LeBron James, Gisele Vogue cover controversy hides a lot - 3.27.2008.2

LeBron James. Gisele Bundchen. King Kong and the blonde or success and good looks?



The cover of Vogue does not make a preference. Beyond saying both look good and are in shape there is nothing more said. But in America, images of Blacks and Whites together always evoke issues older than the nation itself. This is no different.

How you see the cover has a lot to do with what you want to see, and I think what race you are. I would guess that most African Americans will either see nothing or a Mandingo image. Most Whites will see nothing or the stereotypical sexual image of a Black male, or a taboo that far too many Black men have died over for centuries. And that is perhaps the problem.

Not that some see anything, but that so many see something more. And that was exactly what Vogue wanted. Ads and images for companies are important. They promote sales, and bring profit. They make your brand memorable. In a nation that is obsessed with sex, yet repressed from having it the residual suggestion is enough to get some into an uproar.

I personally did not see anything wrong with the photo at first glance. My next thought was, couldn’t LeBron have worn something more classy or professional? Then I saw the sexual insinuation. Note that I had to work to that conclusion.

But there is no lack of people who go to that 3rd thought first. Whether it’s an African American that thinks the Black race is being breed out of the world (which considering the numbers in Africa I doubt), or a White seeing visions of Slavery rape fantasy/fears. We are a nation that has yet to resolve our initial circumstances, and companies that recognize this seek the profit out of it.

I’ve read many that say the photo is one thing or another. Actually I think it’s both. It is meant to be on the edge, allowing deniability and thus feeding a frenzy that happened with too much ease. And the real question to me is if this was so easy to cause uproar, how can we ever believe that all the issues and baggage since 1619 no longer exists?

While on an individual level I’m sure many are not racist or tied to prejudice, just as LeBron did not envision this as being a negative portrayal of him. But as a nation that cannot be said. The first day of 2007 I commented on the interracial couple that made headlines with their proposal on national television. Later that same year I discussed the lesser covered news of their wedding marred by death threats and violence at the wedding.

Barely a week ago Senator Obama had to discuss race, and the racism of his own grandmother. 2 weeks ago Rev. Wright was often taken out of context as a group of 10 second soundbites from 5 sermons were strung together to form polispeak against Senator Obama’s campaign; to the delight of the Clinton campaign that had been using race as an issue since October 2007 at least.

If there is anything more at issue in America than sex (who’s having it and with whom) it is absolutely race. Neither issue is one that gets an honest or open conversation.

What is the real thing the cover is saying that is not being dealt with in the media? That several successful Black entertainers and businesspeople, like Kimora Lee Simmons or Sean Combs (aka P Diddy), never got attention on the cover of Vogue though they had successful and popular clothing lines for a decade. That holding up a question about an entertainer completely obfuscates the real issues of poor educations for our children, skyrocketing drop-out and teen pregnancy rates, unequal legal sentencing policies, and the proliferation of drug in low income communities to name a few.

Magazines about women’s clothing lines are about sex. A cover is meant to exemplify that fact. Sex sells in America (if not the world). And this cover absolutely attacks the American precepts of sex appeal and sexuality. It dives right into the unspoken and still held belief in restricting or preventing interracial couples. It swings the door open to the learned fears and fantasies and questions that have plague this nation since the first African slave was sold in America and a White woman gave him a second glance.

Is this image troubling? Maybe in some respects. But more troubling is what this cover is attempting to distract from. That is what we really need to pay attention to. At least that’s what I think.

Interracial couples, the past is the present Part 2 - 7.27.2007.2

Continued from Interracial couples, the past is the present Part 1...

With all the advances and changes that have occurred since the Civil Rights Movement in the mid-60’s, social change has been the best and worst of things. The youth of today use terms that were used 40 years ago as a rally cry to lynch and beat African Americans. There are more African Americans in the middle class, owning and running businesses. We have seen 2 Secretaries of State, and now a serious contender for the Presidency of the United States that is Black. Yet, for all the mostly younger people that date with no barrier from color of skin, there still is anger and dislike of the concept on both sides.

In 1972 Kitty had to move 7 states away, and was disowned from her family, as was her husband, just to be safe. In 2007 a heralded star of the Fiesta Bowl has to have the same type of fear. Why?

Not only why, but what does it mean? I’m sure that not everyone that is against interracial marriages, or dating, would kill over it. But some obviously still would. Not everyone would disown their family memebrs over this, but some still do. Why is it not enough to be human and in love?

I know some women that I have dated in the past find this to be a terrible sin. They equated it with betraying the race. I have known several Black Men that have said the same. I have known many White men that have directly told me they respect me, would work for me, were clients of mine, would defend me versus others attacking me on the basis of my race, and stated clearly they would never let their sister date me (and yet for some I managed millions of their money with complete discretion and autonomy).

Personally I don’t really care, but perhaps millions of others do. A minority of them feel so strongly as to consider murder. Yet how many of the youth of today feel there is no racism any longer. How many state that all the playing fields are even. Perhaps they just haven’t run into a situation, or did not recognize it because obviously it still exists.

America will continue to be divided and have issues while views and actions over interracial couples exist. That does not mean I think everyone must be integrated, nor segregated in their relationships. I think people need to be themselves and live. Live without the fear of violence, and perhaps death just because of how they are with.

We can never be a nation indivisible until the response to the quote by Morpheus I opened this with can be countered by another quote from The Matrix Revolutions,

“And some things do” – Niobe

Interracial couples, the past is the present - 7.27.2007.1

"There are some things in this world, captain Niobe, that will never change." – Morpheus From the Matrix Reloaded

Back in the early 1970’s I recall meeting a friend of my mother, a woman from the South. I recall her for many reasons, her nickname, her personality, and her husband. At the moment I’ll share a bit about her marriage.

As I mentioned, ‘Kitty’ was a woman from the South that moved to New York City when she got married. Neither she, nor her husband, had family in the City. They didn’t move for a better job or to gain a better education. They left the South because it was the safe thing to do.

Kitty and her husband were an interracial couple (they were married to the day that Kitty died of cancer and a bad hospital – well over 25 years after I first met them). That may not sound like a big deal in 2007, but in 1972 it was. That isn’t very long ago, and since that time things have changed, and then again as Morpheus states some don’t.

Case in point is the Fiesta Bowl. It was a great game and I wrote a bit about it. I recall that it was the first post for 2007. After the very close win, by the undefeated Boise State Broncos, there was a bit of a surprise for all the nation to see. Ian Johnson, the running back responsible for the overtime win, went over to his girlfriend and proposed with ESPN and other national television cameras catching every second. Chrissy Popadics said yes, without hesitation. They are an interracial couple.

Fast forward to today, and it’s being reported that death threats are part of the negative comments being hurled at the soon-to-be newlyweds. So vicious and troubling are the threats, security is required for the wedding.


This is hardly a unique case. I know of other interracial couples that are also running into difficulty like this today as well. Not to mention that back over a year ago I wrote a post about Ms. Sanaa Lathan in the film Something New. Since that time I have noted the continuous views of that post, though only 1 woman has bothered to comment. I have seen that every month, interracial dating is on of the topics my blog is found under ever month. To be exact, the terms being searched are accusatory and negative towards interracial dating.

Continued in Part 2...

Sanaa Lathan and the other side of interracial dating

I was caught between a couple of items today, the ratings on several network broadcast and cable television programs, when I noticed something a bit more enticing. It wasn’t the fact that Mr. George Clooney has done so well in the Oscars race this year. A far less glamorized movie that will be coming out shortly - Something New.

When I first noticed anything about this movie, it was that it was a love story. Being a fan of sci-fi and action films, and more than occasionally watching what friends call ‘high intellect’ films, love stories don’t usually hit my radar. Not that there is anything wrong with them. And I don’t mean to imply they are ‘chick flicks’ and I’m too manly to see them. It’s just not my thing.

This film does have an interesting twist on the theme though. The couple is an interracial one. Even more interesting is that the woman is a Black African American and the man is White. In its own way I think this film is similar in cultural impact to Guess Who’s Coming Home to Dinner, except this time it’s the Black culture that gets the surprise.

It’s not a new thing, interracial couples have been around a long time. They are socially accepted moreso now than ever before, I think the late 70's and early 80's was the turning point in the nation. The portrayal of a Black African American woman in an interracial couple is different though. Black women have long been the champions of the call to ‘Keep it black’ and ‘Stay true to your people’ in my experience. [I have known many women who believe the above strongly. I have seen some lash out at a white girlfriend of a black male, just because she was with him and he had never dated the woman. I have even had a woman I dated breakup with me due to the fact that I had dated ‘outside the race barrier’. I find both actions incredibly stupid and repulsive.] Much of the return to Africa and re-embracement of traditional African culture, has been lead by black women at least on a community basis as I have seen.

Yet as Ms. Sanaa Lathan states “...about 42.4 percent of black women in America aren't married. Black women are shooting up the corporate ladder way faster than our black male counterparts. And (black men) are either dating outside their race, in jail or dying...” [By the way my poem I rejoice in me may give you an idea of how I feel about my place in American society] The surprise is still there as, in my experience, Black African American women more than any other group including Hispanic women have stated (some shouted) they will stand by their Black African American man. Quite the diametric I think.

It will be very interesting to see how this movie does, especially in cities with high ‘minority’ populations. It is well known that many Black African American actors will not do movies or scenes that have a White female as a love interest or sexual partner. At least its well known in the communities I’ve been in. Mr. Denzel Washington has never done so nor several other prominent Black actors. The fear is alienating the Black female audience. Alienate them and watch movie sales along with star power disappear. Even Mr. Wesley Snipes has felt the backlash, I believe, if not in moviegoers definitely in the black media.

The big question though is why is this such a big deal? Interracial dating, in a movie or in real life, should not be such a question. Or am I mistaken. Does it matter what color your mate is, since the only person it should hold importance to is you and your mate. Obviously to racists it make quite the difference, but what about everyone else? I wouldn’t call Black women racist for having a belief in having a strong black family, just as I wouldn’t say that about a white female. But where is the line, if it exists at all, that crosses to the extreme. [My personal examples above seem well beyond that point but others may disagree.]

So I find that while I still will not go to see this movie, it's still a love story and they have no interest to me, I will probably watch a couple of minutes when it on DVD or regular cable among friends and/or family just to see how everyone reacts. If nothing else I find that the premise is timely, and culturally dynamic.

This is what I think, what do you think?