I’m a 25 year old woman without any children, so I don’t know all the details to parenting. However there is something wrong with this picture (video) below. I know many young women aspire to be the next Amber Rose-who admitted being a 15 year old stripper, and of course young women and even adults aspire to be Kim Kardashian-whose fame was elevated by a sex tape!
For young women being a HO’fessional has taken the place of aiming to be a doctor in America. A perfect world does not exist; however there comes a time where African Americans must realize that they are no longer chained- Metaphorically speaking.
A week ago-A 3 year old white girl met Diane Sawyer on good morning America because of her ability to distinguish between gender stereotypical and non-stereotypical advertising for kids.
The little girl was phenomenal and on the other side of the world you have a group of African Americans video-taping their daughters mimicking BET’s UNCUT! 20 years from now-Who will be on top?
Madam Prezident
Little White Girl
Little Black Girls
I think it's obvious who is going to be ahead on this.No need to rant.There is however a need you pray.
ReplyDeleteOne thing about life is that you never know how thing's may turnout for the children in each video. One of the Children from the video from below might be another Nicki Minaj, Lil Kim, Rihanna or Beyounce and make Millions, Whereas the child in the first video can end up a Heroin addict. You never know what cards life can dish-out. There are many Blacks aiming for careers in the Entertainment(Comedian's,Rappers,and Sport's)industry. what this little girl's are doing is looked upon as ignorant but I see it as a difference in culture.
ReplyDeleteBoy, that little girl is adorable, but this scenario is a lot more complex than what we see, thus, let us refrain from judging each other by appearances. And quite frankly, my heart aches at the comparison along "color lines." That is what I find more disturbing. Our disdain says more about us than those whom we condemn. I know why one would think the way you do, but this video my ladies is not a reflection on you, and it is far more complex than black and white. Nor does it represent the totality of "little black girls." Let us get a grip, and pray for ourselves that our Father in heaven will forgive us for our judgement against these angels. We don't know them, and we can't even presume to know Your heart toward them unless You reveal it to us. Therefore Lord, impress upon us the need to think before we judge, to dig deeper for the meaning of things, and to judge NOTHING before Your time. Amen!
ReplyDeleteLife is not a crap shoot. A grounded and intelligent culture begins from the cradle and usually goes to the grave, or so it has been said. Without identity, purpose and direction no child can find his/her way through life's myriad set of problems, mazes, and complexities. [We] can put any spin that we want on these videos religious or intellectual. My money is on the little White girl because "she gets it" about the subliminal projection of marketing. And just maybe that reasoning alone will protect her from the negative forces out there that could steer her into doing drugs or any other negative or harmful thing in life. Children, all children, are the mirror image of who we are!
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ReplyDeleteI think comparing two extremes is neither accurate, or fair. This little white girl is remarkable: the fact that she is remarkable, and not reflective of how most girls are being raised (regardless of race) is exactly why she made it on to Diane Sawyer. Yes, we have a LOT of work to do within our community to help our girls and boys find their authentic selves and not seek out the bulls__t. But I have about 15 cousins beneath the age of 10 and not a single one would be allowed to behave the way these little girls are carrying on in the above video. And there are also white girls growing up in the suburbs who are on some ho ish too: fortunately for them they have class and race on their side. The above videos show 2 extremes, while the issue of race and girl's sexuality and understanding of themselves is far more nuanced and varied.
ReplyDeleteI've read the article, watched both videos and have come to the conclusion that this article, Madam Prezident, is subliminally pointing the finger as well.
ReplyDeleteWhat's shown here are two extreme ends of the spectrum, with the former having been exposed to marketing ploys and the latter obviously not. To speak metaphorically, "Apple to apple", are not being compared. Trust when I say, that I've seen children of color (different races and hues), expound on the same subject of marketing when it's something they want and are trying to convince their parents to buy, or not, but the child/ren are not recorded for the world to see (which is a form of marketing in and of itself). These children of color typically are labelled as, "Acting white".
On the other end of the spectrum, I've seen children of non color, dance to certain styles of music and "booty shake" as best they can to not only music they've grown accustom to listening to, as well as music typically listened to by people of color. Have you seen some of the cheer-leading competitions lately?
I will admit that people of color have a habit of taking things to the extreme far end, but there is not much of a difference, if all comparisons are equal.
Examples; We call it Chicago stepping, they call it Cowboy Cha Cha. We call it Electric Slide, they call it Country Line Dance. We call them projects or ghettos, they call them trailer parks. In reference to us, it's called welfare, for others government assistance. We call it crack epidemic, they it meth epidemic. We called it Doo-Wop, they called it Barber Shop Quartet. Record companies that used and exploited black artists, We called it MoTown, they called it all of the others!
To state the obvious, I see this as society, the media with Diane Sawyer,in particular, extoling one attribute or ability of a white child over the attributes or ability over a black child. Neither of the present day depiction can really say who is going to be "successful" or "unsuccessful" in the end. If we measure success ONLY by money and possessions then a lot of black and white people fall short. Don't feed into the sterotypes of society. Believe me it begins with the media. Shaking your booty is one thing as long as you encourage children to use their minds also. Also, people who raise a family to live right, respect themselves and worship GOD are not failures even if they don't own a home or new car.
ReplyDeleteJeez, look at what's become of our black community. It's so, so, so sad!
ReplyDeleteI think your comparison is problematic on a number of levels.
ReplyDelete1)The first girl is sharing her opinion on the dissatisfaction of toys mass marketed based on gender,i.e some boys like pink and some girls like superheros. Its obvious they have had this conversation before and saw fit to tape the conversation at this point. Didn't really seem that profound kids are always taken on fairness; its not fair that one sex is limited to only one thing. Of course girls can typically play with anything, but boys are not(baby dolls).
2)The girls in the video, were being coaxed, but were having fun, though we may not agree with the sexual connections we make of their dancing. It may have been a family reunion. If they were asked in their video something that is unfair to them in life I think they would be able to respond accordingly also.
3)If the first girl was filmed making "mud pies" and eating them, would she be viewed in the same light as she had a moment ago when she voiced her concern? The comparison is flawed.
And though I think the purpose of the blog was for upliftment and chiding of Black behavior, I think it is time to stop making Caucasians the standard to which we are compared. Its ok to compare, but the world is so much more richer and diverse than to limit African and Caucasian Americans.
So who would I bet on, the individuals whose parents are in their lives providing them: love, encouragement in their endeavors, and a sense that they matter(what they think, say and are expected to do in life).
this is such b.s. Madame Prezident, you should be ashame of yourself with your white way of thinking.There is no way you can say what any of these girls will become when they get older. I bet if you looked and found a video of this little girl (white) at a party should would be dancing but she could probably could not dance like the other girls. If you took them to a toy store and they were asked the questions about dolls and superheros, they could give you their own opinion like the little girl did. People like you are dangerous.
ReplyDeleteIn both videos, the children are simply demonstrating what they see in their own home.
ReplyDeleteFurther more "Madam Prezident", If you post another extreme eschewed view, I shall motion to have you impeached.
ReplyDeleteThat's right, I almost forgot that most blogs are not journalistically credible.
Here is the perfect example.
ReplyDeleteMy 90 year Grandma Dances to LMFAO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLiB0OONjec
Me and my grandma dancing to to Rack City.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFmqMe0pQ5A
Interview with Grandma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IchSC3frB-U
For those that don't know LMFAO are Barry Gordy's son and nephew.
Madam Prezident, you are a perfect example of the racist stereotypes you think you are challenging. You take one positive example of a white child and offer her as an example of white folks and their culture. You then take a negative example of Black girls and their families and use them to represent Black folk. Then you proceed to make a racial comparison. That is what white supremacists do and that is how they created and maintain the idea of white supremacy and Black inferiority. You continue their tradition.
ReplyDeleteI guess we are going to continue to move on with the "don't judge" mantra. We never want to say that someone is doing something that may not be good for our kids. If we can say that getting kids serious about school at an early age will be the first step to college, why is it wrong to say that booty popping at tender age of 5 is the first step to Magic City? Sure, those girls might be smart but dont praise and flatter our little girls for that. We go crazy when they shake their ass though. And when we start to speculate on the "if's" in situations like this we just continuously create built in excuses for why we cannot speak to each other candidly with concern. Justifying their future on the one in a million shot that they might be a star making a lot of money for what they do still doesn't answer the problem of a lack of esteem and dignity that many of our children have. We cannot keep masking money for dignity. or notoriety for respect.
ReplyDeleteMy Black People there is a Plague that is attacking our community which is drug's,gangs,and Negative Media, that like some crazy person in the city crying "the End of the world is near", there are some black Blogger's hoping for our own Armageddon...Stop The Negative Media Against Black's!!!!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree with these comparisons being on opposite ends of spectrum,this is disturbing but not shocking.This behavior exist throughout America.This may not be the majority of our children,but no matter how few this conduct must be addressed.The parents who allow little girls to dance in such a sexually explicit way,or any adult present brings their very own morality into question.There comes a time when what maybe apart of adult modern culture maybe popular but separated from our youth.Pornography is apart of adult culture too,however it is not appropriate for our children.Some of us embrace the immorale,the ignorance,bafoonery,and you love it.We must raise our standards and expectations so our condition is elevated.Less than half of our children graduate.Teen age pregnancy out of controle.We are unhealthy,uninformed,imprisoned,and full of poverty and unemployment.Self responsibility and public policy contributes to all of this.I don't think we can booty shake our way out of this.Its not just the kids,it is us.Listen at the adults in the background encouraging it.Look at the adults ignoring it.Where did they learn it from.We put ourselves on front street and demand respect and we don't respect ourselves.Raise your aims,you shoot low and hit nothing.Finally,we must bridge the disconnect between those who know better and those who don't.
ReplyDeleteI actually am sick of the folks attacking the prez and naming her racist. Anybody remember the speach of the old russian in the bathroom of a bar-dancing scene in the French movie 'La Haine'?
ReplyDeleteFalling from a 100 story building and we still go like:
"I'm fine. I don't see no floor rushing at me.
Why you yelling at me?"
JayJBee
"Actually I am flying... butterflying to be exact... SPLAT!"
Thank you, Eric, for being the voice of reason.
ReplyDeleteWow..that was deep. I believe our black children do not live or think outside of what they see!
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