Some of the latest fracas might have been inspired by me saying that some Indians in Surinam are sooty black, or black as coal or even pitch black. I did not come to black as tar. This might have been understood as derogatory to black skinned people, while I’m just stating a biological fact. Blacks come in many nuances of colour, but some: the best looking type, have skin like black velvet. I remember accompanying an aunt to the Bijenkorf Department store who wanted to buy a birthday card. As I always buy cards that depict Blacks, I handed her such a card showing Black legs, in colourful old-fashioned, jazzy party shoes. She balked, saying the people she was buying this for where Blacks and would be insulted. And one needed to be careful about these things. So she settled on something with flowers. Its while reading J.A.Rogers who spoke of persons ‘black as pitch,’ I realised we can do this thing differently. I remember, long before my blue blood research, being dissatisfied with the Dutch Press describing Princess Elizabeth of Toro as a ‘dark beauty.’ I have often wondered why they spoke of ‘a dark girl’ when they were referring to a Black young woman. This un-necessary euphemistic tiptoeing around complexions bothers me (now) something fierce, as if saying someone is Black is an insult. Toni Morrison comes out and tells us that all the inhabitants of Paradise were coal black people, and for this reason were turned away from other newly settled Black communities. And this explains why: ‘They killed the white girl first, with the rest they took their time.’ So among us Black activist, fighting to bring white supremacy down by direct action, we have no time to mince words. I have stopped watching television because the white faces irritated me and confused me about who or what I am about and who or what is beauty. The noble Blacks were fighting among themselves who was beautiful and who was not, and for that stupid bickering we Blacks are in deep do-do today. Nearly annihilated, as Jane Austen predicted. In Emma (1816) by Jane Austen, Emma Woodhouse is Black and as she champions Mr. Elton’s beauty we have to understand she was very black, and ‘Loveliness itself.’ She was the standard of beauty. So, we are aware of Black beauty coming in different shades, as Austen points out in her novels, yet we; like Austen, should put the blackest one in the middle. We should teach our self that the blackest one is the most beautiful one. Living in Holland I’m blasted from every corner with images of pink beauty, meaning to brainwash me into believing that with the pinkness also comes superiority. To cleanse and sooth my mind, I look at Black images, and have posted them frequently here for your benefit too. Now I hear they are pornographic. But I wanted to explain this to you: put the Blackness in the middle, and let’s beat white supremacy.
Posts: 5454 | From: Holland | Registered: Aug 2008
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I like to tank Bettyboo for providing us with this image, which immediately reminded me of Mr. Elton, who must have looked like a true angel.
Posts: 5454 | From: Holland | Registered: Aug 2008
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Thinkingly, we can only speak of black and white significantly when they are somehow contrasted towards each other. There is need of an confrontation. The confrontation is when Blacks ruled whites, a historical phase they have not lived down yet, as they are in heavy denial.
Posts: 5454 | From: Holland | Registered: Aug 2008
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I'm planning to grow them this year, to flower next year. I did not put any bulbs as I expect a holocaust, which breaks my heart. But perhaps a few seeds could be managed. And runnerbeans? They seem to trive in a milder climate, like around Paris, where I saw them used in profusion.
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I think that a more flexible beauty standard has always been the black community's strong point. I wouldn't want to go to rigid guidelines to define one type of face as "most beautiful." That's ironically what European women do to women. It's important not to repeat the same mistakes as European societies as a means of being reactionary. The black community is flexible with body size, why not skin color?
Posts: 2508 | From: . | Registered: Nov 2011
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