Tune In on MSNBC!

I wrote the article entitled, “A Black Woman’s Life of the Mind is Her Own” for Ebony.com and received a great deal of feedback. Thankfully, it was published on the same day that Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry engaged in a “Mad Free” curated event at the Brooklyn Museum by Michaela Angela Davis. Further, it was but one day prior to the debut of “Melissa Harris-Perry,” her new show on MSNBC.

The synergy led to a discussion on Twitter about the Ebony article, the live-tweeting of the #MadFree event at the Brooklyn Museum, a post-event discussion and a focused debate between myself (@DrGoddess) and Dr. Imani Perry (@ImaniPerry), a Princeton professor and a noted protege’ of Dr. Cornel West, as well as a scholar-activist in her own right.

Observe the discussion and enjoy…

#TheatreChat is a Tweetchat on Twitter, created by @DrGoddess to celebrate great Theatre, Mondays at Noon. Monday is the only day Theatre folks get a day off! We snatch them up and chat with them!

Today’s guests were Actor, Educator and Entrepreneur, @LammanRucker and Playwright and Actor, @LayonGray.

http://www.blackangelsovertuskegee.com

These two gentlemen, along with Thom Scott, are co-founders of @TheBlackGents of Hollywood and are presently Off-Broadway performing “Black Angels Over Tuskegee” (@BlackAngelsPlay) at The Actor’s Temple Theater, 339 West. 47th street, New York City, NY.

The 2nd Anniversary Celebration of “Black Angels Over Tuskegee” is Saturday, February 18, 3:00pm. Join us for a grand time, complete with media, celebrities, drinks and that necessary step-and-repeat for your fabulous picture-taking.

To register as media (including bloggers & tweeters), click here.

This is also the launch of @Amtrak’s Black History Month promotion on The Great Migration, of which Lamman Rucker is a celebrity spokesperson. View Lamman’s personal narrative of his family’s migration from the South to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!

Watch Lamman's Story! MyBlackJourney.com

Click Here or Above to View Lamman Rucker’s BlackJourney

Amtrak is also sponsoring the “Black Angels Over Tuskegee” shows at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. (Feb. 11 – free), at The Actor’s Temple Theater in New York City for the Anniversary Celebration (Feb. 18) and in Orlando, Florida, for the Central Florida Urban League Branch (Feb. 23 & 24)!

Win Tickets to see "Black Angels Over Tuskegee" by clicking on the picture above or here!

Click to listen to the radio promo! Tom Joyner Lamman Promo Amtrak

Thank you, @Amtrak, @TJMS, @Smithsonian, @CFULB, @ImagesUSA, @LivingHopeCo1 and more!

Enjoy the #TheatreChat below and Join Us Monday’s at Noon!

Hashtags: #TheatreChat, #BAOT, (formerly #BlackAngelsOverTuskegee)

Appliances!

Folks, I have a ton of brand loyalty to Sears and Kenmore Appliances because I grew up with their great, (digital) appliances and credit the intelligent choices my Mom aka “Ms. Freedom” made for our family. As you may know, I’ll be debuting my next play entitled, “She Put a Hammer in My Hand, a story about women and home improvement,” which is a tribute to her and a tool kit for all of us.

Thus, I’m delighted to be flying on over to Chicago for the Kenmore Bloggers Summit and there’s a great opportunity for you to win some great prizes, particularly a Sears Gift Card of $100, $50 and $25. *SQUEAL*

I don’t know about you but I could use that. In fact, I got a little teary-eyed just thinking about the possibilities…

Here are The Rules:

1. Make a quick video showing us how you answer the question: What is your most unusual, yet practical, use of a common household appliance?

Are you a member of #TeamWhipDemPots ? Love @SteensCookies or @CrissleCakes? A @CarnalDish fan? Enjoy #FoodiesUnite ?

Even if you don’t cook, how do you make that microwave work for you? Do you twirl it about? Does your blender deliver your groceries for you? Let us know!

2. Don’t show any other brand name unless it’s a Kenmore appliance (of course).

3. Send it in by 7:00 a.m. (EST) on Wednesday, January 18, 2012 (preferably by midnight on Tuesday, January 17, truth be told).

4. Wait for the announcement of results and if you win, enjoy your prize! FIVE folks will be chosen, so you have a good chance of winning something!

5. For US Residents only

6. Video Submissions Are the ONLY valid submissions (Uncompressed Quicktime files at 1920×1080 16:9 are preferred. Any uncompressed file would be best, and the bigger the format the better.)

If you’re a bit camera shy, think of just showing your oven mittens, maybe do some puppetry, who knows? We don’t HAVE to see your face, just be creative and come and get these cash cards!

7. Email the video to drgoddessarts (at) gmail (dot) com

That’s It!

Who knows what will happen following your video submission? Make it good because I can tell you that there are plenty of opportunities for you to showcase your skills an show your love for Sears Kenmore brands.

You know I believe in you making the intelligent choice. And when it comes to Sears Kenmore, I know you’ve come to the right place.

Enjoy!

@InnyVinny's Zora Brown Twitterbird

“I love myself when I am laughing, and then again when I am looking mean and impressive.” — Zora Neale Hurston

Anthropologist, Writer, Novelist, Storyteller, Playwright, Dancer, Southerner Extraordinaire, Zora Neale Hurston, was born on January 7, 1891.

She was a phenomenal woman, a renaissance woman, a fierce woman, artist and human being.

So, naturally, Twitter celebrated her birthday with glee.

Enjoy…

America's First Incorporated Black Town, Where Zora Grew Up

"I got a right to be hostile, these people are stealin'!"

In addition to other talents & skills (web page developer, graphic design, AIDS activist, AwesomelyLuvvie.com), Luvvie Ajayi (@luvvieig on Twitter) is a comedic writer and creator of DumbestTweets where you can get a daily dose and more of the way the American Educational system has failed its children.  From stunning misspellings to appalling logic, it’s all there for us to witness. Here’s an example from the website:

One of the Top 50 Dumbest Tweets

DumbestTweets are both sad and amusing, which is why we love it so much. Luvvie began cataloguing with a low-key but brilliantly funny woman, @MissZindzi. They started with individual tweets and posts and then Luvvie moved on to full time well over a year ago, so much so that DumbestTweets were nominated for a 2011 Black Weblog Award.

Enter Alonzo Lerone. He liked DumbestTweets.com, too, especially after Luvvie took her time to catalog the Top 50 Dumbest Tweets of 2011. Alonzo took those, screen shot them, and made a YouTube video just reading them aloud and laughing.

The video made it to World Star Hip Hop (we’re not linking, the site is just too ignorant) and continued with no attribution to Luvvie. Stealing someone’s intellectual property is a no-no. Not giving proper attribution is a no-no. Stealing the work of artists Twitter loves is also a no-no.

Franchesca Ramsey (@chescaleigh) made a video entitled, “Shit White Girls Say to Black Girls” and posted it on her YouTube Channel.

This hilarious video by this hardworking actress went viral.

@ChescaLeigh's Vid Went Viral

Perez Hilton COULD have embedded her video on his site and given her attribution; but instead, he uploaded it to his own site and never gave her any credit.

When she confronted him, all hell broke loose on Twitter, in general and Black Twitter, in particular.

Perez decided to take it down, instead of uploading her YouTube video, giving her credit, apologizing and offering some restitution.

He’s Shameful. The Takedown is hilarious and filled with him getting cussed out, raging ridicule, overall public shaming and even curses from The Color Purple.

What a Thief Deserves (and is it true that you got this black eye because will.i.am punched you in the face? BWHAAAAA!!!)

Kwanzaa Time

This article was originally published in December, 2003.

It never fails. Every single year for the past six years, at least, I
have witnessed the consistent pattern. On or before Dec. 26, the first
day of Kwanzaa, someone will send me an anti-Kwanzaa editorial
published, you guessed it, just in time for the holiday season! At all
times, the conclusion is the same–there is no real or valid reason to
celebrate Kwanzaa.

This year’s offering was written by Debra Dickerson, journalist,
lifetime overachiever and author of “An American Story.” Her article
entitled, “A Case of the Kwanzaa Blues” appeared in The New York Times opinion section Dec. 26. This article is my response.

At the very least, she begins her essay with a more balanced approach than most– admitting that all holidays are made up–before launching into her attack on Kwanzaa, itself. Even though she accepted an invitation to celebrate Kwanzaa at a friend’s home “still,” she states, “it pains me that we need to look outside our American
experience for spiritual and cultural sustenance.” Statements like these make me appreciative of Dickerson’s literary skills but curious
of her grasp of history and an historical present.

Dickerson’s essay is full of both historical and sociological
contradictions. For example, the fact that she is even having a
tree-trimming party is something that is not authentic to America. The celebration of St. Nicholas (the Dutch Sinterklaas) is not quite
American, either. Oh, except for the fact that Santa Claus’ historic
helper, Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) disappears once the tradition makes
its way to North America. All that nasty business of infinite
servitude and inherent racial inferiority kind of gets in the way of
“the American experience,” you know?

Dickerson states that by stressing our African heritage during
Kwanzaa, this “negates the quintessential Americanness of the
slave-descended, it is an affront to the heroism and enunciated goals
of our oppressed ancestors. They demanded to be considered and treated as Americans, not as Africans.” Just who is she trying to fool here? The descendants of slaves demanded treatment as human beings. They called upon a higher law and a sense of moral righteousness of which there was nothing “American” in existence at the time. And this demand would have been (and was) the case in America, Brazil or even South Africa.

Kwanzaa is not about a rejection of our ancestors who were enslaved or who suffered under Jim Crow American apartheid. What it and the embracing of other African traditions does is remind us that we need not be wholly defined by the oppressive circumstances of slavery and our oppression in this country.

I applaud Dickerson’s recounting of history yet remain despairing of
her apparent lack in ability to connect the dots of our traditions.
She states that her problem with Kwanzaa is its “rejectionist nature”
and then goes on to highlight the fact that the early Black Christian
church served as a place of refuge and rebellion for us, highlighting
our singing of old spirituals as being a means of communicating our
escape plans in addition to proclamations of faith. She thinks that
Kwanzaa is a kind of “thumbing black noses at whites” but does she
think the slaves were not doing exactly that? Or were they inviting
their slave masters along for the ride on the Underground Railroad?
Indeed, the singing of these plantation songs was an embrace of the
trickster figure that has solid African roots in the Yoruba
traditional deity of Elegba and Caribbean characters such as Anansi,
which we have held throughout time and are made manifest in our own Uncle Remus tales.

Kwanzaa is no more about “the romance of our lost heritage” than any other holiday that becomes a tradition for any community. As with all cultural expressions, it is the circumstances and values of the
present that either reaffirm, reject or re-imagine the past. The fact
that moire than 40 million people are now celebrating the holiday
tells us that not only should it be meaningful for our lives–it is.

I learned how to celebrate Kwanzaa in college when I was 17 years old. When I returned to my home in Pittsburgh, I got in the “Kwanzaa loop” and realized that so many of my friends and elders had been celebrating Kwanzaa for years and, in some cases, all their lives. Nobody knows how to get down for Kwanzaa like my folks in the `Burgh. The soaring rhythms of the djembes greet you, the succulent aroma emanating from covered dishes starts collecting all seven senses and settles on a marvelously laid out wooden table covered with cloth full of woven kente coupled with Adinkra symbols. Brothers and sisters with jeans and flannel shirts, dashikis and shokoto pants, grand bubas with bright, beautiful colors, laying softly atop black turtlenecks and leggings, adorn every space one’s eye can find. It’s on the Hill at the Redwoods. In Homewood at the Grand Coliseum. In Garfield at the Lowmans. Downtown at the Byham Theater. And even way out in the suburbs at the Lawrences.

It doesn’t matter where we are. At each and every occasion, there are
Christians, Muslims, Jews, and traditionalists. We sing original
Kwanzaa songs (one of which is mine) and pull out principles and
African proverbs out of baskets. We light candles and recite the names in Swahili, yes, but we also talk about how these principles affect us today, and how we might better implement them in our lives here and now–in English. Our celebrations are blessed by priestesses and our food is blessed by priests, all of whom are given the affirming nod of the elder-most persons in the room. We listen, intently, as children share not only their serious thoughts but also their creativity in song, dance, music and poetry. We fellowship. We even have church–the same church that our enslaved ancestors were having on the plantations–except not so much in secret as it was then. And we reaffirm our individual selves, our families, our communities and our nation. We sing the blues. We play jazz. We rap and somebody will inevitably pull out their guitar or their new set of drums. We celebrate our African heritage and we celebrate how far we have come on this land as well.

When I was in college, I would anticipate my December homecomings for Kwanzaa. Now, I’m in the middle of rehearsal for the “durbar” (entrance) of the chiefs that little boys and girls who have crack-addicted parents and come to a neighborhood afterschool center get to engage in for this year’s festival. For once, they get to have dreams, fantasies, goals and a balanced, authoritative power that is not rooted in “Snow White,” an English king or even a generous Dutch man with a full belly and a bag full of presents. And for far more than once, though culminated in this day, they are sure that we are all family.

Dickerson claims she is “a happy Yank and well-adjusted Westerner” who is also “trying hard to show Kwanzaa some love, but it’s a struggle.” If she did more than smack her lips, roll her eyes and sigh as she ”respectfully” attended a friends’ Kwanzaa celebration or did more than peruse a mere Web site on the holiday, she might learn a thing or two. Until then, she will not be so much American as she is confused in America. And such a tragic situation for the Negro has always been something mainstream America, and certainly its media, seems all-too-willing to embrace, if not celebrate.

(Dr. Kimberly C. Ellis is a freelance writer in Africana Studies at
the University of Pittsburgh. She now lives on Twitter at @drgoddess)

Article copyright the New Pittsburgh Courier Publishing Company.

Copyright New Pittsburgh Courier Dec 31, 2003

I’m reprinting an article from a colleague because we both used to write or Africana.com, it was sold to AOL Black Voices and, well, our articles disappeared.

But it’s Christmas time and you’ll see that understanding the Dutch, Sinterklaas and Black Pete will be well worth your time. History is important, especially when the Dutch get all ahistorical (see: Rihanna Gives Heat to Jackie Magazine for Their Racist Dutch Oven).

Past Imperfect: Santa’s Road Dawg

http://www.africana.com/columns/cobb/ht20031222xmas.asp

By William Jelani Cobb

Waaay before Lethal Weapon, 48 Hours or Huckleberry Finn, Santa Claus was working the interracial buddy theme. Generations of American children have been raised with the legend of a cherubic white guy who employs vertically-challenged, non-union labor to produce toys in what is probably an Arctic sweatshop. Europeans, however, have a novel element to their Christmas mythology: a black sidekick.

According to the Dutch version of the legend, Sinterklaas arrives simultaneously in every city in the Netherlands bearing gifts for well-behaved children. He is always accompanied by Zwarte Piet,
literally, “Black Pete” — that’s right, Santa’s Negro helper. In various versions of the Sinterklaas myth, Black Pete is depicted as male or female, of normal stature or as a black dwarf.

In some instances, Santa arrives accompanied by legions of undersized Zwarte Pieten who do the actual grunt work of toy delivery. The American image of Santa Claus derives from the famous 19th Century depiction created by the illustrator Thomas Nast; in the Dutch version, Sinterklaas is draped in flowing robes and looks more like a religious cleric. Which he is. Or, at least, was, before the legend took hold.

The actual St. Nicholas — a Catholic bishop upon whom the mythical Santa Claus is based — was born in the late 3rd century AD to wealthy parents in what is present-day Turkey. He died in the year 342 or 343. Nicholas’ parents died during his childhood and his generosity with the fortune he inherited quickly became legendary. He gave away much of his parents’ wealth to the less fortunate
and pursued a religious education, eventually becoming Bishop of Myra. The Bishop also cultivated a reputation for spiritual talents — sailors believed he could calm angry seas with a simple prayer.

According to the legend, Nicholas traveled to Spain, where he befriended a Moor named Peter who was to accompany him upon his further journeys throughout Europe.

The Moors were North African Muslims who invaded Spain in the 8th century under the command of Gebel Tarik — for whom the Straits of Gibraltar are named. They remained a presence in the country for the next 700 years until the Spanish Inquisition eliminated the remaining Muslim — and Jewish — presence in the region. Shakespeare’s Othello is a Moor — which explains why black actors have traditionally played the role — and the Spanish term “Moreno,” meaning “dark” has its origins with the Moors. The problem, of course, is that the Dutch legend holds that St. Nicholas befriended the Moor nearly 400 years before the North Africans had arrived in Spain en masse.

History, though, has never gotten in the way of a good legend.

Children who had heard of the bishop’s generosity greeted Nicholas and Peter when they arrived in the Netherlands. Peter, as the story has it, carried a bag of oranges to be given to well-behaved children — later tellings say that he also carried wooden switches for children who had been bad.

The tradition of St. Nick hurtling down chimneys, loaded down with gifts, has evolved from the tale of the bishop’s gift of marriage dowries to a poor family. According to the tale, Nicholas and Peter overheard the story of a poor man who, lacking the resources to make suitable dowries for his daughters, would be forced to sell them into slavery. The two devised a plan to deliver satchels of gold coins to the family without insulting the father’s pride. The bishop and the Moor climbed to the roof of the house and tossed the coins down the chimney, where they landed in the stockings that one daughter had set out to dry.

Following Bishop Nicholas’s death in the 4th century, his biography morphed into mythology and eventually tradition. On December 6, the anniversary of his death, nuns decided to replicate his good deeds — leaving gifts for children, friends and parishioners in stockings.

The Dutch festival of St. Nicholas begins in November and culminates with the giving of gifts on December 5th or 6th. Black Peter has come to be depicted alternately as Santa’s sidekick or servant; according to some he is depicted as black since the task of climbing down sooty chimneys falls to him. More often than not, Black Pete plays bad cop to Santa’s good cop; the jolly cleric leaves chocolate and candy in the shoes of children — the Moor takes the candy and replaces it with twigs or lumps of coal if the children have behaved poorly. The child who really cuts up is presented with the threat of being placed in Black Pete’s sack and hauled back to Spain — where Santa and Pete reside during the off-season. In either case, Sinterklaas and Black Pete are inseparable. Thick as thieves, so to speak.

The “Black Pete” tradition has come under fire in the Netherlands in recent years, having been criticized as a racial stereotype (in many instances, Black Pete speaks in simplistic baby-Dutch, a kind of Christmas minstrelsy). And, given the early Dutch participation in the Trans-Atlantic Slave and colonization of the Caribbean, it is entirely possible that the Black Pete tradition either began as an innocuous fable and took on elements of stereotype as Dutch slave-trading evolved, or began long after the original St. Nicholas myth as a “new” character during the slave era.

While the legend of St. Nick made its way across the Atlantic and became a treasured staple of American holiday commerce, his black homie was left behind — and for obvious reasons. The concept of a black man swiping gifts and replacing them with coal, threatening bad white children with switches and kidnapping them simply wouldn’t play well in 18th century America. Or 19th century America.

Or, 2003, either. Besides, in this country, a black man on the roof trying to shimmy down a chimney is called breaking-and-entering. Around these parts, we like our legends to look like our presidents and we leave the interracial friendships in the capable hands of Hollywood.

First published: December 22, 2003

Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet (Black Pete)

Remember: This article was published in 2003 and, as you can see, the Dutch have taken things too far. Some folks need to get put in their place. This video will have you incensed.

It’s important to know the history but according to The Root, this is an Annual Debate and a Problem. The Afro-Dutch don’t like it! We have to work in solidarity with the Afro-Dutch to remove this nonsense.

How do you think we can accomplish this task together?

This is NOT an Error

Once upon a time, yet another international magazine decided to print racist / white supremacist words and imagery regarding a Black artist and then issue an “oops, did we do that?” apology, as if that would be enough to make protestors go away. Well, both @thefashionbomb and @theybf wrote blogs here and here (with a followup here) to let everyone know about it. There was also an Afro-European Blog that sent me their link later on but I appreciate it! Then @luvvieig wrote one of her stern letters, which I love, basically asking what Queen Latifah asked a long time ago—Who You Callin’ a [N*ggab*tch]?!! .

Oh yeah, the editor first said we were all being too sensitive, then later apologized on Facebook like this:

Dear readers, first of all: thanks for all your responses. We of course huge and we are here bales especially rot startled. But I am glad that we here on this page the dialogue-that does not everyone. Thanks for this. And I can briefly about his: this should never be allowed to happen. Point out. Although the author had no harm in the sense-the head of the article was meant as a joke-but it was a bad joke, to say the least. And that is me, the editor-in-Chief, then slipped through the fingers. Stupid, painful and sucks for all concerned. The author is now addressed on, and from now I can only ensure that this kind of wording no longer in the journal. And I also hope that you guys want me to believe that there is absolutely no racist motif from the word choice. It was stupid, it was naive to think that this was an acceptable form of street language-on tv and radio the flies you sometimes to the ears, then your idea of what is normal shifts apparently-but it was also especially misguided: there was no further behind sting. We make our magazine with love, energy and enthusiasm, and it may sometimes happen that somebody from the curve shoots. And then you can do only one thing: your apologies. And hope that the other who want to accept. To this.

From the bottom of my heart I say once again: it’s never been our intention to hurt anyone. And I believe that.

Sincerely, Eva Hoeke

Dr. Goddess, who felt the need to rant on several items, included her criticism of Jackie, a Dutch Magazine and Editor in Chief, Eva Hoeke’s, poor apology, by contacting her directly on Twitter @EvaJackie (it pays to do research) and passing the address on to @Rihanna herself (we know because only Dr. Goddess provided the Twitter address) and she went OFF:

Rihanna to Eva Hoeke

Rihanna to Eva Hoeke 2

Rihanna’s tweets were so long, I had to reach into a Twitlonger file to get her full tweet but then I repeated the last part (which is also my favorite). Afterwards, it was picked up by @karennattiah and sent back to @thefashionbomb and into the Twitter lap of @amydbarnett of Ebony Magazine.

Punctuating this episode (and purposefully included because, otherwise, it would be skipped over) is the Afro-Dutch, who are very upset over Dutch racism, the constant celebration of Zwarte Piet (Black Pete, Santa’s slave helper, about whom Dr. Jelani Cobb wrote this article) and, certainly, the Rihanna piece.

Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet (Black Pete)

REUTERS / Mike Segar - Occupy Minnesota

Are People of Color Participating in Occupy Wallstreet or any of the Occupy Movements around North America, in particular?

A series of focused discussions on the role of people of color engaged in #OccupyWallstreet are captured here on Twitter. Lots of great ideas, questions and even solutions are provided.

They’re only related by topic. Not all of the persons involved were even tweeting to the others. Just keep that in mind as you read the Twitter feed.

What do you think? What would help you become more involved in the Occupy Movement?

How would you like to see it evolve in the future?