"I Do See Color" weekly newsletter: January 18, 2023
Weekly newsletter 16: Combination of race- and culture-related posts from "We Need to Talk," "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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Each week, eight carefully selected posts will be chosen from my Medium “I Do See Color,” “We Need to Talk,” “BlackTechLogy” and “Window Shopping” publications that focus on culture, politics, health and race from a black (wo)man’s perspective.
1. NEW! Is it OK for your mom to be your wingwoman? ~ Erykah Badu’s thirst trap post with her daughter: Yay or nay?
There are some artists who I can appreciate for the art and cringe at their alleged past (ex. Marvin Gaye). There are others who gave up completely on defending (ex. Bill Cosby). Then there are those who I grudgingly hold onto for the art although I wish I could unsee/unhear/unknow their views (ex. Erykah Badu). But she just keeps saying or doing things that ruin it again, which led me to my tweet above.
While Twitter bickers back and forth about whether an Instagram image of a mother and daughter showing off their butts is appropriate, there was one particular tweet that caught my interest the most: It was about whether it’s inappropriate for a mother to be a wingwoman for her child. I’m 50/50 on this one. Here’s why.
2. What Facebook's Casual Conversation doesn't fix ~ Artificial intelligence results have to stop matching to mugshots
Facebook (Meta) was working on a then-new project in 2021: Casual Conversations. Composed of 45,186 videos and 3,011 participants, the project will be used to “understand the multifaceted, ongoing challenges of fairness and bias” in order to build more inclusive technology.
Paid users of varying skin tones provided their own ages, gender labels and unscripted responses to scripted questions. Recorded in low lighting conditions, annotators labeled each user’s skin tone using the Fitzpatrick scale, which is organized into six categories.
It’s not exactly breaking news to recognize the kind of implicit bias that Facebook is studying—based on everything from skin complexion, age, names and education. As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance, if left in the wrong hands, human biases could carry over to AI, further co-signing stereotypes and industry-wide problems.
3. The simplest way to explain sexual consent to men ~ The generational argument between Boomers and Millennials about the meaning of “no”
Recently, listening to “Red Table Talk” and the topic of sexual consent brought up memories of a nail salon argument I had between two women who were of Baby Boomer age. Both sided against me when it came to John Legend remaking the song, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” As a teenager, I adored that song, primarily because I connected it to Whitley Gilbert and Dwayne Wayne (of “A Different World”) singing it to each other before they made love after a long drought. But listening and watching these two roll their eyes about how women are “sending mixed signals” and how “poor men” don’t know what to do anymore started making me reevaluate the song.
4. Pretty sure I’m going to Hell after that Uber experience ~ When two priests got into my car while I played Teyana Taylor
Blame it on the third season of HBO’s “Insecure.” Blame it on me going into panic mode wondering about my mortgage payments after quitting my full-time, well-paying job. Blame it on me trying to find any excuse at all to never pay for gas on my way from the North Side of Chicago to the South Side of Chicago. All three were valid reasons for me insisting on becoming a Lyft and Uber driver in the same week in the fall of2018. I already loved road trips, especially going back and forth to college, so this seemed like the easiest job ever to me.
READER REMINDER ~ “BlackTechLogy”: Are you checking out IDSC’s tech archive?
In an instant reply world, was Slack Connect onto something with no-email contact? ~ IDSC 'BlackTechLogy': Why creating more email addresses could resolve the spam problem
Before you apply for a job, do a PimEyes facial recognition search ~ IDSC 'BlackTechlogy': A facial recognition site brought up results I’d rather un-see
MyOneOne alerts loved ones of police stops, danger ~ IDSC "BlackTechLogy": The unbiased passenger during a police altercation
“Killer Mike’s digital mobile bank closes $40 million of Series A funding ~ IDSC ‘BlackTechLogy’: Rapper stands by his word to bank black via Greenwood”
5. Why black people like me are still not sold on digital currency ... yet ~ Music artists, actors are embracing digital currency for business
Call me a Debbie Downer, but I’m not really feeling the digital currency craze. Because former President Donald Trump won the election results in 2016, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin dragged his feet on putting abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. And if you’ve ever talked with me for any length of time, you know how strongly I admire two people: Langston Hughes and Harriet Tubman. I almost got expelled from undergrad for defending the Harlem Renaissance writer and lost a contract job going to bat for the abolitionist. I wanted that $20 bill in my hands so badly that I bought a Tubman ink stamper in the meantime.
But the way digital currency is gaining in popularity, I already knew that we were up against an hourglass on enjoying having a Tubman Twenty anyway. After my mother’s purse was snatched and our childhood home was robbed twice, I stopped carrying more than $5 on my person. So what is it with me and digital currency? Why am I still old-school enough to keep a check register but not want to dive into the bitcoin world?
6. Why does Black History Month offend you? ~ No one is forcing you to celebrate BHM, so stop complaining about it.
“Why is it a month long? That’s just excessive,” she said, flipping her hair and turning back to her computer.
I closed my eyes, sitting at my desk across from this white lady and begging my ears to not let this Black History Month snipe travel to my brain. It didn’t work. My ears were tattletales. My hands started shaking. I just couldn’t believe that this woman had the audacity to yell this out for not only me to hear but for a couple of black folks in the next pod to overhear.
7. ‘The Bachelor’ has a brotha as the lead, but it’s still bittersweet ~ When your co-workers dismiss black women in the dating world
I grew up in a household of proud black women of all hues: light-skinned and dark-skinned. Skinny and overweight. Double Ds and flat chests. Tall and short. Coarse and Creole hair. Wide-shouldered and pole thin. Loud and shy. Hysterical and dry-witted. Fashionable and plain. A casual glance at my family reunion photos on both sides of my family features every last one of these women.
These women are happily single or married. They are in situation-ships or relationships. They have childhood crushes or high school sweethearts. They met their partners in college or thought college kids were “snobs.” They have hand-sewn wedding dresses or name-plated limousines. They have itty bitty wedding rings or flash multiple karats. They are some characters. And I always equated relationships with the black women who I grew up observing.
8. Barbershop on-demand app has been a long time coming ~ IDSC ‘BlackTechLogy’: Grooming industry finds new way to get customers via mobile device: theCut
With so many same-day, on-demand mobile apps for food delivery (UberEats, GrubHub, DoorDash, Postmates); dog walking and caregiving (Rover and Wag!); grocery delivery (Instacart, Mercato, Whole Foods Market via Amazon Prime, Gopuff, Shipt); and handymen services (Fixer), the grooming and beauty industry seemed like the obvious one that was next up. While it’s not uncommon for beauticians and barbers to make house calls, coronavirus spreading in 2020 certainly made those house calls more complicated.
Even the Zariffs of the world who have a steady client base (OK, probably not the 44th president of the United States of America) had to make sure their own clients were following safety protocols (and vice versa) to be able to keep their hair hustle going. Unlike other essential businesses, this one (along with plenty of others) requires people to touch each other. That six-foot distance simply does not work in the barbershop or beauty salon.
“Deuces” ~ “I Do See Color” newsletter’s bonus interviews:
1. "From canvassing to clothes to shoes, Reign Entertainment Co. brings art to life," Originally published version on Aggrego, formerly known as Sun Times Network, February 23, 2016
Working within the music industry is challenging enough, but CEO/Executive Producer Robyn Willard took it one step further by teaming up with her artist friend of 10 years, S. Whittaker, at Reign Entertainment Co (REC). Ten years after the company was founded by Willard, the duo is still going strong, with a few other artists in tow.
2. "SMU professor and marketing exec Erin O. Patton talks about hip-hop, athletes and advertising," Chicago News & Events Examiner, May 8, 2010
Pittsburgh native and Northwestern University (Evanston) graduate Erin O. Patton is revisiting his college home in the Chicago area for the Youth & Family Marketing Mega Event on May 12. Patton, 40, is an aficionado in branding, sports marketing and advertising in hip-hop culture. He's worked with athletes like Michael Jordan and Stephon Marbury with their clothing apparel (Jordan and Starbury), counseled Internet service provider Earthlink and has won countless awards, such as the Innovator Award from the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF). He's also the author of "Under the Influence: Tracing the Hip-Hop Generation's Impact on Brands, Sports & Pop Culture," giving detailed tips about how hip-hop connects in advertising.
Did you enjoy this post? You’re also welcome to check out my Substack columns “Black Girl In a Doggone World,” “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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