With due respect to ...

[blamebrampton]

... those of you who are mourning him, I am probably going to bite the next person who tells me that Michael Jackson was a revolutionary figure in the fight for equality by African Americans. I hasten to add that this has so far been three in real life and double the number of media foik: my flist has been a bastion of sanity.

Aesthetic irony aside, it belittles genuine revolutionary figures. And I am not even talking about political giants like Dr King; there were many entertainers who walked a far more difficult path earlier and with more grace and charity, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Paul Robeson, Josephine Baker, Sammy Davis Jnr and Nina Simone.

I'm all for people loving the heroes they choose, but I would love a bit of perspective at times like these. And perhaps a little sense of history.

Flistees who are just missing the singing and dancing, I apologise for intruding on your sad day. 

Comments

[theburningboy.livejournal.com]

We're still having those issues. In this day and age we're still talking about "bad" hair (people getting fired over wearing their hair "ethnically") and too wide noses and creams to make skin lighter, and photoshoping Beyonce to make her look latte instead of espresso. The slogans may predate you to Ali-times, but it's not something people can overcome in such a relatively short amount of time. Tyra Banks is not that old (is she?) and she still had to deal with being PoC and not measuring up to the white standards of beauty.