"I Do See Color" weekly newsletter: May 3, 2023
Weekly newsletter 31: Combination of race- and culture-related posts from "We Need to Talk," "I Do See Color," "BlackTechLogy," "Homegrown Tales" and "Window Shopping"
Welcome to the “I Do See Color” newsletter (with a bonus section of two first-person interviews called “Deuces”).
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Now let’s get into the weekly newsletter!
Each week, eight carefully selected posts will be chosen, which focus on culture, politics, health and race from a black (wo)man’s perspective.
1. NEW! We Need to Talk: I need to talk to my weed guy ~ Because I never won the Olympics like Tara Davis-Woodhall or Sha’Carri Richardson
I leaned against the nearest bookshelf I could find. I counted stars. I looked for shooting stars. While wearing a bridesmaid dress, I smiled at a handsome family friend who was way too far on the other side of the room to flirt with. In jeans, I did manage to stand up and walk to the passenger side of a car to go to Krispy Kreme for donuts. Every blue moon, I’d even stroll outside with my college roommate to sit on a picnic bench. While she talked, I laid straight out on one side of that bench and stared at the grass. That is what it’s like when I smoked weed.
Either my weed guy was absolutely trash during college and beyond, or athletic departments are overreacting ginormously to cannabis. At no point and time could I have ever won anybody’s 100-meter race or been invited to the Tokyo Olympics like Sha’Carri Richardson. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to compete in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo nor won any gold in the women’s long jump at the 2023 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Albuquerque — with a leap of 22 feet and 11 inches — like Tara Davis-Woodhall.
2. Do black men really care about black women’s hair? ~ Men weigh in on their favorite traits about women
I didn’t win the “Best Haircut” category in my high school yearbook, but the girl who did earned it. However, I do remember asking a very good friend of mine to vote for me. He looked at my early-stage restyle for a long time and slowly told me, “Yeah, I’m going to vote for [insert winner’s name].” My first thought was, “Well, what’s wrong with my hair?” Then it switched to, “What do you know? You’re a guy anyway.” Women say they do their hair for themselves, but the truth of the matter is we want to look attractive to men, too.
In 2009, I was the Chicago Black Hair & Health Examiner* columnist for Examiner.com and interviewed men about their favorite traits regarding women. But my real question was, “Do black men really care about hair?” Reading it back 13 years later, so many of the responses still hold true. While the Will Smith slap hadn’t happened at this time, Chris Rock’s comments on black women and hair may raise a few more eyebrows. Read below for the original article and interview as told to me on October 7, 2009.
3. The blurred line between homophobic women and gay men who fight women ~ The Spirit Airlines fight that leaves me wondering which side I’m on
I was headed to work in the morning, and the train platform was crowded. If you’re a Chicagoan who rides el trains regularly, you know sometimes you have to get in where you fit in — like sardines. The el train door opened, and a light-skinned black person pushed me out of the way to get onto the train first. My first reaction was astonishment because I couldn’t believe this person had the audacity to do such a thing just to get on the train. So I shoved this person right back and sat down.
The assaulter wore a blonde wig. Skirt. Fitted top. Dressed in women’s clothing. But looking closer at the slight facial hair and facial structure, I knew this was a biological man. He flopped down next to me and called me a “bitch” for shoving him. I pointed out he shoved me first, and it was completely uncalled for to do all that to get on the train.
This person proceeded to call me all kinds of “bitches,” “hos” and hiss, “That’s why you smell like period blood.”
4. Boy craziness taught me to swim ~ The accidental way I learned how to conquer the deep end
Black children are six times more likely to drown in a swimming pool compared to white children. In fact, the USA Swimming Foundation reports that nearly 64% of African-American children have little to no swimming ability. That’s one of many reasons black folks are often found on the sides of a swimming pool party. Of course the frustration of redoing hair afterward, chlorine complicating the texture of permed hair and that ashy look are also common reasons black people opt out of the pool.
None of those excuses were going to stop my mother from making me learn to swim, primarily because she never learned to swim nor did my maternal grandmother. She was determined that me and my brother would be fish in the water, and I was still protesting the whole idea of going to day camp in the first place. I could’ve used my sweet time reading “Babysitter’s Club” and “Ramona” books, not drinking questionable pee water.
5. NEW! Homegrown Tales: Fake book decor makes zero sense ~ And if bookworms start set tripping, you deserved it
I do not condone gang violence. I think there are better ways to handle conflict. But when it comes to fake book decor, I daydream that bookworms would creep around the corner like Geoffrey in “Bel Air,” reading glasses on (or dangling from a chain), and simply state, “I don’t think the [reading] conversation is over.”
People installing book art decor at home while not reading any of the books are the equivalent of those people who frame their participation certificate. They’re the ones that won a sports champion ring while sitting on the bench all season. They’re the ones who didn’t prepare one item of food but are the “Who cooked this?” guest. They’re the ones who say, “I don’t like to read,” “Reading is boring” or “Reading in cars gives me motion sickness” — while living in a home that looked like it robbed a library.
6. Sometimes you won’t relate — and that’s OK ~ Why every writing staff needs a minority writer and editor who understands other minorities
“I don’t care what the difference is between a hijab, niqab or a burka,” the editor told me. “Just call it a burka and move on.”
“I do care,” I shot back. “And considering this post is about how Muslim women are treated post-9/11, her attire matters.”
“But no one knows the difference between the three,” she responded.
“And that’s the entire reason to leave those lines in the post explaining what they are,” I said. “Even if a few didn’t care before, they’ll at least know now.”
7. Fundraising for black women: Should there be a complexion cutoff? ~ When colorism and the paper bag test work as intended — but backwards
When I first saw a social media argument break out over a charitable organization for black women, my opinions were — complicated. The short version is a black woman wanted to help her friend escape a domestic abuse situation after a car wreck. The friend is stuck in one state and is trying to make her way to a safe home in another. The black woman knew of an organization (which self-identifies as a “Black grassroots organization that provides groceries, cash and other resources to hundreds of Black MaGes, Marginalized Genders”) that could potentially help this woman get money to travel to a safe space.
But judging from the discussion online, the organization opted out of helping the friend in need because she wasn’t “unambiguously black” — in other words, those Afrocentric features and complexion are not pronounced. The friend looked more Zendaya than Keke Palmer or Lupita Nyong’o.
8. NEW! BlackTechLogy: iPhone theft on the rise ~ Before you recycle or discard that old phone, consider your backup options
While “Abbott Elementary” and two seasons of “A Black Lady Sketch Show” are cracking jokes at Android smartphone users, it looks like those too-cool iPhone users are having their own share of issues. In a recent report from the Wall Street Journal via CNN, savvy phone hackers are getting ahold of iPhone users’ recovery key (a 28-digit code option introduced in 2020), stealing their phones and then changing their codes.
This makes it nearly impossible to access the phone (they turn off the “Find my iPhone” option). Bank accounts have then been drained. Photos, messages and data have become inaccessible or completely wiped out, and iPhone users are left wondering what they can do to recover all their lost info.
“Deuces” ~ “I Do See Color” newsletter’s bonus interviews:
1. “Chicago Museum Director Develops Programs That Engage The Public,” CBS Chicago, December 29, 2014
For every $1 dollar spent on the arts, there's a tax return of over $7, according to The American Alliance of Museums. In a nation of sports fans and theme park enthusiasts, it may come as a surprise that Americans still visit museums more often than those two big events.
Museums beat out books, teachers and family as the best source for history, according to the site. But with museums getting 55 million visits per year and employing over 4.1 million full-time Americans, their financial success makes sense.
Carol Ng-He, a K-12 & continuing education program developer at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, used her love for museums and education to dive into her career.
2. “Chicago Psychologist Co-Signs Entrepreneurial Spirit For Newbies,” CBS Chicago, December 22, 2014
It's easy to imagine psychologists with a pen and paper, sitting in chairs, asking philosophical questions. But in community psychology, the idea is to fix an issue within a community before it becomes a much bigger problem. With an average salary of $62K, these problem solvers spread out in a business environment, school environment, treatment center or private practice, gathering research statistics to help determine and fix an issue before it continues to spread.
Monika Black, M.A, M.H.A., Ph.D., who is the leadership catalyst of TandemSpring, discusses this newer field in psychology and explains why leadership is so important.
Did you enjoy this post? You’re also welcome to check out my Substack columns “Black Girl In a Doggone World,” “BlackTechLogy,” “Homegrown Tales,” “I Do See Color,” “One Black Woman’s Vote,” “Tickled,” “We Need To Talk” and “Window Shopping” too. Subscribe to this newsletter for the weekly posts every Wednesday.
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