"I Do See Color" weekly newsletter: June 7, 2023
Weekly newsletter 36: 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.
NEW! 1. Genetic health: Tougher conversation than the birds and the bees ~ Why children need to know who their fathers are — absent fathers included
It happens every single Father’s Day. Men get bashed. I look on the main Twitter timeline, and there are a flood of comments about deadbeat fathers and why Mother’s Day equates to Father’s Day. It’s a little jarring to me because I grew up with my biological father, my older brother, three godfathers and a bunch of male cousins, who then became fathers. While I had plenty of friends and several relatives who could also relate to the tweeting frustration, I always wondered why they’d give these men any energy. Pay them dust right back!
But what happens when you don’t know who your father is — and it’s not as clear about why you don’t know. In a recent conversation with my mother, she made me reevaluate my opinion — for a bigger reason than just “knowing” who this guy is.
2. Are lack of dog parks a sign of racism? ~ Why are there more dog parks in white and diverse neighborhoods?
“Let’s go to the dog park!” my mother exclaimed. “I’ve never been to one before.”
I didn’t really want to go. But I started counting off all the dog parks and dog beaches I’d been to in the past two years of being a dog walker and realized I’d never been to one that wasn’t in a multicultural or white neighborhood. There definitely wasn’t a dog park or dog beach in my (predominantly black) childhood neighborhood.
3. NEW! Marriage and money ~ Best practices for women having tough conversations about finances in a relationship
SLV: Let’s get back to married people. Do you think they should have joint accounts, separate accounts or both?
GYV: I think that married couples, or couples that are even living together, should have a separate savings account and a joint checking account. The joint account is to pay the bills. The separate account is to pay something else. You might not have a whole lot of money, especially when you first get married. Still, you can have a savings account and he can have a savings account. But you two don’t dip into each other’s savings accounts unless there’s a serious emergency. Or, unless you paid some big bill and didn’t tell him you paid it or vice versa. He doesn’t have to know what you’re doing with your savings or you with his. It’s none of your business. But the joint account? It’s both of your business!
4. Black people: Don’t skip the suntan lotion, identify the skin damage risks ~ Are black people more at risk of eczema?
Summer is coming! And for brown-skinned people who live in hot-weather climates, summer is all yearlong. With that perk comes the need to decrease sun damage on our skin. While I can only speak for myself, purposely sitting in one spot to “tan” is unnecessary. I could just hang out at a nearby beach for an hour or two reading a book — hat on — and come back a different shade. But I, along with entirely too many other people of color, have never used suntan lotion.
5. In the Nude ~ Apparel Industry Slowly Servicing Women of Color
For women of color, “nude” and “flesh” makeup, shoes, shapewear and other undergarments have been problematic for decades. Merriam Webster defines “nude” as “having a color that matches the wearer’s skin tones.” But for melanin skin, nude products stick out about as much as yellow or orange.
Makeup lines such as Iman Cosmetics and Fashion Fair were early cosmetic fixers for women of color, and Mixed Chicks founders marched to the lab in 2003 to master hair care products for biracial women; then they expanded onto makeup, too.
Rapper/actress Queen Latifah became a CoverGirl in 2006, proudly explaining that she wanted to help the makeup brand do away with the “ashy” grayish look that so often appeared on African-American actresses in early movies and TV shows.
6. What Neiman Marcus’ Latest Ad Can Teach You About Diverse Marketing ~ Taraji P. Henson trapped in a store was both fun and smart
Advertisers are in for a rude awakening with online ads. According to CNBC, 65 percent of video viewers habitually skip past online ads before they can end. As soon as the countdown from five to one completes, users are dismissing advertisements in a way that is impossible to do in regular television viewing.
I fall into that category of uninterested online users. But a recent online ad from Neiman Marcus — a store I have only been in once in my entire life — caught my attention recently and made me watch the entire 3:05 ad and then rewatch it a second time.
In the ad, actress Taraji P. Henson (Empire, Think Like a Man, Baby Boy) got trapped in Neiman Marcus and had way too much fun in this department store. Her bubbly personality made the advertisement fun to watch. And it also brought up a bigger issue: diversity in marketing.
7. Combat the phobia of Black Dog Syndrome: Adopt a black pet ~ The myth behind the devil hiding in black dogs
Black History Month usually leads me down a path of trying to scope out more activities to do than I’m already doing the other 11 months in a year. I’m not quite sure how I ended up on a particular Amazon page during my search, but I saw a tank top in pan-African colors with the words “Black Dogs Matter.”
I rolled my eyes with the same energy that I give to mattress sales on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s federal holiday celebration. Some folks will do anything to market their products. Even worse, the username for this tank top has the words “Funny Black Lives Sayings.” In real life though, there’s nothing funny about the Black Lives Matter movement nor black dogs being least likely to be adopted. I’m not laughing.
8. Chris Rock: Women-hating men will never understand Will Smith ~ Why ‘Selective Outrage’ further confirms Chris Rock is bitter about women
When Slapgate happened with Will Smith during the Oscars, I started off trying to be neutral — even though I was fully aware this was physical assault. It’s hard to take sides when you just saw your favorite comedian for decades get hit in the face by one of the most loveable actors whose hip-hop singles are required at your family gatherings. I was hoping this was a really bad April Fool’s joke.
Considering I read “Will” the millisecond his memoir came out, I wasn’t clutching my pearls at the Red Table Talk interview between Will and Jada Pinkett Smith regarding her fling with the guy who threw Stormy Daniels’ mattress off the balcony and gave her no choice but to sleep by a swimming pool. While Will’s separation-dating life is still on the hush hush, because August Alsina felt the need to publicly blast himself, the Smiths had no choice but to respond. (Whoever Will dated clearly doesn’t need 15 minutes of fame though cause that woman/women is still quiet.)
“Deuces” ~ “I Do See Color” newsletter’s bonus interviews:
1. “Higher Education Gives A Chicago Nurse Essential Critical Thinking Skills,” CBS Chicago, November 10, 2014
Although an associate degree is the bare minimum to be a registered nurse, Chicago nurse Azella C. Collins has plenty to say about education and what can and can't be taught outside of the classroom, including saving patients from sanitation risks.
"Critical-thinking skills are not really taught in associate degree programs," Collins said, who was a nurse for 39 years. "I was advised not to waste my time in an 18-month course for an Operating Room Technician (at Malcolm X. College), so instead I chose to pursue my bachelor's degree and applied to Saint Xavier. It was at a time when they really needed African-Americans and were providing educational scholarships."
2. "Donell Jones let's fans know 'what's up' with upcoming 2010 CD and 'Lost Files,’” Associated Content, March 20, 2010
From the tilted hat, crease in his pants on his Twitter page, laid-back and sultry performances, to his friendly demeanor during the interview with AC Source Writer Shamontiel, Donell Jones is so Chicago!
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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