Mark your calendars because this Sunday, November 8th there will be a group outing to see “Precious” in NYC at 2:55PM. We will eat (if you choose) and discuss the movie after. Click the link below to purchase your tix online:

http://www.fandango.com/precious:basedonthenovelpushbysapphire_122469/movietimes?location=Manhattan%2c+NY&date=11/8/2009

As for validation & hiring practices are concerned -we don’t enforce or think twice about the fact that so called urban brands & Black businesses hire only or mostly people of color, so we need to think about that when we feel White ppl MUST hire blk ppl otherwise they are being racist in some way. I was talking to a multi millionaire African CEO who said straight up that he doesn’t hire white people & when he has meetings with his white counterparts he specifically makes them wait to see him, but I am sure many Blk ppl would pump their fists up in the air for him on that – but I don’t think that type of mentality is helpful to our cause anymore than white ppl feeling the same way in not hiring Blk ppl. My whole point in all of this is that we first need to look within, evaluate & upgrade our own standards to where white ppl desire to work for our many multimillion $ companies just as much as we desire to b employed by theirs. As much as I can’t deal with Puffy’s foolishness sometimes -he is someone that has a good understanding of this from a biz stand point & elevated the game 2 a point where he got a CFDA award-deserved or not he got it – & I know plenty of White ppl who r begging to work for him. It is a new day in a mass global environment of business & we should all act accordingly. I think with all the feedback perhaps you can work with MAD on a redo of this discussion & completely elevate our forwardness cuz it takes a village!

Also I did get on the Q&A line to ask a question about Michelle Obama but bythe time I stepped to the mic, time was up and the woman in front of me got the last question. Someone else also posed a great question about Caster Semanya as Sharon noted in her comments but the question was never addressed.

@Global Fusion: Damn you are bringing the fiya! Is it white validation that we are seeking when we demand that they use Black models in Vogue or in major runway shows? I don’t think so. I hope it’s more about their hiring practices– diversity in the workplace. It’s like a major hospital in NYC not having any Black doctors on staff. The talent is clearly out there so why are they not represented in your payroll? With fashion mags its interesting because in the 80’s when I used to read Elle I did so because I would see Naomi Campbell, Beverly Peele and so many other Black models consistently on their pages. For there to now be a decline in representation is clearly a regression in terms of bookings. So I see it less about validation than I do about getting a slice of the pie we helped bake!

On the flip side, I barely read Vogue or Elle anymore so I care less if they choose not to feature a Black model in their Top Supermodels Issue. I read Arise—my favorite magazine. Before that I read Honey and Trace and in between I have the Web to inspire and amuse me with powerful images of Black women and models. I totally agree with you about dealing with our own hypocrisies and shortcomings. I’m way more concerned about the derogatory images of Black women on BET than I am with who is walking Chanel’s Fall runway presentation. I’ve put Debra Lee on blast several times because I know the young girls in my hood are watching Frankie & Neffe and For The Love of Ray J. They don’t read Vogue, but unfortunately they don’t read Arise either.

BTW—Using terms like darky and high-yella is my personal tongue-n-cheek style of writing.

@SistaMoon: You know you are right! It was insensitive and short-sighted of me. I should have said dark skin grrrls with afros and tightly coiled hair probably have a different psychology around beauty than fair-skin Black females with straight or curly hair. As a child my best friend was bi-racial and yes she was sometimes teased and taunted about her appearance. But every time we opened our Right On magazines there was Stacy Lattisaw, Rae Dawn Chong, Appolonia and Irene Cara. Her beauty was affirmed by seeing their faces in the hottest mag of our youth. Mine was not. And even though I had Kim Fields, she was not glamorized like these women. Thanks for calling me out on my ish. We all have pain and the thing is to remember it’s all rooted in the same history.

One of the issues I was flummoxed by was the odd dismissal of the question regarding Caster Semanya. Now I realize that the young woman who queried asked more than one question, but I was struck by the “deer in headlights” response from the panel when she brought it up. They responded to everything but. And quite honestly I was looking forward to Tricia Rose’s take. But she too was trangely silent.

Julia Chance is right about Akiba and Lori and a black woman psychologist, but Julia herself would have been a great choice for the panel. She’s been up in all the houses-iblack and white-I and has forged a career in beauty. She’d have come with insight and consciousness of and about the business as well as that of a brown girl from B’more who sees beauty in the. full spectrum from the light brights to the blackest berries. Without platitudes, just truth.

Why is Michaela’s explanation center upon these women having experience in the mainstream aka white beauty world? Why was that a criteria when we are talking about BLACK BEAUTY? Seems to me that was the first major mistake. We should be defining ourselves for ourselves and not, ironically, based on the very group we cry that negate our beauty.

I am so sick of this pre-historic “brown-bag” sob story. Let’s move on.