13786321

Monday, January 25, 2016

ACROSS THE REALM: A FUBU SCI COMIC SERIES!!!

Feeling Rebloggy

LOVE LIFE OF AN ASIAN GUY PRESENTS: 


"ACROSS THE REALM"

"Created by Isobel Mitton, an award-winning, Black-Canadian writer, Across the Realm is an immersive sci-fi book series set 600 years into the future where two worlds and ideologies collide: The North, a racially segregated land where Black, Asians and Caucasians live apart, and The South, a society where people of all backgrounds live and love together."




Why LLAG is supporting this: This is POC EVERYTHING!!!

Isobel is a Black woman, the artists creating the artwork are POC, and the entire storyline centers around POC characters! You have Korean commanders, Black high priests, and strong, kick-ass female protagonists...."
~LLAG



READ MORE:
LINK TO COMIC ON LINE
https://www.facebook.com/theLLAG/posts/961845687240244?pnref=story 


Key: FUBU - "FOR US BY US" 

Sunday, January 24, 2016

BLACK REPRESENTATION: PROGRESS IN AND OUT OF HOLLYWOOD

POINT 1: OSCARS MATTER

POINT 2:  AMERICAN OSCARS  DO  NOT BELONG TO WHITE PEOPLE


just like

AMERICA DOESN'T
BELONG TO WHITE PEOPLE
CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF


POINT 3: WE CAN'T AFFORD TO LIE DOWN FOR THIS



However, I have a dream.  And I live for that dream. I live for the day when white people are a numerical minority. I live for the day where white people must have a white actors awards ceremony all their own because there is no other way for them to know who is the best white actor, best white film of the year.

That is, I live for the day when "The Oscars" are truly representative of all Americans. 


I live for the day when diverse, multi-ethnic Oscars race peacefully co-exists with Black FUBU actor award shows, Latinx FUBU actor award shows, and White FUBU actor award shows.

I can't wait for white folks to need their own actors awards show. I'm hopping up and down and spinning in a circle on one foot anxious for that mess to happen. The year 2060, 2070 cannot get here fast enough.


In the meantime though? We need to figure out how to get our share of damn pie. Don't get it twisted. That flippin' Oscar matters. And it matters right now. 
Halle Berry 


POWER 
OPPORTUNITY  
Power to Do More Movies AND Black Woman Projects

A Zora Neale Hurston Book
turned into a television mini-Series
She plays the lead "Janie"

Production Company - Harpo Studios (Oprah Winfrey)


Berry got paid peanuts in the first X-men movie. But she got paid big money for the ones that followed the Oscar.
X-Men Franchise

And while she hasn't been in every X-men movie, there's always a chance she's going to be in future ones. The "Storm" character is hers.  Berry even had enough audience-power/us-power to be in an X-men movie where she couldn't really perform required stunts because she was pregnant. She practically did a cameo in that movie -- but they didn't cut her out because they knew we'd raise hell.

That Oscar she won gave her to us and us to her



Morgan Freeman is still around and has played the same 3 or 4 roles using different character names because he was nominated for Oscars until he finally won one.

Denzel Washington is a household name because of his Oscar nominations and finally gets a win for a leading role. 

Taraji P Henson is still around and going strong in "Empire" because she was nominated. Yes, it made me mad she had to go to a T V series instead of parlaying that into a movie career like white folks and a certain percentage of black men, but...that's another story)
 





POWEROPPORTUNITY




You can argue about how good or bad any one of Berry's projects were. The point is that Berry has power and ability to move and choose due to winning that Oscar. She got "Their Eyes Were Watching God" on screen, a decent mini-series based on a Zora Neale Hurstron novel. She brought a black classic to television. 

Jennifer Aniston, who is white, still has a movie career despite her projects being about as weak as some of Halle's  
but without having lucked up into being in a franchise like "The X-Men" Maybe Aniston's a bad example because she's floating on "Friends" fame. But the other "Friends" actors haven't been able to float using "Friends" fame. Then again, they weren't married to Brad Pitt for a hot minute either.



The point is this: Oscar matters to black actors even more than it does to white. 

White people can cruise through a Hollywood career on whiteness. Hollywood, to the tune of 80%, has nothing to do with acting talent. Some people actually are extremely talented. Like Viola said in her acceptance speech, the only thing black women are missing in Hollywood is opportunity. But when you are pale you can luck up and have your genes, your face, and your mannerisms match a role of a good movie so well that you get famous.

Keanu Reeves
in
"The Matrix"
I like Keanu Reeves. Seems like he's a generous person if rumors of his gifts to staff on set are true. But he's like a pale Boris Kodjoe.  Mostly what he's had going for him is looks (plus the magical ability to pick the right script) 


#OscarsSoWhite is a problem. But we need to change what's happening in front of the curtain just as bad as we need to change what's happening behind the curtain.

In front of the curtain, we need more black and brown movie and television projects. We need to ask "WHY?" in a loud voice when a movie like "Lila and Eve" doesn't get wide release (or any advertising at all after Samuel Goldwyn Films aquires it) when it's so well reviewed at the Sundance Film Festival and later on online sites. 


Behind the curtain, we need to remove all or most of the old white guys doing all the voting for the Oscars.  Whoever votes for movies, television, visual art that supposed to representative of all of us should look like all of us. If white people are 67% of the population they shouldn't be any more than 67% voting for the Oscars.

And when white folks numbers drop below 50% in this country the board at the Oscars should drop to the same percentage. Then white people should go ahead and create their own, separate white actors awards. Again, I'm looking forward to that, I'll attend the white actors awards too. I'll be the black woman way down front, not sitting in her seat but standing up, in everybody's way, doing the happy dance. 





* * * * * * *




P.S. Back folks aren't the only ones Oscar fails to represent. It's been 54 years since a Latina took home an Oscar too

read more:http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-oscar-diversity-asian-latino-indigenous-nominees-winners-20160120-story.html


Saturday, January 23, 2016

X-FILES STARTS AGAIN TOMORROW JANUARY 24 2016

AND SO DID THE SEXISM BEHIND THE SCENES

"Gillian Anderson: I Was Offered Half Duchovny’s Pay for ‘The X-Files’ Revival"
I can't believe they tried to get Gillian Anderson to work for half David Duchovney's pay...again, 25 years later. I can't believe they offered her half the first time. Yeah, she was an unknown. But Duchovny was barely known. He was doing that Red Shoes Diary crap. Wasn't he only on during the intro? When I first started watching the show, I knew I'd seen him somewhere but couldn't remember where. And now that I've read this article, I certainly don't remember her always being told to walk behind Mulder. Or maybe I just thought she was following him reluctantly the first three years. Then again, maybe that passed for "normal" before my eyes at the time.
~from the Daily Beast


Read About How The World has and hasn't changed, sexism wise, right here:



It would be interesting to read what other actresses put up with 25 years ago. Sometimes the world changes so slowly you don't see much. Sometimes the world isn't changing. It's hard to know which is which sometimes.

WITH WHITE REPUBLICANS AROUND, WHO NEEDS TERRORISTS?

THE POISONING OF FLINT MICHIGAN'S WATER SUPPLY:
A LESSON IN "ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM" 











REQUIREMENT 1:  

HAVE 
MOST OF THE PEOPLE BE BLACK

IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN
The Black Population of Michigan as of 2010 census 
was approximately 14%

The White Population of Michigan as of 2010 census 

was approximately 79%


WHILE IN FLINT MICHIGAN
The Black Population of Flint, Michigan as of 2010 census 
was approximately 57%

The White Population of Flint, Michigan as of 2010 census 
was approximately 37%



SOURCE: U.S. CENSUS
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/26/2629000.html


REQUIREMENT 2: 
HAVE MANY OF THE PEOPLE BE POOR

"The past three decades have been rough for Flint. Like many blue-collar Michigan towns, it was fueled by the auto industry. General Motors plants kept it afloat for much of its prosperous history. But in the 1980s and 1990s, those plants began to close their doors, and when the jobs left, so did many of the people.

According to local officials, about 40% of residents are below the poverty rate. Fifteen percent of homes are boarded up and abandoned [which always leads to an dramatic increase in crime]

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/11/health/toxic-tap-water-flint-michigan/


REQUIREMENT 3: 
HAVE A REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR 
THAT HAS MORE REGARD FOR
MONEY 
THAN

1) LIVES HE SEES
AS LESS THAN HUMAN

AND

2) THE ENVIRONMENT



Nearly two years ago, in April of 2014 Michigan's Republican Governor Rick Snyder appointed Emergency Manager Darnell Earley and tasked him to balance the budget of Flint. They decided they could save money by switching Flint's water supply from Lake Huron (which they were paying the city of Detroit for), to the Flint River 

They did this knowing that the Flint River had served as a dump for industrial waste for decades prior to the Clean Water Act of the 1970s and 1980s.

1. Black
2. Poor
3. Republicans Saving Money (Industrial Waste was dumped there in the first place because the black poor didn't count. And rumor has it, Republicans are trying to block water clean up regulations right now, in 2016)  




https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/12/15/toxic-water-soaring-lead-levels-in-childrens-blood-create-state-of-emergency-in-flint-mich/

To make things even worse, these men failed to add an anti-lead preventive that is required by the federal government--in order to save money.  


I don't know if any of the children are dead of lead poisoning yet. But the
 children that live will suffer varying degrees of brain damage and other ailments from the lead poisoning.

But there are people dead of Legionnaires Disease in Flint Michigan and all signs point to the water as a source of that too


http://usuncut.com/class-war/people-are-dying-in-flint-all-sings-point-to-water/



Michigan's governor finally switched the water supply back, after 3 months of arguing with Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha over the lead levels she was finding in children's blood due to the tainted water.  President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Flint Michigan to help prevent even more lead poisoning in the children and to provide the people of Flint with drinkable water. 


* * * * *

Some folks are calling for Governor Rick Snyder to face jail time. I, for one, do not think this is unreasonable. He managed to do what Americans have been afraid Al Qaeda or Isis might do. He managed to poison the water supply to a major American City. He managed to poison the water supply of Michael Moore's beloved Flint Michigan.

An Open Letter From Michael Moore to Rick Snyder: 


"To poison all the children in an historic American city is no small feat. Even international terrorist organizations haven’t figured out yet how to do something on a magnitude like this.
But you did. Your staff and others knew that the water in the Flint River was poison — but you decided that taking over the city and “cutting costs” to “balance the budget” was more important than the people’s health (not to mention their democratic rights to elect their own leaders). So you cut off the clean, fresh glacial lake water of Lake Huron that the citizens of Flint (including myself) had been drinking for decades and, instead, made them drink water from the industrial cesspool we call the Flint River — a body of “water” where toxins from a dozen General Motors and DuPont factories have been dumped for over a hundred years. And then you decided to put a chemical in this water to “clean” it — which only ended up stripping the lead off of Flint’s aging water pipes, placing that lead in the water and sending it straight into people’s taps..."