This is a Twitter outburst of a young lady who is enshrouded in white privilege and feels she's been done wrong by the fact that black people have their own month; Black History Month.
I always say that reading is fundamental. However, Kaitlyn Freeman obviously didn't think of researching before posting her Twitter tirade. So to help her out a little, I've compiled a list of heritage commemorative months. The months underlined, are the months she claimed (in her Twitter rant) did not exist. The rest of the months, are just to show you all that pretty much everyone has an appreciation month in the U.S.A:
Last Friday, I attended the Hidden Colors 2 screening at Yemanja in Birmingham which was hosted by Black History Studies.
This was my very first time attending an African-centred screening. Yemanja will be hosting many more screenings and I will make the effort to attend as many as I can.
The turnout for this screening was good considering the weather (the weather was atrocious; ice and then the subsequent rain made it so unappealing for people to leave their homes). The energy at Yemanja was delightful. I felt right at home amongst like-minded individuals who not only wanted to know more, but also provided solutions to some of the problems in the African diaspora. I honestly have to say that I am really glad to see young individuals (such as myself), attend these screenings and I'm glad I'm keeping in touch with them as well.
The film
The film was about 2 hours and 30 minutes long. Below I've listed just some of the important points raised in this film:
The pineal gland and melanin.
African presence in Europe; Moors, Ivory Bangle Lady.
African presence in Asia; The Dravidians (Untouchables) of India, Natives of Japan.
African presence in Australia and the Pacific; Tasmanian genocide, Melanesia.
African presence in South America; Southern Mexico, Olmec statues.
Christmas; St. Nicholas, Jesus, black Madonna with child.
Healthcare; AIDS hoax, chem-trails, crack epidemic.
The prison industrial complex; mass incarceration of black men and boys.
Economics; Black Wall Street - Tulsa OK riots.
Solutions.
The movie really goes into much deeper detail in some of the points I've listed.
The trailer
After the film, there was a debate/Q&A about the points raised in the film and what could have been done to improve the film.
A number of brothers and sisters believed that the film left out cultural and spiritual aspects of Africans. However, during the debate it was mentioned that the film goes by the assumption that many of us haven't lost our spirituality and culture and that it's still within us. This can be awakened by our self discovery.
I believe that the talk of melanin in the film and how that allows melanated individuals to have access to a different energy, somewhat taps into our spiritual side.
Other good points raised in the debate was that economic togetherness isn't the only solution to our problems. And while I agree with that, the movie demonstrated that our own economy will serve as a foundation for a solution to our problems. With our own economy, we can become self-sufficient. Furthermore, our own economy will also enable us to buy ourselves power, therefore giving us more political influence, enabling us to solve many different problems that occur within our community. This economics-power-cascade was well demonstrated in this movie.
Other points raised was that this movie concentrated too much on African Americans. Where are our Black British directors, authors and scholars? Well for one, we have Black History Studies!
I honestly believe that many of the issues raised in this film is somewhat relevant to black people all over the globe. Furthermore, this movie is American, so it isn't surprising that there was very little focus on black people outside of the North American continent. However, Brother Kwende of Yemanja and Brother Mark of BHS mentioned that there are many UK-based directors, authors, scholars and artists who are concerned by the plight of African Diasporans.
This movie, as said by Brother Mark, scratched the surface of many important events that are happening or have happened within the African diaspora. The film couldn't tell us everything we needed to know about our history because it can't be summarised in a 2hr and 30min movie.
I myself raised the issue of a lack of discussion in the film about the Arab involvement in slavery, colonisation etc and their impact on the African Diaspora. As a Southern Sudanese, Arab influence in Northern and Eastern Africa is extremely relevant to me.
My point was met with a lot of praise which meant a lot to me. My point also ensued in further talk about the Arabisation of Northern and Eastern Africa.
I'm truly glad Yemanja and BHS are around. Without them, I really doubt people would have been able to get easy access to information related to black history. I will make use of both Yemanja and BHS to further supplement my learning about black history.
I left the evening knowing more and wanting to know even more. Even right now, I feel the urge to watch HC2 again. The DVD can be purchased here.
Today I'm utmost convinced that people will do anything to get their names out there.
There's a video of a girl on YouTube who is supposedly sucking her tampon. Apparently the video isn't completely real (she's supposedly used food colouring instead of her mother nature).
However, that really doesn't take away from the fact that people have no qualms about embarrassing the heck out of themselves for their 15 minutes.
I can already predict how everything will pan out for this girl. Her face is already plastered all over the web, people will recognise her at school, she'll get bullied relentlessly and she will then be forced to leave town or commit suicide.
I'm not encouraging any of the bullying but her video just warrants harassment from other people. I can hardly sympathise with her for whatever happens next because she made the conscious decision to put this video up. If she's really lucky people will soon forget about it and move on but the internet never forgets.
If you were hoping to hear and see nothing of KimYe in 2013, you're sadly mistaken because Kanye West announced Kim's pregnancy during a concert of his.
For those who are blessed enough not know who Kim is, she's a socialite, media and attention whore who gained notoriety for a sex tape she and Ray J did a few years ago.
In 2011, Kim got married (in an obviously sham wedding) to Kris Humphries and separated after 72 days. Kim and Kris Humphries' divorce hasn't been finalised yet.
I can bet that the same people who slate 'baby momma's' will attempt to praise Kim K while forgetting she's a 'baby momma' herself. Many will also overlook the fact that Kim K is still legally married.
We don't know what goes on behind closed doors in the Kardashian household (particularly how genuine KimYe's relationship is) but I know for a fact that this child will be set up for life having a talented father and a mother who will ruthlessly grab the attention of as many people as possible while earning millions upon millions of dollars along the way.
I'm just hoping that this child will fare better than poor Mercy:
May I also remind you all that there are much more pressing issues besides KimYe and their offspring.
