Just Who Am I?
I saw the Inside Man tonight. Don't worry, if you haven't seen it, there are no spoilers here. I think Spike Lee definitely did his thing. Some scenes just had me saying, "Black is Beautiful" and that's because of some lessons learned in college, especially about how powerful images are.
I went to school with amazing artists who are close friends, and from them I have learned how important images are, and how they can communicate a lot more than just a picture. Unfortunately, I do not have the training to analyze or describe what I mean with the proper vocabulary, but I will try my best in a nutshell.
We see a great many negative images of Black people in the media, but that's not what I'm here to talk about. My point today is context. All images must be taken in context, which is why a picture is worth a thousand words. A Black man in handcuffs says a great deal. A Black man with a ring in his hand and his soon to be fiancee lying on the bed, says everything. I wish positive images, or contexts were able to do as much good as negative ones do bad, but that is not how it is.
I once did a report on Black advertising firms. From what I researched, I can now pick out commercials done by particular firms, just based on how Black people are being portrayed. My favorite one in particular is a Lincoln Navigator commercial, where the best man forgot the ring for the wedding and had to run out to the car and search until he found it. You don't see many Black weddings on tv, but you do see and hear a lot about single Black mothers, and many other negative associated stereotypes.
A major contributor to McDonald's success is being able to capture us while we are young. Happy meals with their toys makes McDonald's a happy experience. Once you are older, eating there is not just a matter of convenience, but perhaps the child in you wanting to taste the same food associated with "the good times." The point here is, the mind of a child is very impressionable.
Power Rangers. I was a big fan, and I'm not sure how long the craze lasted, but people my age went through the beginning of it. The original rangers, as I remember it were black, blue, pink, red, and yellow. Any major stereotypes come to mind??? Well, if you can't remember, the black ranger was Black, the blue ranger was a White male, the pink ranger was a White female, the Red ranger was an Hispanic male, and the yellow ranger was Chinese. Eventually they made some changes to fix this, but how many of us will carry those associations for the rest of our lives?
I just finished reading TAs blog, and I realized that its a wonderful thing to find your passion. I know I've spoke of this before, and that a lot of my themes seem to repeat. Anyway, I believe that our passions motivate us. Our passions ultimately define who we are, since they motivate what we do, and similarly our experiences and learnings lead to us finding our passions. Let your experieces define you... not stereotypes. Always seek to rise above and beyond what people expect of you... because people will try and keep you "in your place" but the truth is we are only limited by our own minds. And now I feel like I'm preaching. That's not my intent, but that is why blogs work a lot better for me than a diary. Everything I write turns into some sort of essay that needs an audience. If there is no audience, seems like there is no point. But I will say that blogs or any similar exercise definitely helps you understand more about yourself.
These blogs allow me to order and translate our beliefs into a common language, which ultimately allows me to relate my learnings and beliefs to others. If that is not a definition of who you are, then I don't know what is. So in essence, this blog since its start is the most accurate definition of who I am, and every entry I continue to learn more about myself, because lets face it, any individual cannot be definied in a sentence or even a paragraph. If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how many a lifetime is worth.
That's it for tonight. I'll be in the NY area in mid-April. Schedule is filling up fast. I'll find time for anyone who lets me know soon. I'd like to see as many as possible, but I realized today that the schedule is real tight.
~JL
I went to school with amazing artists who are close friends, and from them I have learned how important images are, and how they can communicate a lot more than just a picture. Unfortunately, I do not have the training to analyze or describe what I mean with the proper vocabulary, but I will try my best in a nutshell.
We see a great many negative images of Black people in the media, but that's not what I'm here to talk about. My point today is context. All images must be taken in context, which is why a picture is worth a thousand words. A Black man in handcuffs says a great deal. A Black man with a ring in his hand and his soon to be fiancee lying on the bed, says everything. I wish positive images, or contexts were able to do as much good as negative ones do bad, but that is not how it is.
I once did a report on Black advertising firms. From what I researched, I can now pick out commercials done by particular firms, just based on how Black people are being portrayed. My favorite one in particular is a Lincoln Navigator commercial, where the best man forgot the ring for the wedding and had to run out to the car and search until he found it. You don't see many Black weddings on tv, but you do see and hear a lot about single Black mothers, and many other negative associated stereotypes.
A major contributor to McDonald's success is being able to capture us while we are young. Happy meals with their toys makes McDonald's a happy experience. Once you are older, eating there is not just a matter of convenience, but perhaps the child in you wanting to taste the same food associated with "the good times." The point here is, the mind of a child is very impressionable.
Power Rangers. I was a big fan, and I'm not sure how long the craze lasted, but people my age went through the beginning of it. The original rangers, as I remember it were black, blue, pink, red, and yellow. Any major stereotypes come to mind??? Well, if you can't remember, the black ranger was Black, the blue ranger was a White male, the pink ranger was a White female, the Red ranger was an Hispanic male, and the yellow ranger was Chinese. Eventually they made some changes to fix this, but how many of us will carry those associations for the rest of our lives?
I just finished reading TAs blog, and I realized that its a wonderful thing to find your passion. I know I've spoke of this before, and that a lot of my themes seem to repeat. Anyway, I believe that our passions motivate us. Our passions ultimately define who we are, since they motivate what we do, and similarly our experiences and learnings lead to us finding our passions. Let your experieces define you... not stereotypes. Always seek to rise above and beyond what people expect of you... because people will try and keep you "in your place" but the truth is we are only limited by our own minds. And now I feel like I'm preaching. That's not my intent, but that is why blogs work a lot better for me than a diary. Everything I write turns into some sort of essay that needs an audience. If there is no audience, seems like there is no point. But I will say that blogs or any similar exercise definitely helps you understand more about yourself.
These blogs allow me to order and translate our beliefs into a common language, which ultimately allows me to relate my learnings and beliefs to others. If that is not a definition of who you are, then I don't know what is. So in essence, this blog since its start is the most accurate definition of who I am, and every entry I continue to learn more about myself, because lets face it, any individual cannot be definied in a sentence or even a paragraph. If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how many a lifetime is worth.
That's it for tonight. I'll be in the NY area in mid-April. Schedule is filling up fast. I'll find time for anyone who lets me know soon. I'd like to see as many as possible, but I realized today that the schedule is real tight.
~JL
posted by JC at 12:28 AM
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