"I speak for black people" is the new black

. . .perpetuating the absurdity of Bill Clinton as America's first black president -- apparently because he played the saxophone?

on the one hand, i do think this is all about being fashionable. you know, if angelina jolie can be an adopted african queen, why not jump on that bandwagon?

but i also think there is an anxiety among upper class people. i think there is a sense than their relevance is slipping. it's not hip to be white anymore. it's being colored, looking like a latina or having the butt of a black woman, those are the things that are fashionable now. so i think there is a sense among the white upper classes that their relevance as cultural icons is slipping; and so their authority and power as "influencers".

no.

After I read this, it sounds as if I'm being competetive, and I apologise, as I'm not; I'm truly emphathising, as cultural appropriation is the antecedant of cultural genocide.

because you are so totally right!

he could so get away with a lot of stuff. i find his amazon women series at the same time fascinating and disturbing.

what disturbs me about this is the choice of model. they have to get an anorectic coke addict to be the face of Africa. that's what's so disturbing to me.

why not Liya Kebede or Alex Wek or Iman?

WTF?

Liza:

I think Newton turned glamour on its head and brought it to the edge of its borders. He let glamour become a monster, and in that way, his more famous compositions were thematically raw and revelatory.

Agreed about the choice of a face for Africa should be emblematic of all its complexities. Not a giveaway to put more blackface on another white model for the sheer tittilation of doing something politically "naughty". That's an insulting cop out.

And another thing: Does glamour always have to take precedent? Even if Iman was on the cover, would that necessarily represent all of what we envision Africa to be in the 21st century?

If there was a face to represent the heart and the soul of the continent, what would that face look like? Whose would it be? Maybe there is no name for that person in popular culture, but somewhere else.

(By the way--I am loving this conversation...)

SNARK ATTACK!

You and my mom and Britney Spears. White girls with big butts. Seriously .. Sir Mix-a-lot ought to have a song about them

(butt?)

Relying on known and/or physically apparent heritage is so dicey these days! (See Madeleine Albright and George Allen just for starters -- this story about the latter made me laugh just now: "It's a word they use a lot in the Allen world--'authenticity.'")

So then what about a beautiful blonde of actual African birth herself -- not just ancestors --like Charlize Theron?? She's a real model too, and so they could've used her if they'd wanted at least some legit CLAIM to that "authenticity."

When I wrote this post I was totally thinking about K-fed and then forgot to include this photo.

Seriously ... argh ... ACK!

It's like blaxploitation with all the irony sucked out of it. At least Eminem has talent and a sense of humor.

This guy? URGH!

about something else too, not just trying to borrow cool by pretending onself to be more exotic, but also being desperate to deny or disassociate from what is currently perceived as uninspiring (if not humiliating) reality?

Gwyneth for example - isn't she an ex-pat now, along with a BUNCH of Hollywood types? If they crave another identity that much, they're gonna need something to replace it with . . .

take madonna, for example. didn't she even change her accent to make it sound more british? in an age where people are getting their kids cosmetically enhanced with plastic surgery and anyone can literally get a face transplant, your point makes total sense.