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French Vogue Photographs Models In Black Face
While Black models continue to complain of their exclusion from major magazines and runway shoots over a year after this issue was brought to light. (see "Crossing The Thin White Line"below)
Its seems not much has changed and maybe its gotten worse, since Vogue, in its October issue, would rather paint white models black, than hire Black models. Until Black women refuse to buy the cloths of designers who don't include Black models, and better yet, choose to buy the clothing of more Black Clothing Designers, this racism will continue. Black consumers in America alone spend over $22 billion annually on clothing. Your money can speak much louder than your words.
Earlier this week, fashion designer Peter Som and casting director Jennifer Venditti stood in his office studying five photos of pale, thin teenage girls with dirty-blond hair.
"Weird," said Mr. Som, scanning the teens in the photos. "They're all the same."
Ms. Venditti, who is hired by designers to cast models for their fashion shows, noted that "there are so many of these types. You could do a whole show with them." She advised Mr. Som to pick no more than two of the five blondes to appear in his fashion show Monday.
Amid recent public criticism about the lack of ethnic diversity on fashion runways, the role of casting director is drawing more attention as New York's fashion week gets under way today. In the past, designers chose the models themselves. But now that designers are required to produce multiple collections, make media appearances and court celebrities, the job of casting director is usually outsourced to specialists like Ms. Venditti. Her specialty: navigating models' competing schedules, negotiating with frantic designers and fighting with agents.
Bethann Hardison, a former model who has been organizing efforts to raise awareness about the lack of color among runway models, says the growing power of casting directors, many of whom cast multiple shows, is part of the problem. "Everybody gets into this Stepford Wives mentality," says Ms. Hardison, a black woman who modeled in the '70s, when there was a big demand for black models. She notes that designers now all are looking to hire many of the same models, who tend to be white and very thin.
In response to the recent exposure of the issue in the media after Ms. Hardison's efforts, the Council of Fashion Designers of America has been lobbying designers to hire a broader range of models this fashion week. In a letter sent to designers, modeling agents and casting directors on Jan. 9, CFDA President Diane von Furstenberg encouraged industry players to create fashion shows "that are truly multicultural" and to embrace "whole groups of people no matter their race or color," according to a copy of the letter. Steven Kolb, the CFDA's executive director, said, "We are reminding people of positive behavior."
Just who is responsible for diversity on the runway depends on whom you ask. Casting directors say they work for the designers, so if the designers decide ethnic models don't fit their aesthetic, they don't hire them. Designers gripe that they would use more minority models, but the agencies don't send any "good" ones. And the modeling agencies say they aren't scouting and developing many minority models because the market hasn't been demanding their services.
A designer's goal with an expensive fashion show is to keep attention on his or her clothes, not the models. That's why, many designers privately explain, they don't like to hire distinctive-looking models, either ethnically or otherwise. But the public concern has put so much pressure on the industry that some say they have to change.
"The tricky thing about this business is that [designers and casting directors] can always say it's a matter of personal and aesthetic freedom," says Roman Young, an agent at Elite Model Management. "You wonder, 'Are they racist or are they just dumb?'" Mr. Young says he hasn't been aggressively scouting models of color because, until now, designers haven't demanded them. Very young, newly scouted models are highly in demand every season since the market likes fresh, unknown faces.
African-American models like Iman and Naomi Campbell broke through the race barrier long ago. And several Asian, Latina and black models routinely appear on the runways. Chanel Iman, a 16-year-old black model, is particularly in demand this season
But nearly everyone in the fashion industry acknowledges that minority representation on the runways, as well as in high-fashion advertising, doesn't approximate the general population. The lack of minorities in high fashion contrasts with a noticeable increase in the casting of ethnic models in print and TV commercials, as well as in television and movies.
For casting director Ms. Venditti, the recent conversations about ethnicity have emboldened her to push harder for diversity this season. When one of her client's stylists said she didn't need to book a second black model because they already had one, Ms. Venditti says she told her, "They're both beautiful. Why can't you have two?"
At Mr. Som's casting call this week, he explained that his fall collection was inspired by the social outcasts captured in the photographs of Diane Arbus. He was seeking models with a "loopy and loony" vibe, he said.
After casting the two blondes, Mr. Som asked Ms. Venditti how many ethnic models were on the roster. She told him there were four -- two black and two Asian -- out of a then-selected cast of 18. "I do not want an all-white cast," he says. "But there's always room for improvement."
Ms. Venditti, now 35 years old, once modeled in a fashion show for the local Saks Fifth Avenue near where she grew up. But when a scout from the John Casablancas modeling school began calling her house and leaving messages, she never returned the calls, explaining now that she preferred to be in charge of shaping the image, not the image itself. She moved to New York, working first at KCD, a fashion-show production company and then as a free-lance stylist.
She started her own company, JV8 Inc., in 1998. For her first casting job, she found a homeless woman and a local band for a photo shoot in W magazine. Advertisers like Gap and Benetton began calling to request her services.
Ms. Venditti quickly developed a reputation for finding unusual characters for modeling jobs. For a photo shoot in Detroit, fashion photographer Bruce Weber asked Ms. Venditti to bring him a local guy to appear alongside supermodel Kate Moss in a fashion spread for W magazine's September 2006 issue. Ms. Venditti camped outside a high-school prom at Detroit's Lewis Cass Technical High School. The following morning, she presented Mr. Weber with photos of a tall Puerto Rican student in a tuxedo. "I thought, 'Wow, this guy is so beautiful,'" Mr. Weber recalls. When Ms. Venditti informed him that the student was a female, Mr. Weber decided to use her in the shoot instead of a young man.
As for whether the industry will ever change, Ms. Venditti says it's all about whether racial diversity becomes the latest fashion trend. "In general, [the industry] is a bunch of followers," she says. But "the conversation has started."
According to Target Market News, African American's alone spend over $22 Billion yearly on clothing. This doesn't include money spent by other minority groups. If you stop buying from designers who don't include models of color in their runway presentations and all of their advertising, I'm sure we would see an immediate change. Its up to you. What do you think....
I don't quite understand why it was necessary for Bob Johnson to denegrate Obama in an effort to elevate Hillary Clinton.
But I found this characterization quite appropritate. What do you think? 
The ancient world was devoid of racism. At the time of Piye’s historic conquest, the fact that his skin was dark was irrelevant. Artwork from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome shows a clear awareness of racial features and skin tone, but there is little evidence that darker skin was seen as a sign of inferiority. Only after the European powers colonized Africa in the 19th century did Western scholars pay attention to the color of the Nubians’ skin, to uncharitable effect.
Even famed Harvard Egyptologist George Reisner—whose discoveries between 1916 and 1919 offered the first archaeological evidence of Nubian kings who ruled over Egypt—besmirched his own findings by insisting that black Africans could not possibly have constructed the monuments he was excavating. He believed that Nubia’s leaders, including Piye, were light-skinned Egypto-Libyans who ruled over the primitive Africans. That their moment of greatness was so fleeting, he suggested, must be a consequence of the same leaders intermarrying with the “negroid elements.”
These are just two paragraphs of this must read untold story in this month's National Geographic below............
By Robert Draper |
Photographs by Kenneth Garrett |
| For 75 years Nubian kings ruled over ancient Egypt, reunifying the country and building an empire. Until recently, theirs was a chapter of history lost in the shadows. | |
 | |
In the year 730 B.C., a man by the name of Piye decided the only way to save Egypt from itself was to invade it. Things would get bloody before the salvation came. Continue reading at National Geographic. |
I saw this old movie when I was a kid. It made quite an impression on me because I had seen few African American actors play strong male roles. After seeing it 40 years later, a few nights ago , it was equally impressive and entertaining. If you get a chance, I highly recommendthat you see it.
This 90 minute feature film DVD stars Woody Strode as Black Jesus. Based on actual incidents in the Congo, a revolutionary leader is betrayed by one of his followers and unwittingly martyred by those in power. Strode, the African leader of a popular revolutionary movement, works secretly to overthrow a colonial government only to receive the "kiss of death" from one of his most trusted followers. The entire horror of the confrontation is seen through his eyes throughout his interrogation and torture. If you've see it, tell us what you think.
Born May 12, 1914, in LaFayette, Alabama, Joseph Louis Barrow - who became known as the "Brown Bomber" - was America's first true crossover athlete. As the first black sports star worshipped by both black and white fans, he was respected not only for his boxing talents, but also for showing the world what a person of color could do if given the opportunity. When he fought, the world stood still.
The film underscores his importance during a critical time in America's history. From the Great Depression through World War II and into the 1950s, Joe Louis was the poster boy for the American way of life. In 1938, when Louis defeated Germany's Max Schmeling, his victory was interpreted as democracy's defeat of Nazism, boosting public morale and transforming him into a true American hero.
Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, the Presiding Prelate for the Thirteenth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church is encouraging A.M.E. churches to spread the word about the Sister Study , a landmark breast cancer study to learn how environment and genes affect the chances of getting breast cancer. Bishop McKenzie also challenges other faith leaders across the country to help spread the word to women in their congregations and communities. Black History in the Making Bishop McKenzie serves as the 117th elected and consecrated bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Her historic election in the year 2000 represents the first time in the over 200-year history of the A.M.E. Church, in which a woman had obtained that level of Episcopal office. In 2004, she again made history becoming the first woman to become the Titular Head of the denomination, as the president of the Council of Bishops, making her the highest-ranking woman in the predominately Black Methodist denominations. Bishop McKenzie has been honored for her community service, outstanding achievement and being a religious role model by a number of diverse civic, educational, business and governmental leaders. She is also the National Chaplain for Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. an international public service organization and life member of the NAACP. Tune in to the Tom Joyner Morning Show on
Faith Leader Urges Black Churches to Support the Sister Study
Wed., Feb.13th at 6:45am CST
to hear Bishop McKenzie
express her support of the Sister Study. >
Its important that we deal with facts and not emotion, when we talk about the global pattern of racism. The long held belief by some whites that they are inherently superior because of their 
race. The systematic use of governmental laws to uphold this belief and perpetuate hate and inflict pain on a generation of people. There are stricking similarities between slavery in the US and todays demand by some Blacks for reparation and the attempted genocide of the Aborigines by white Australia, with the blessing of this countries laws. The Aborigines too, are demanding reparation. In both cases the US and Australian governments have been slow to admit guilt , let alone seriously address the reparation debate.
Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, today made a comprehensive and moving apology to the Stolen Generations, the ten of thousands of indigenous children who were removed and sometimes forcibly, from their families in a forced apolicy of assimilation that only ended in the 1970's. In some states, it was part of a policy to "breed the color out" in the words of Cecil Cook, who held the title of Chief Protector of the Northern Territory in the 1930's. "We apologize especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their community and their country," Mr. Rudd said, as hundreds of members of the Stolen Generations listened, some with tears in their eyes. To the mothers and fathers, the brothers and sisters, for breaking up families and communities, "We say sorry. And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture we are sorry."
Although the Aborigines are asking the Austrailian government to back up their apology with reparation, this demand is being ignored. Many indigenous Austrailians live on the margins of society. Aboriginal life expectency is 17 years shorter than for the average Austrailian, indigenous unemployment runs three times the rate of the country as a whole and the incidence of crime and alcoholism is significantly higher in indigenous communities.
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