Apparently Black Hair Products Justify Racial Segregation

TransGriot Post:  You're going to get a two for one guest blogging holiday treat today. Two of my fave bloggers weighed in on this latest racism eruption in Cincinnati.   Here's Katrina Rose's commentary on the subject and Renee's for your reading pleasure   

Ever since segregation became illegal, there have been some White folks willing to jump on any opportunity to bring it back. Of course, this never makes them racist, because they have some trumped up excuse to explain the need to exclude Blacks.  

CINCINNATI (AP) — A landlord found to have discriminated against a black girl by posting a "White Only" sign at a swimming pool wants a state civil rights commission to reconsider its decision.

The Ohio Civil Rights Commission found on Sept. 29 that Jamie Hein, who's white, violated the Ohio Civil Rights Act by posting the sign at a pool at the duplex where the teenage girl was visiting her parents. The parents filed a discrimination charge with the commission and moved out of the duplex in the racially diverse city to "avoid subjecting their family to further humiliating treatment," the commission said in a release announcing its finding.

An investigation revealed that Hein in May posted on the gated entrance to the pool an iron sign that stated "Public Swimming Pool, White Only," the commission statement said.

Several witnesses confirmed that the sign was posted, and the landlord indicated that she posted it because the girl used in her hair chemicals that would make the pool "cloudy," according to the commission.  (source)

Don't we live in a wonderful post racial world?  I love how people keep trying to claim that things are getting so much better, and yet we have incidents like this continually cropping up. It was just a scant few weeks ago that Hermain Cain Uncle Ruckus, was lecturing Black folks about our failures, and declaring racism a thing of the past, as the GOP clapped happily.  Apparently, Whiteness does not mean to be racist, but they somehow keep coming up with reasons to exclude or oppress us at will.

When I write about Black hair, the usual pain in the asses show up to tell me that my complaints are a figment of my over active imagination, and yet Black hair continues to be a site of oppression for Black women.  I must admit that this is the first time I have seen hair used as an excuse to deny us access to a pool; however, Black hair has been known to lead to problems in employment, as well create the belief in White people that we exist to be petted.  Black hair is continually politicized and created as problematic.  It is simply another tactic of Whiteness to other us.

No matter what the White person looks like, no racially specific characteristics are considered problematic. Whiteness is perceived of as the only acceptable norm in existence. Straight hair is prized and promoted at every turn.  Even things like supposedly innocuous shampoo commercials often feature White women tossing their long straight locks around like it's a gift from heaven.  Whiteness continues to be the standard by which all others are judged, and any failure to comply is quickly subjected to discipline.

What bothers me the most about this is the fact that even those who choose to chemically treat their hair, often end up using very natural products to dress their hair, because Black hair is extremely fragile and breaks easily, for example, if for some reason I use gel, I use aloe vera gel, the very same gel that is used to treat burns. Products designed for Black hair, unless someone is still stuck in the soul glow days (shut up, I know I am aging myself), are specifically designed not to be harsh, but then that landlord would know this, had she bothered to learn the first damn thing about her Black tenants.

I am sure in her mind what she did was not racist, and only had to do with protecting her property, but it still amounts to setting up two different standards and purposefully excluding Blacks from public spaces.  These kinds of attacks dehumanize, and I can completely sympathize and empathize with the young girls parents.  One of the hardest things I deal with as a parent of colour is accepting that no matter how much I love and desire to protect my children, I cannot stop the hatred and bigotry that they will face at the hands of Whiteness.  I don't have the words to describe to you what it feels like to know that your are helpless in the face of this massive systemic force, or the pain that is experienced when you look into the eyes of your child, as you try to explain that to many they are considered less than human.

The stress from dealing with the ongoing onslaught of Whiteness is one of the reasons that Blacks die at a younger age.  Despite all of the consequences that come with racism, Whiteness still fails to take responsibility for its past, and present actions, and instead we are offered meaningless platitudes, and criticized for speaking of racism in systemic ways. One need not hang a sign to say no Blacks allowed to benefit from the action, and this is why Whiteness is culpable as a group.

All Is White In So-Called Multicultural Canada

Guest post from Renee, the editrix of Womanist Musings and my fave north of the border mommy blogger.

So, Saturday was the annual Santa Claus parade in Niagara Falls.  I am not a big believer in Santa, because I don't like the idea that this benign White guy travels around and grants wishes.  I think I would be more amenable to the idea, if Santa was occasionally a person of colour.  I always think of Santa as just another manifestation of Whiteness, and we all know that White men are not exactly lining up to do people of colour any favours.  At any rate, after writing their letters to Santa, we headed off to the parade.

We have been going as a family for the last seven years, and so my kids were super excited.  We always have a big breakfast, watch the parade and then go out to lunch.  It's really a family day of fun for us. Each year, the people participating in the parade hand out treats to the kids lining the parade route.  This year, my kids sat down on the sidewalk next to two White kids, with their hot chocolate and blankets to watch the parade.  They were just brimming with excitement.  As the parade got going, we noticed that the participants would hand candy to the two little White boys sitting next to the left my kids and the White girls on the right, but not to my sons.

When they were skipped time and time again, my kids would look back at us to ask what was going on.  Neither of them could understand why they didn't receive candy, while the White boys on their left did, and the White girls on their right did.  The unhusband finally asked me if I thought race was a factor, and I told him of course it is.  Despite the bullshit lie that we tell ourselves about all children being special, marginalized children are just seen as surplus population.


Finally, noticing that nothing was going to change, the unhusband encouraged Mayhem to step further into the street and hold his hand out.  It was not until the Mayhem pushed ahead, and held is hand out that parade participants deigned to give him candy.  At six years old, he is too young to figure out that what he was experiencing was discrimination first hand, but as his mother, I was absolutely enraged.  Standing right next to them, I could not protect them from the bigotry and privilege of others. 

I am quite sure that the people participating were not actively thinking about what they were doing, but their actions still amounted to discrimination and ruined any form of fun I could have potentially had at this event.  Whiteness has been so ingrained socially, that racism often happens without any premeditated thought. The sad truth of the matter is that while White kids are being sheltered and taught to believe that they are special, kids of colour are actively being torn down and encouraged by the world to see themselves as "other".  White people may look at them as babies, and think that they are cute, but shortly after getting out of diapers, they begin to see Black boys as future rapists, thieves and gang bangers. They are systematically written off as a matter of course.  The childhood that White children have, is denied to children of colour, in order to teach them their role in the pecking order. Discrimination does not wait until adulthood.

If you read mommy blogs written by White women, they are full of things like recipes, rainy day activities, coupon deals and pictures of their smiling kids.  White women may write about the stress of working and raising their kids, but they will never have an experience like I did this past Saturday.  They will not have to cheer up their kids after being passed over repeatedly.  They will not have to teach their children that they will have to be better than everyone else to succeed in life, or that the world is happy to see them fail. They can afford to have fluffy little blogs talking about nothing, but as a mother of colour, I have to deal with the realities of White supremacy, as I attempt to salvage some kind of childhood for my precious boys. I wonder if on their business cards, these women have the words only my kids matter.

I know that in years to come, my kids will look back and know exactly what happened to them and why. I know this because there are plenty of events from my childhood that I now understand to be racist.  I know that my parents attempted to shield me as much as possible from the harshness of this, but one can only do so much, when society is determined to undermine your every effort to invest your child with self worth.  Each act of racism will build upon the other, creating rage, and in some cases outright depression.  They will be told that they are reading too much into things, and that they are just looking for a reason to be upset, because it is easier to accept that the marginalized person is wrong, rather than deal with the fact that the world has not moved into this post racial utopia that we continue to hear so much about.

I know that what happened to my kids is not an anomaly, and I also know that they are going to have experiences that are far worse due directly to the colour of their skin. This is the unavoidable future of children of colour.  Even as I am writing this, I am fully aware that this not considered appropriate mommy blog conversation, because isms are something that don't get discussed in parenting spaces.  The generic standard is Whiteness, just like everything else, and this simply reinforces the idea that there is a monolithic experience that constitutes childhood.   I don't have the luxury of such vanilla conversation, and this is why this why social justice is a priority here at Womanist Musings.  You can only afford to ignore race, if you are never going to be a target of racism.

Beckham Calls For End To Racism In Soccer

I'll be rooting against David Beckham and his LA Galaxy teammates when they play my Houston Dynamo in the MLS title game on Sunday but he definitely gets a thumbs up from me for speaking up and speaking out about the long festering problem of racism in international soccer.

'The beautiful game' as it's called has a ugly side in terms of the virulent racism that rears its head in matches.  In some European nations they make monkey sounds or throw bananas at players of African descent.

Even some of the superstar players aren't above using the N-word during a match multiple times to taunt players and it ain't a new problem. 

I remember reading a December 1978 EBONY magazine story about Erwin Kostedde, a German soccer star who was the first African descended player and superstar in the Bundesliga.   The article chronicled his search for his American GI father and there was a paragraph in it that referenced the crowds shouting at him 'Du fauler Neger" (Lazy n----r) when he had the ball taken from him during a match.

A firestorm of criticism has erupted in Britain after FIFA president Sepp Blatter made comments during an interview broadcast on CNN in which he minimized the racism in international soccer and said it should be settled with a handshake.   It also comes as Britain's Premier League is investigating charges that Liverpool striker Luis Suarez and Chelsea defender John Terry racially abused black players during league games.

Asked if he thought there was racism on the pitch, Blatter told CNN: 'I would deny it. There is no racism, there is maybe one of the players towards another, he has a word or a gesture which is not the correct one, but also the one who is affected by that.  

'He should say that this is a game. We are in a game, and at the end of the game, we shake hands, and this can happen, because we have worked so hard against racism and discrimination.  I think the whole world is aware of the efforts we are making against racism and discrimination. And on the field of play sometimes you say something that is not very correct, but then at the end of the game, the game is over and you have the next game where you can behave better."

Um Sepp, if racism isn't a problem in football, why are you still running commercials during World Cup and international friendly matches for the Say No To Racism campaign?

The 75 year old Blatter was just reelected to another four year term amidst a corruption scandal and there were calls for his resignation as FIFA president with even British prime minister David Cameron putting him on blast.

He tried to calm the firestorm by appearing in a photo op with Tokyo Sexwale, the South African government minister and anti-apartheid activist who was imprisoned at Robben Island, and it only poured gasoline on the controversy.  

But Beckham had this to say when asked about it.
“I think the comments were appalling for a lot of people,” he said. “I don’t think those comments were very good for this game.”   Beckham didn’t call on Blatter to step down from the FIFA presidency as others have.but was adamant about ending racism in soccer.

“I have no power with who goes or who stays within FIFA and I don’t wish to have that,” he said. “But there obviously is and has been racism throughout soccer and in life. I do think especially being around the England team and being around the FA, the FA do a lot of work with kicking racism out of the game.

“I think they have made huge strides in the last 10-15 years. But it’s still there, and it can’t just be swept under the carpet and it can’t just be dealt with just a handshake. … It’s not how racism should be treated. We need to work hard to keep it out of the game and keep it out of life in general.”

Amen Becks.  And good luck in any match you play except when it's against the Dynamo or international ones against Team USA. 

Uncle Pat's KKKabin

Just thought I'd provide y'all with another example TransGriot readers of why I can't stand conservatism, and conservafools like Pat Buchanan pimpng white supremacist ideology on the network aiorwaves. 

And FYI, here's the Color of Change petition calling for his removal from MSNBC.   he has a right to his free speech and his views.  He doesn't have the right to spew it on the public airwaves.
 
He can get a gig over at Fox Noise where he'll fit right in as one of the resident Boys in the Hood.

Media Matters has put together videos and transcripts of UnKKKle Pat's greatest hits on MSNBC, and why African American and other POC's want his bigoted azz off the air and over at Faux News where he belongs.