Miss Angola Crowned Miss Universe 2011!

There were a record 89 delegates that stepped onto the stage for the 60th Miss Universe pageant last night, the most since 2006 but only one could wear the crown.   Last night one of them did so in historic fashion.

For the first time since 1999, we have a winner from the African continent.

25 year old business student Leila Lopes from Angola won the 60th annual edition of the pageant that took place this year in Sao Paulo, Brazil    The 1.79 m  (5 feet 10.5 in for the metrically challenged ) beauty is the first African delegate to win the title since Mpule Kwelagobe of Botswana won it in 1999, the fourth African descended woman to do so and the second continental Black African to win.



The Miss Universe pageant powerhouses, the USA, Puerto Rico and Venezuela got their reps into the Top 16, but failed to advance into the Top 10.   It also extends the USA title drought.  Last time we won it was 1997 and I still argue the point that had either Rachel Smith or Crystle Stewart not fallen in back to back years, that USA pageant title drought would be over.

Frankly, I wasn't expecting Miss USA 2011  to get any further than that, wasn't feeling her.  Other Top 16 nations were Miss France, Miss Kosovo, Miss Colombia, Miss China, Miss Angola, Miss Australia, Miss Brazil, Miss Netherlands, Miss Ukraine, Miss Panama, Miss Costa Rica, Miss Portugal, and Miss Philippines.

I am surprised that Miss Venezuela nor Miss Puerto Rico advanced further

Top 10
Miss France, Miss China, Miss Angola, Miss Australia, Miss Brazil, Miss Ukraine, Miss Panama, Miss Costa Rica, Miss Portugal and Miss Philippines.

Top 5
Miss Angola, Miss Ukraine (1st runner up) Miss Brazil (2nd runner up), Miss Philippines (3rd runner up) Miss China (4th runner up)

For those of y'all who hate on pageants, peep what journalist Connie Chung had to say about her role as one of the Miss Universe 2011 judges.

“I know my job and I'll be tough, but fair,”she said. “You have to keep in mind that these women are not objects just to be looked at. They're to be taken seriously. I want to choose somebody I take seriously and the world takes seriously, too.”

When asked during the interview phase what physical trail she would change if she could, the new Miss Universe smoothly answered the question this way.

“Thank God I'm very satisfied with the way God created me and I wouldn't change a thing,” Lopes said “I consider myself a woman endowed with inner beauty. I have acquired many wonderful principles from my family and I intend to follow these for the rest of my life.”

Congratulations to the new Miss Universe 2011 queen Leila Lopes!.

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Audrey Mbugua Video

I've talked about and posted some links to Kenyan trans activist Audrey Mbugua's essays here on TransGriot, and was pleased to stumble across some YouTube videos of her speaking about trans issues 

Once again, it points out that transpeople do exist on the second largest continent on the planet, and the voices of transpeople based there like Audrey and others across the vast African continent need to be heard in the global conversation occurring about trans human rights issues.

August 20, 1619

On August 20, 1619, the first 20 Africans arrived at Old Point Comfort in what would become the the United States.on a Dutch ship named the 'White Lion' under the command of Captain Jope and an English pilot named Marmaduke.

Old Point Comfort is now Fort Monroe in Hampton, VA..

The Africans were originally loaded onto a Spanish ship named the Sao Joao Bautista that set sail for Vera Cruz, Mexico.  They encountered the 'White Lion' and an English ship called the 'Treasurer' which robbed the Spanish ship of its cargo and 60 Africans. 

The 'Treasurer' arrived 3-4 days later and attempted to trade their African captives for supplies, but weren't allowed to do so and set sail for Bermuda. 

The arrival of the 'White Lion' was a event that only garnered this line for the journal of colonist John Rolfe, who wrote, "......there came a Dutch man of warre that sold us (20) Negars."

The African arrivals bore Spanish names, such as Antonio, Isabella and Pedro.and were sold to work at plantations up and down the James River.  Only two of the original twenty Africans arrived at Jamestown according to Calvin Pearson, the president of Project 1619, Inc.

Capt. William Tucker, the commander of Point Comfort  purchased Antonio and Isabella, and in 1623 they became the parents of the first African-American child, William Tucker.  The descendants of this child and the Tucker family still live in the Hampton area, and William Tucker is buried there.

Jamestown myth event in Hampton: wavy.com

As part of African Arrival Commemoration Day,  residents of the city of Hampton will mark the occasion of the first Africans arriving in the New World with a candlelight ceremony at Fort Monroe and a free 3:30 PM EDT symposium at the American Theater in Hampton entitled 'Defying The Myth of Jamestown' .  

The Project 1619 group is also trying to raise funds for a permanent memorial so that they can have it erected in time for the 400th anniversary in 2019.

You Can't Show 'For Colored Girls' Or 'Hair Story' But 'The Help' Is Okay

The brilliant creative genius and editor of Womanist Musings with another thought provoking post

As many of you already know, I live in Niagara Falls.  This means that anything specifically related to Blackness is difficult for me to find in my area.  Just a few weeks ago, my best friend and I went to see the play top dog/under dog at the Shaw festival, simply because it was the only Black play they decided to show this season.  I go out of my way to support anything Black, in the hope that they will begin to cater to the Blacks more often.

When the movie The Help came out, I decided that even to write a scathing review of the movie, that I would not spend my hard earned money on it.  I am tired of seeing Black women play maids.  I am tired of the faux relationships that Hollywood chooses to present between White women and Black women.

To support Black art, whether it is movies, or plays, my best friend and I generally have to drive to Toronto, which is just under two hours away from where we live.  We do this because we realize that it's the only way to fight the notion that Black art is not bankable. To see For Coloured Girls, Precious, The Hair Story, The Miracle at St. Anna, Jump the Broom etc we have had to drive two hours.

Just out of curiosity, I checked the listings at Niagara Cinemas this week, only to discover that The Help was indeed playing there.  Even if I were inclined to spend my money on this movie, which I most certainly am not, the fact that they cannot show a Black movie except when a Black woman plays the role of a maid would be enough for me to boycott.  A Black woman in the role of a maid is not threatening to Whiteness, and is therefore acceptable in this small bigoted town. The one Black movie that aired out here was Dream Girls, but only after Dream Girls had proven that it was successful whereas; no White movie has had to live up to this standard. So much for the invisible hand of capitalism ending bigotry.

Incidents like this are why I find it hard to live in this area.  To be Black in a small town is to be erased at every available opportunity.  I have to buy all of my makeup on Ebay and order the shampoos for my hair online.  When I complained about the lack of foundation for Black women, I was told to buy a lighter shade and mix it with bronzer.  No, I am not kidding.  Think about how much shelf space a small bottle of foundation takes up, but that is too much room to sacrifice for Black women. I cannot see movies that reflect me and it is an everyday occurrence to go shopping and be shown the cheaper items, or get no service at all. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to tell servers at restaurants that I will not sit beside the bathroom.

But of course, it is me that has the problem.  I am angry and militant for not accepting graciously the absolute erasure of Black people in the area in which I live.  The only way that I would see The Help, is if the White woman was maid. One of my favorite scenes in Forrest Gump is watching how after receiving money from Forrest,  Bubba's mother went out and hired a White maid, after generations of Black women in her family working as maids for White families. If they want me to pay my hard earned money, they can show me something like that. Show me a movie in which White women are maids to Black families, or a movie in which the Black woman is subject and not object.

To be honest, I am done spending my hard earned money on portrayals that don't represent me and I certainly won't give a theater my money, when they cannot be arsed to show a Black movie unless it is in the Academy Award winning class and bringing in money hand over fist.  Any Black person in this area who lines up to see The Help, ought to be ashamed of themselves.  We may be a small percentage of the population, but if we do not demand to be seen and heard, we never will be, because Whiteness is more than happy with the status quo.

The tagline for this movie is that change starts with a little whisper, well here is my whisper: stop erasing Black people and stop giving us story after story of White saviors. 

Caster Semenya-21st Century Sara Baartman?

I have come to wretch you away –
away from the poking eyes
of the man-made monster
who lives in the dark
with his clutches of imperialism
who dissects your body bit by bit
who likens your soul to that of Satan
and declares himself the ultimate god!


I have come to soothe your heavy heart
I offer my bosom to your weary soul
I will cover your face with the palms of my hands
I will run my lips over lines in your neck
I will feast my eyes on the beauty of you
and I will sing for you
for I have come to bring you peace.

Dianna Ferrus 'A Poem For Sara Baartman'


Caster Semenya's unfolding story, especially in the early stages of it eerily reminded me of the other South African woman who found herself in a situation in which her body was subjected to worldwide speculation and the center of controversy in Sara Baartman.

When Semenya's story broke in the wake of the 2008 IAAF championships in Berlin I thought about the similarities between what the early 19th century medical people of Baartman's day and our early 21st century medical people subjected young Caster to in the name of sport.

In Caster's case she had the additional drama of a 24 hour news cycle, the Net or instantaneous worldwide communication such as Twitter and Facebook to spread the rumors, innuendo and speculation surrounding the story.

It's also one more manifestation of the unwoman meme that women of the African diaspora consistently find themselves being smacked with and wearying at times.

It's also being put in the no-win situation of if we excel at a sport, it's because we're presumed to have 'natural talent', not that we busted our asses training to become the best in the world at what we do.  But if we come out of nowhere and explode on the international athletics scene in a spectacular fashion, then a woman of color athlete is suspected of or automatically assumed to be cheating.  


Semenya, like her countrywoman Baartman did two centuries ago continues to face almost endless speculation about her body.   Only her, her family, her doctors and the IAAF know for sure and the fact she had a non-standard gender presentation exacerbated the rush to judgment in the court of public opinion.  

There is also the element of Semenya being in the situation that no matter how well she does at any track meet from now on, for some people it'll be under a cloud of suspicion..