Some of the participants of Ranada’s Reads and Reels visited the America I Am exhibit Sunday afternoon, and it was definitely a real treat!  If you haven’t already, go check it out!  You can get discounted tickets from the customer service counter at Walmart!

This exhibit, the brainchild of Tavis Smiley, was full of learning points.  I have a list of items I plan to research.   Walking through this collection of black historical artifacts definitely served as a reminder that we come from a rich background of ingenuity, determination, and intelligence.  As one of my friends said — “It flows through our veins.”

One thing I took away from it that I never overtly thought about was that the slaves not only provided the free labor that made the United States grow into a super power–they also supplied TECHNIQUES.  It wasn’t just about their physical attributes.  They had the knowledge to go with it.  They weren’t trained once they got here.  They were exploited for much more than how much they could lift.  It’s funny because you know things like Eli Whitney and his cotton gin, but it wasn’t until I walked in there that I really thought about how creative and smart we are as it relates to the success of this country.  For goodness sake, we turned RICE into BASKETS.  With my fist pumped in the air, I gladly accept the torch. 🙂

I’ll leave you with a quote.  “The value of slaves was greater than the dollar value of all America’s banks,  all of America’s railroads, and all of America’s manufacturing put together.” -Dr. James Oliver Horton

We all know the answer, but it never hurts to keep asking the question–Would America be what it is without black people?  NOPE!  Now go check it out!

P.S. Ironically, I’ve been reading Tavis Smiley’s Hard Left and here are two quotes that resonated.

“Every race and every nation should be judged by the best it has been able to produce, not by the worst.”  – James Weldon Johnson

“The tragedy of life does not lie in not reaching your goal.  The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.  Not failure, but low aim is sin.” – Benjamin E. Mays

Reach for the stars, friends!

I started a book discussion club earlier this year, and the current topic is self image.  We started with watching The Souls of Black Girls, a documentary that is a great way to start a conversation about self-image, especially of young black girls who grow up to be black women with complex self-esteem issues.  The viewing sparked an array of thoughts and subtopics, and it’s so amazing the identity crisis that many black women are in, whether consciously or subconsciously and only realizing various issues while self-evaluating out loud.

One of the most resounding quotes in the documentary for me was from Michaela Angela Davis.  While on her soap box, she said that when people say we need to redefine our own sexuality, we can’t redefine it because we never established it in the first place.  And so we grasp at random examples to set our standards of beauty, decorum, self-worth, etc.  Before I keep rambling on about my thoughts of our discussion, it is really important to me to encourage any of you out there reading this to be intentional in letting a young black girl know she’s beautiful.  And not, oh she’s a cute little black girl.  Or she’s pretty to be a dark skinned girl.

Our subtopics were wide-ranging.  From our hair to color complexes to where we formulated our ideas of beauty to what we think guys think about beauty to the way we carry ourselves (and what’s acceptable and what’s not) to our responsibility in all this to the media’s role in it all.  In this post, I’ll talk about hair.  Color next time.

“I AM my hair.”

Although India.Arie says she is not hers, many of us are.  One of my friends is very vocal about how co-mingled her hair is with her identity and self-esteem.  But she’s not alone.  The same goes for me.  When my hair isn’t in tip top shape, I feel subpar.  It is what it is though.  Our hair, for many of us, contribute to our femininity.  Ok, so once we’re past that—what looks good?  Straight, curly, nappy?  And who says what’s acceptable.  Well, we know in the corporate world, nappy isn’t what’s up.  So if you’re Corporate Christine, even if you’re “natural” and “afrolicious,” chances are you’re pressed Monday through Friday.  So are we assimilating?  If so, is that a bad thing?  Should we be wearing our fros and naps as much as possible so that we can disprove negative stereotypes about people who wear natural styles?

I have several friends who do not get relaxers, but their hair is always straightened.  Not because of their jobs necessarily, but because they like the way their hair looks when their hair is straight.  Does that make them “fake natural” like I’ve heard on so many occasions?  Or do they have the right to want to keep their hair harsh-chemical free and still wear the look they think compliments them most?  And my friends who do get relaxers?  Does that mean they want to look white?  Or do they just want to take advantage of the creamy crack that Madame C.J. Walker (or Garrett Morgan, I don’t know) so brilliantly created to make combing black hair a little less tenuous?

Who is making up these rules we follow?  And what happens when we’re following different rules?  How should my friends and I feel when we’re judged by how we wear their hair??  One of my favorite scenes in School Daze is the Good and Bad Hair scene.

Well, you got cuckabugs standing all over your head.

Well you got sandy spurs, rather have mine instead.

You’re just a jigaboo trying to find something to do.

Well you’re just a wannabe, wanna be better than me.

So are we forever banished to choosing to be either a wannabe or a jigaboo?  Or can we set our own standards of versatility and just simply liking the way we look without any underlying self-esteem issues?

More later.