Sunday, November 30, 2008

A Question of Credibility

A little while ago on a blog entitled "A Tribute To Your Thoughts", the blog owner, who is a former follower of Esha "Evia" Moore, posted an email that she sent to Evia. The email goes like this:

Hi Evia,

This is La (___________). I want to ask you if it is possible for me to obtain some information regarding your blog subscriptions.

Now, I know you may not respond, and I’m aware we don’t see eye to eye on things. However, I’ve shared your blog with a few friends and co-workers and they would like to know your subscription price etc, so would I. Apart from that, there are many things you and some of your commenters have said over the months that I firmly agree with, which has helped me in many ways. I personally admire your drive and courage. I also know this is not easy for you, but you continue to do so unapologetically. I would like you to continue what I call “the awareness growth” on these matters of interracial dating and such for many black women. I’m sorry people had interfere or disrupt with negating comments as I may have in the past. I hope there is no hard feelings.

Thank you so much for your time, and I know you are also busy, but in any event, I would like to hear from you.

Peace and Blessings!

L. ______

The blog author then posts a version of her email that Evia tampers with and then posts on her blog. The version tampered by Evia goes like this:

Hi Evia,This is La (___________). I want to ask you if it is possible for me to obtain a subscription to your blog - with serious consideration that I am also financially challenged in terms of discount. I am being very serious, humble and sincere with these two request and thought about asking for a while now. Now, I know you may reject me because we have not seen eye to eye on things and you may think I have nerves. I realize you may flat out dislike me as I might have given you reason to. However, I would like to say that I have been doing some serious thinking over the months and reforming my ideals in terms of my own self denial and personal issues as a black female. Apart from that, there are many things you and some of your commenters have said over the months that I firmly agree with, which has helped me in many ways. I personally admire your drive and courage. I also know this is not easy for you, but you continue to do so unapologetically. I would like to continue what I call “my awareness growth” on these matters of interracial dating and such. I will NOT interfere or disrupt with negating comments as I may have in the past. I don’t do much commenting lately on many things as well. I rather listen/read and learn. If you want to reject my request, please let me know also. I will understand without hard feelings or bitterness. I know you are also busy, but in any event, I would like to hear from you. Thanks again, L. _________ (I removed La’s last name.)

Big difference right? Evia nearly totally alters this young woman's email and posts it on her blog as if these were this young lady's exact words. So with this occurance, can one ever consider anything Evia posts as credible? This brings me to a recent post by Evia where she posts and alleged email from someone named Cocoa (a not very original name). Based on her history, can we be confident that this is not simply a character from Evia's imagination that she is trying to fool us into believing is an actual person? Isn't it funny that this person who claims to have only been reading Evia's blog for a month spouts the exact same rhetoric that Evia constantly regurgitates? Lets take a look.

"Cocoa" (Evia?) says "I see it every time I walk on to the college campus. Young black women with sour faces at events because they've been passed over for not being light or white enough, yet criticized also for not acting "black" enough."

So I find it interesting that one can see a woman with a sour face on a college campus and conclude that her face is sour because she has been passed over for not being light enough or for not acting black enough. Sort of reminds me of how they used to translate Lassie's barking into complete sentences.

Maybe their faces are sour because they are weary of the pressures of college, such pressures being financial, academic, etc.? Maybe their faces are sour because they have such demeanors and while they may look sour, they may actually be quite happy on the inside? Here's more:

It is scary to think that if I did land an ideal BM that I could have black daughters who could possibly be husbandless or single their entire lives.

So if she lands the "ideal" white man, she would not have daughters who are considered black?

Read through the entire thing and see the bs in it. I doubt that anyone but Evia wrote it hoping that her naive followers will believe that she receives such emails. And as far as the subject matter, if you ask any young black male or female who has no such agenda as Evia and her ilk, they will typically confirm that they have not observed any of such claims. I know that I haven't.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

The Issue of Colorism

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It seems that the majority of those black female bloggers who are intent on demeaning black men do so under the guise of promoting interracial relationships between black women and non-black men, with the far strongest emphasis placed on relationships with white men. What it truly seems is that the idea of dating and marrying white men is more of a tool for them as opposed to an actual interest. In other words, they seem to want to chase white men not so much because they are drawn to them, but because they feel that it is some type of payback for the perceived mistreatment they have received from black men. It is some type of weird revenge fantasy for them to try and promote a lame movement inspired by the movie "Something New".

Another tool that they attempt to use is the "colorism" that has existed in the African American community for decades. They make effort to try to find any behavior that can be connected to black men and can be perceived as negative and then attempt to exploit that behavior to further their agenda. They don't seek to get a true understanding of "colorism", but rather distort it to the point of making black men appear as damaged as possible. People like Esha "Evia" Moore continuously proclaim that black men practice racism against black women by pursuing black women whose features and complexions are closer to being white.

The problem with this is that this promotes the idea that light skinned black women are not members of the black race/community. How can a man be racist against black women for pursuing a specific type of black woman? That's like saying that since black women are noted for having large, round buttocks, a black man who prefers black women with flat butts is being racist against black women.

They also claim that black men are seeking women who are as close to white as possible, with a pure white woman being their ultimate goal. This is very much contradicted by the fact that one of the popular mixtures of women that black men are commonly attracted to is the black and Asian mixture. In this case, white is totally out of the picture, yet women of such mixture are popular in Hip Hop videos and the like. The truth is that those black men who like mixed black women are not liking the notion of them being closer to being white, but rather like the mixture itself. That is why Kanye West said that men like "mutts". Many men see a certain exoticness when it comes to mixed women and these same men would not see that same exoticness in a typical white woman.

Another thing about this "Something New Crew" is that much of their arguments are based on their alleged personal experiences and expressed personal perceptions. Perceptions are far from facts. One's experiences do not equate to another's experiences. The most objective information comes from actual research and when research supports their claims, they cite such research. The problem is that research rarely supports their many claims and they thus try to proclaim such research as unreliable. For example, Ken and Mamie Clark did a survey of black men for Ebony Magazine some years back and the results showed that 30% of black men preferred lighter skinned women (15% of black women preferred light skinned men). Now while 30% is a significant number, the fact remains that 70% of black men expressed not preferring lighter skinned women. This contradicts the repeated falsehood that MOST black men desire lighter skinned women.

Do lighter skinned black women have an advantage. Probably. Taller men have an advantage over shorter men. This doesn't mean that shorter men are being "discriminated" against and are not being loved and cherished by women. A simple walk through any black neighborhood will reveal black females of all shapes and sizes as well as ALL complexions walking hand in hand with their black male companions and this includes our beautiful darker sistas.

There is irony related to the notion of dating and marrying white men in response to black men's "colorism". What would almost always be the result of a marriage between a black woman and a white man? LIGHT SKINNED CHILDREN. Roughly half of such children will be female, thus their retaliation for black men's alleged "colorism" is to create more redbones and high yellow females for future colorstruck brothas to pursue. It's really laughable.