whattamisaid

Sexism from a brown face is still sexism. Male privilege with a unique cadence and sartorial style is still male privilege. Patriarchy is still patriarchy when perpetrated by doctorate-wielding black activists. Demanding that a black woman march in lock step with your agenda or be labeled "treacherous" and "a fake and a fraud" is to further the twin demons of racism and sexism that black women battle every day. It's disgraceful. Cornel West of Melissa Harris-Perry in the latest issue of... Read Full Story

This morning, I just listened to the most frustrating conversation about the Roland Martin Super Bowl controversy . If you're not clued in, on Sunday, Martin, a CNN contributor aired some troubling views on Twitter. In response to the H&M ad featuring David Beckham in his undies, Martin wrote that "real bruhs" would not purchase underwear modeled by Beckham and that any man at Super bowl party excited about the commercial, featuring caressing shots of Beckham's toned and tattooed body, should... Read Full Story

If Susan G. Komen for the Cure will not truly support reproductive health for women ...If the organization will abet those who seek to take away women's freedom, even if that happens on the backs of poor women and women of color... then I will no longer support Susan G. Komen for the Cure. I will, however, continue to make a monthly donation to Planned Parenthood. Below, more than 60 reasons why we all need to stand for Planned Parenthood, from the My Planned Parenthood blog carnival... Read Full Story

I wasn't going to write about the whole Jan Brewer/Barack Obama controversy. This has already been a long presidential election season and I need to pace my outrage lest I have a stroke. But last night, I caught Bill Maher discussing the issue with journalist Martin Bashir, detestable erstwhile MTV personality Kennedy (now doing something awful for Reason magazine) and the equally objectionable Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-California). Watching Rohrabacher and Kennedy obfuscate around this issue... Read Full Story

Read my latest at The Guardian: Twenty years ago, just after college, I attended a birthday party for a friend. In the kitchen, standing round the drinks, a handsome guy chatted me up:  "So, do you have a boyfriend?" He asked.  "No," I replied.  "Oh, what's wrong with you, then?"  "Sorry?" I said, puzzled.  "I mean, dudes should be interested in a woman like you. If you don't have a boyfriend, something must be wrong with you. You must be one of those crazy women."  Over... Read Full Story

In a new nationwide survey conducted by The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation, a complex portrait emerges of black women who feel confident but vulnerable, who have high self-esteem and see physical beauty as important, who find career success more vital to them than marriage. The survey, which includes interviews with more than 800 black women, represents the most extensive exploration of the lives and views of African American women in decades. Read more... It's hard to know... Read Full Story

Last night's episode of 30 Rock made like Law & Order and ripped a story from the headlines. It played on the real-life backlash against series star Tracy Morgan after he made violent, homophobic remarks during a summer stand-up performance in Nashville. In last night's show, Morgan's Tracy Jordan character mades a dumb remark about homosexuality during a performance and attracted the ire of the gay community. And then...um...comedy ensued? I think the decision by Tina Fey, Morgan and the... Read Full Story

Read my latest article on The Guardian's Comment Is Free: It is curious that in a climate when nearly 45 million Americans are in need of food stamps, unemployment stands at 8.5%, nearly 50 million people have no health insurance and tough economic times touch nearly all of the 99%, including an increasingly fragile middle class, the GOP would pin its 2012 electoral hopes on demonizing teachers and public workers and demeaning the economically strapped as lazy and shiftless. It is curioser... Read Full Story

In Sunday’s New York Daily News , Ralph Richard Banks, author of Is Marriage for White People? , hit back at those who question “the black marriage crisis,” branding critics “defensive,” saying: They dismiss the shortage of marriageable black men as a myth and the marriage decline as an overhyped nonproblem, the discussion of which is depicted, as one New York Times essay put it, as “part of a persistent historical and present-day attack on black people in America, with black men made into... Read Full Story

I was all in on this Saturday Night Live skit lampooning Ricky Gervais' return as host of The Golden Globes . Jason Sudeikis gets Gervais' bullying I'm-a-cheeky-boy smarm and abundant self-regard just right. The spot hints at how the current hype surrounding Gervais makes it seem like telling a few pointed jokes in front of rich and famous folks makes one a mad, bad, speaking-truth-to-power man--like a cross between Shaft and  Howard Zinn. It was funny...until about 1:40 in when Jason-as... Read Full Story