"I Do See Color" weekly newsletter: December 14, 2022
Weekly newsletter 11: Combination of race- and culture-related posts from "I Do See Color," "BlackTechLogy" 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. Trevor Noah thanks black women, I thank him ~ The first late-night talk show host who I was proud of for speaking on women's issues
When Trevor Noah confirmed he was quitting “The Daily Show,” I cried as quickly as I did when I learned Chadwick Boseman died. Clearly, Trevor Noah was alive and kicking. But both he and Chadwick Boseman had a way of talking about black women that just connected with me on a deeper level than other late-night talk show hosts or a sizable amount of black men who I meet on a daily basis (my family excluded — cause majority of them “get” us). (If a man loves and respects his mother, he moves differently. If you know, you know.) On last night’s show when Trevor Noah thanked black women, I wasn’t even slightly surprised. I did shed a few more tears though.
2. Starbucks Avoids a Gentrification Reputation as It Moves Into Underserved Neighborhoods—Here’s Why ~ How Yelp Is Helping Starbucks Avoid a Gentrification Reputation
Starbucks Corporation is branching out. The cafe chain confirmed that it intends to own and operate 100 more stores by 2025 in underrepresented neighborhoods countrywide. In a national partnership with United Way, the company reportedly distributed 1,000 neighborhood grants to local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to expand their community impact. But judging from a Harvard Business School paper, the store openings may be met with mixed opinions from community members—if it’s not done correctly.
3. Black girls and Girl Scouts: It’s more than selling cookies ~ From girl’s guy to Girl Scout
The idea was bizarre to me at first. I’d never seen black Girl Scouts nor black Girl Scout leaders. Additionally, although I had a few girls who were friends in elementary school, I much preferred stalking my older (only) brother and his friends. Even when we moved into a house and had our own separate bedrooms, I was still constantly in his room. When I wasn’t there, I was sitting on the front porch with all the boys in the neighborhood. I was a guy’s girl, and girls just weren’t that interesting to me. Considering my obsession with wearing skirts — even in mud — and never going through an I-hate-boys stage, I wasn’t quite a tomboy. I just liked hanging with boys. But Girl Scouts made me give my female peers a shot, and it taught me tactics that I still use in adulthood.
4. Netflix gets it wrong again, cancels ‘Patriot Act’ ~ Who has a more valuable voice that fluidly connects African-Americans and Asians?
If someone were to walk into my living room and turn the channel to news coverage of Saudi Arabia, I’m reaching for the remote. Cold-blooded as it sounds, that’s not something I’d naturally want to hear about. Now tell me Hasan Minhaj is doing an entire episode on it. I’m locked in.
Ask me if I want to hear how Asian Americans feel about Affirmative Action when it comes to African-Americans. Not particularly. Now tell me that Hasan Minhaj completed an entire episode challenging Asian Americans in the Harvard University case. Grab the popcorn. I’m snuggled into my couch.
I don’t wear Supreme clothing and couldn’t care less about the brand. But Hasan is talking about it? Cancel my Sunday plans. Let’s hear it.
5. Black Lives Matter: The black heart for OkCupid members ~ Online dating site puts controversial topics front and center
While compiling the “Best Black Dating Sites,” it was interesting to see that Black Cupid shies away from taking political stances. Matter of fact, they don’t want political views on the main profile altogether. Meanwhile, popular dating site OkCupid is not only taking on social justice topics, but it’s also donating to them — the NAACP, the ACLU, Black Girls CODE and Fair Fight Action, according to their Medium page. Taking social justice and equality topics even further, OkCupid users may notice that some profiles have black hearts at the tops of their pages, an homage to the Black Lives Matter movement.
6. Chadwick Boseman’s acting resume could be your black history class ~ Virtual teachers, here’s your opportunity to teach what history books leave out
There is something comforting (to me anyway) about seeing a list of celebs and everyday fans type the phrase “Rest in power, King” in reference to the late actor Chadwick Boseman. It is fitting to read Angela Bassett’s post referring to him as a “sweet prince” (obviously considering her “husband” was King T’Chaka). I also co-sign with the daughter of Dr. King referring to Boseman as a “brilliant, influential human.” He is indeed all of the above.
7. 62% of black women say dating has gotten harder ~ Scams, lies and physical risks are the top culprit to blame in dating woes
There are an awful lot of people who plan on sitting out the dating scene in 2020. More than half of women say dating has gotten harder in the past 10 years, according to a recent Pew Research study. Of these numbers, black women agreed the most (62%), followed by 55% of white women and 50% of Hispanic women. On the other hand, men overall agreed with them 39% of the time.
Of these numbers for both men and women, 54% are black, 48% are white and 42% are Hispanic. (Interestingly, Hispanic people were more likely than the other two groups to say dating has gotten easier — at 31%.)
8. Mixed emotions when black women call the cops on black men ~ Both groups are on the losing side when police show up, even for deck disputes
When one of the deck workers asked me to come outside, all I heard was a guy screaming and cursing in the background. I paused and went, “Who is that?” I thought he was just listening to two people talking in the background, but it turned out that the irate person was talking directly to the worker. I grabbed the first pair of shoes I could find, a nearby mask I keep hooked to a kitchen cabinet and jogged outside. It sounded like a fight was about to break out, and I had no clue what in the world lead to it. With three of the six workers still handling deck maintenance, I assumed it was an internal argument. It was not.
“Deuces” ~ “I Do See Color” newsletter’s bonus interviews:
1. Dallas Nursing Institute: Nurses get proactive about sickle cell disease awareness
If you saw someone wearing a purple and fuchsia wristband, you probably wouldn't know what cause it was associated with. Wearing colors to draw awareness for sickle cell disease (SCD) doesn't have the same popularity as pink bands do for breast cancer or red bands do for HIV/AIDS. There is no celebrity social media challenge for SCD nor was there a vocal celebrity until Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins of the R&B group TLC discussed her struggles with the disease in her 2017 book "A Sick Life" and why age matters.
2. How one dean is ‘schooling’ diverse crowds on social activism
“We need more black teachers in the classroom,” Grant says, referring to a recent study from the Institute of Labor Economics that confirms African-American students from poor families are more likely to graduate from high school if they have at least one African-American teacher. “That study shows that their chances of staying in school increase, particularly for black boys. It was almost an exponential growth in the way that the attrition rates dropped. I was a sixth, seventh, and eighth grade science teacher in Baltimore, Maryland for many years. I know my presence in the classroom saved lives.”
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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