February Can't Come Fast Enough

The first few years that I was at The Storefront we had Black History Month Extravaganzas! Students sang Bob Marley and Cassandra Wilson. They performed scenes from A Raisin in the Sun, For Colored Girls, Fences, and The Colored Museum, and recited passages by Ralph Ellison and Sojourner Truth. We rehearsed for weeks and when it was over the feeling of accomplishment shared by all was so powerful.

Circa 2005

As years went on and the work of Blacks, Latinos, Asian-Americans, and Native Americans became embedded in all aspects of the curriculum at The Storefront, I didn't see the need for a Black History Month Assembly anymore.  In my arrogance, I even began to question the need for Black History Month at all.  I was now dealing with kids who complained that they read "too much" by black authors, and claimed that they "knew all there was to know about black history" in the 7th grade.

Well, that was then- and right now I'm counting down the seconds until February.  Consider some statements I have heard from 6th and 7th graders in the past few weeks:

• "Watch out.  We might get Ebola" (upon seeing visitors who were clearly from East Africa on a tour of the school).
• "We have the day off because of that 'black holiday'" (referring to Martin Luther King Day).
• "There were some good slave masters."
• "Black people need to let go of the past.  Slavery and Segregation were a long time ago."
• "I disagree with Martin Luther King.  I think that race relations would be better today if blacks were given their rights more gradually." 

I'm all for encouraging critical thinking, but in 6th grade you think that you can disagree with Martin Luther King?

However, the comment that almost sent me over the edge (and onto the unemployment line) was a "joke."  It began with an incomprehensible riddle about "broken Asian children" that one of the comedian's classmates quickly called out as racist.

Not content to exit the stage gracefully, said comedian decided to tell another joke. "How do you keep a kid from jumping on the bed?" she said. "Put some velcro on the ceiling."  I swear, as much as I read and write about racism, every time I'm faced with it, my first response is disbelief.

Me:  WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?

6th Grader: (repeats the joke still laughing, but somewhat sheepishly)

Me: Little girl, please don't think that I don't know that the real joke is how to do stop a black kid from jumping on the bed!"

6th Grader: I know, but I took that word out to make it sound less bad . . . 

Me: That is incredibly racist and inappropriate!

6th Grader: What????  Why???  I don't get it!!!

The rest of the class during Showtime at the Apollo

Obviously, I wouldn't characterize the majority of my students as racist.  I'm not sure if it is even possible to say that a child is racist.  Sure, they can hold racist beliefs but they are still in the process of forming who they are as people and establishing their position in the world.  There's still hope when they are in Middle-School.

Nevertheless, some of what comes out of the mouths of these babes is pure foolishness.  I'm almost glad that there aren't any black kids in my classes to have to deal with this nonsense.  The irony is that some of the students who seem to have the most conservative views about race are the ones who are most attached to me.  They are also the ones who (outside of their comments) I like the most.

My students are extremely wealthy.  They don't wear coats to school in January because they are dropped off and picked up by their drivers.  They sneak into the bathroom during math class to buy $150.00 watches from Amazon.  But these same students interview their drivers for family history projects and claim that their garage attendant is like their "second father."  I think that in their minds I am in the same category as the driver and garage attendant (and not necessarily just because I'm black).

I'm not Viola Davis but I have had plenty of Mae Mobleys throughout my teaching career.

These kids have to experience a huge level of confusion feeling bonded with people of color, and then hearing intolerance on racial and class issues from their parents.  I think that sometimes they say crazy things to me because they are testing whether or not I care enough about them not to abandon them, and because on some level they want them disproven.

So, my solution is Black History Month.  This February, Shakespeare and the Ancient Greeks are going to sit at the back of the proverbial bus while I teach what I teach best.  Stay tuned . . .

Snow Day Obsessions

I should have been planning and grading vocabulary tests, but instead I read, listened to the entire season of Serial, thought about lipstick, and played in the snow.  Ok . . . I didn't actually play in it; I watched Chloe play.  I'm not the playing type!

1.  Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng

Photo: LA Times

I feel a certain level of anxiety if I'm not reading a book. I love having something to look forward to each day, and books are my thing.  Everything I Never Told You, was so good that I found myself slowing down as I neared the end because I feared that whatever I would read next would not be as satisfying.  Everything I Never Told You begins with the drowning of a beloved daughter and slowly reveals the fraught dynamics of the family that she belonged to.  It is a thriller that is also a family drama -a novel that is a perfect balance between being readable and thought provoking.

Many of the reviews of this book have begun with the issue of race, mentioning that the main character, Lydia, has an Asian father and a white mother.  Everything I Never Told You examines the idea that race can limit our thinking and analysis of a situation.  For example, Lydia has blue eyes, and initially the reader assumes that is why she is the favored child. However, as we read further we learn that this may not be only issue at play.  The novel examines the way that parents see elements of themselves in the children and either try to erase or magnify these characteristics.  It demonstrates how the scars of a parent's childhood can reappear as fresh wounds in their children.

2. Serial

My 6th graders taught me how to use PicCollage!

Over the past few weeks I have seen articles and posts about Serial on social media, but I couldn't figure out what it was until recently.  Serial is a 'podcast'  (which is like an online radio show or a story told in installments on the internet).  Serial details the criminal case against Adnan Sayed, an American teenager of Pakistani heritage.  Sayed was convicted of first degree murder for killing his Korean-American girlfriend, Hae Min Lee in 1999.  All of this happened in Baltimore, MD on the eve of their graduation from high-school.  The only evidence against Sayed is the testimony of an acquaintance, Jay, who says that he helped him bury the body -yet never served any jail time.

At first it was hard for me to process the podcast; just sitting and listening was difficult even though I found the story very interesting.  I kept feeling like I should be doing other things: writing, cleaning, wearing a waist trainer . . .

Anyway, this podcast makes you think about the factors that influence memory,  race and religion in criminal justice system, and the nature of psychopathology.  There is no real resolution at the end of the twelve episodes, but my opinion is that Sayed shouldn't have been convicted because the state did not prove his guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt."  However, this doesn't mean that I think that Sayed is innocent.  As I listened to episode after episode, I found myself being charmed by Sayed's eloquence, so based on my track record that probably means that dude is guilty.

Start listening now here.  I'm curious to know what others think.

3. Matte Light Pink Lipstick: 
On Friday, I was scrolling through the television channels and happened upon the Sparkle re-make.  Out of curiosity I started watching it; I didn't want to like it, but I did.  After the hotmess that was Being Bobby Brown, I was relieved that Whitney's last appearance on screen was dignified.  However, the real star of the show was the make-up. I have been looking for the perfect nude toned lipstick forever.  My current favorite is Nars Het Loo, but the shade that I have in my imagination for the Spring is matte and pink.  Hopefully Mikita, Jennifer, and I will get to go to Bite Beauty Lab and get custom lipsticks made next month!

Carmen Ejogo as Sister in Sparkle

4. Central Park:
Chloe's first words this morning when she looked out of the window at the snow (or lack of it) were "they lied to me."  After making blueberry pancakes, she convinced me to leave my warm bed and take her to play in the snow.  On our way to the train station she commented that the snow looked like "coffee ice-cream;" (she's a master of metaphor already!)  Once we got to Central Park it was really like a winter wonderland! Couples took pictures with snowmen, children made snow angels,  and college students whipped down hills on NYU cafeteria lunch trays.  There was such a sense of joy and play in the park, as if time had been suspended.   Read Chloe's post about today here.

Chloe's Blueberry Pancakes

I am definitely not mad at Mayor de Blasio for declaring a Snow Day (even though there is hardly any snow on the ground).  Teachers need the opportunity to miss their students, and sometimes the weekends are not enough!  Chloe got the day off to a great start by fixing these wonderful pancakes for the family.  She gets the cooking gene from her Grandma!

Chloe's Blueberry Pancakes

(Adapted from The Disney Princess Cookbook)                                                           

Ingredients:
1 egg
3/4 cup of milk
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp of maple syrup
1 cup of flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt
Butter or oil for frying
1/2 cup of blueberries

Directions:
1. Crack the egg into a large mixing bowl.  Whisk in the milk, canola oil, and maple syrup.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour baking powder, and salt.  Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture to the egg mixture and stir just until all the ingredients are wet.  The batter should be lumpy.
3. Gently stir in the blueberries.  Don't stir too much, though, or the pancakes will be dense.
4. Ask an adult (Grandma) to help you at the stove.  Lightly butter or oil a nonstick frying pan, and then warm it on the stovetop over medium heat for about one minute.  Turn the heat down to medium low.  Use a 3/4 -cup measuring cup to pour the batter for each pancake into the pan.
5.When the tops of the pancakes start to bubble, carefully flip the pancakes over with a spatula.  Continue cooking them until the undersides are golden brown.  Serve with butter and maple syrup.

Serves: 4-6

Chloe's Pop-Pop wanted to make sure we got a picture of him holding his Aunt Jemima syrup!

What Had Happened Was . . .

Writing has always been one of my strengths. In middle-school I wrote a story called "Pink and Grey" about Donna Lynn's death that my grandmother kept for many years.  In high-school Mr. Daley, my 9th grade English teacher, told me that a dystopian short story that I wrote was one of the best that he had ever read, professional or otherwise.  The best compliment I ever received was when my father told someone that I was a better writer than he was.  He is not one for compliments or flattery, but when my senior thesis about Father Divine won the Ruth J. Simmons prize in the African-American Studies Program at Princeton, I know he was proud.  He alone rode the train with me to the university to collect my award.

Why I was wearing a tube top to an awards ceremony is beyond me!

Despite my early promise, for some reason, I stopped writing after college.  Perhaps without the extrinsic motivation of deadlines and grades I didn't see the point.  Unfortunately, in my adult life, my talent with words was spent writing book long text messages to men who didn't care enough about me to read them (or respond for that matter).  I would write something and look at my deepest thoughts and feelings glowing back at me from the phone screen and think "damn, that was good!  I should be a writer."

Photo: Tumblr

When a former friend had the idea of creating a blog about food in Harlem I was unsure about whether I could write anything worth reading.  As I continued to write I became more confident and loved the mix of words and images that blogging allowed.  Even before the advent social media, I was the person who always had a camera in hand ready to document the moment.  

Early on in the life of the blog I found myself doing the majority of the writing.  It shifted from being a blog about food to something more personal.  I worked, tutored, job searched, raised Chloe, and maintained a social life, while writing as much as I could and enjoying the thrill of learning something new.  However, I resented the aforementioned former friend passively taking credit for a blog that she rarely contributed to, while complaining that she was "too busy" to write.  Ideas are one thing, execution is another- and I gradually began to make changes to the blog that made it clear whose work it represented.  Maybe I should have communicated before I did this.  Maybe not.  My coattails are purely decorative; they aren't made for riding on.

Brunch @ Ponty Bisto

When the blog was deleted I was shocked by the spitefulness of it; by the nakedness of the insecurity that inspired the action,  but I never thought for a moment that I would not start over.

Thank you to all of the friends, family members, former classmates, students, and exes whose experiences with me have inspired this work. 

Thank you to all of you who take the time to read, comment and share my words. I love your getting emails and texts.

Thank you to those generous friends and family members who have passed along their recipes, beauty secrets, and wisdom. 

Thank you to all of the cousins and second cousins who let me know how upset they were when the first blog "disappeared. 

And most of all thank you to my fabulous friends and family who consent to have their pictures taken even before their first cocktail has arrived!

Light Girls Was the Silliest Thing I've Seen on Television in a While

A Recent Conversation at an Upper West Side Private School

6th Grader: Ms. Cardwell, are you black?

Me: Yes

6th Grader: So, you're just a very light-skinned black?

Me: Yes

6th Grader: Oh, my nanny was black and she was like my second mother . . .

The patron saint of all light-skinned Negroes

A Conversation at an Independent School in Harlem circa 2009

8th Grader: Ms. Cardwell, you're black?

Me: Yes

8th Grader: Oh, I wasn't sure until you opened your mouth and started yelling . . .

Although my race can be confusing to young children who have yet to be introduced to the One Drop Rule, I think that it is clear to most people that I am a light-skinned black person.  I have broad features, and from what I can remember of it, my natural hair is kinky and coarse.  

I grew up in a family where I was on the browner side of the color spectrum so I never had any doubt that I was black.   I remember a conversation that I had with my late cousin Donna Lynn.  Donna Lynn was like that fashionable big sister that everyone wishes they had.  She wore skintight high-waisted jeans with her straight hair slicked back into a tight ponytail.  Her nails were always long and painted a shade of  cherry red.  One day we were at my grandmother's house in Maryland and I asked her why she didn't pass for white.  She looked at me and said simply "why would I do that?"  Embedded in that question were a thousand statements about self-acceptance, and racial pride.

Donna Lynn as a child

I have always been interested in the issue of colorism in the black community, but when I saw the preview of Light Girls on OWN I cringed/rolled my eyes/sighed deeply and got ready to be embarrassed.  Against my better judgement, I decided to watch so that I would understand what the people on Twitter and Facebook would be talking about the next day.   I was disappointed in Bill Duke's previous film Dark Girls, but this one was even worse!  Listening to light-skinned women complain about being light-skinned is almost as annoying as listening to white people complain about reverse racism.   The experiences depicted in the film have not been my experiences.

For example, I have never:

1.  Been bullied or picked on because of my complexion.   People that I have met may have had preconceived notions about who I am based on the way I look, but I have found that, in general,  if you are nice to people they will be nice to you in return.  Do I have to try a little harder because I'm light-skinned?  Maybe.  Have I developed a self-depreciating sense of humor in order to make others comfortable? Perhaps.  But so what?  All of us adapt our personalities to our environment and our audience.

What was so damaging about Light Girls was the constant reference to darker skinned women as insecure, jealous bullies.  I know that I should accept and validate the experiences and pain of the light-skinned women on the show but . . .  I don't really feel like it.  

2.  Been told or made to feel that I wasn’t black enough.  There was one time in high-school when Brooke Lay said that I was Afrocentric because I was “overcompensating” for my light complexion.  I thought about what she said, considered the fact she claimed that she was bi-racial even though both of her parents were black, and decided not to take offense. 

3. Been treated "better" by a man because I was light-skinned.   I don’t think that I was aware that I  was light-skinned until 9^th grade, and by that time I was in high-school and it didn’t matter! There were so few black girls at Columbia Prep that we bonded together in friendship and mutual support. Furthermore, my complexion meant nothing to the black boys I went to school with because they had discovered white girls and wanted absolutely nothing to do with any of us (except the day that Spike Lee's Malcolm X came out in the movie theaters and we all went to see it together). 

As I got older, I acknowledge that my complexion may have been a draw for many of the men that I dated.  However, I learned that if they were attracted to me because I was light-skinned what they really wanted was a white/Asian/ or Latina woman-and usually they went out and got one.  I was like a "gateway drug" and there's no privilege in that.

Really Raven? Are we to assume that this is your natural hair color and you just dyed it for the show too?

The moment I should have turned the TV off and went to sleep was the moment when Raven Symoné  came on and started talking about how she tanned for her show That's So Raven.  It reminded me of my students at The Storefront who used to wistfully talk about how white they were when they were babies.  There's some Pecola Breedlove madness going on when the subtext is "despite what your eyes tell you, I'm not as black as I look."

#truth

In the end, a documentary that had the potential to elevate our thinking about how black people relate to each other ended up being divisive, over-simplistic, and at times silly (where did India Arie come from?)  If you are interested in learning more about colorism read:

The Color Complex: The Politics of Skin Color in a New Millennium By Kathy Russell and Midge Wilson

Tar Baby, by Toni Morrison

The Blacker the Berry, by Wallace Thurman

This Could Be Us But You Playing . . .

Photo:Tumblr

The Year of the Conceited Black Girl!

Jahmeelah Nash-Fuller is one of my favorite students of all time.  Over the years that I have known her she has challenged me, driven me into fits of laughter, and consistently made me proud.  One of my earliest memories of Jahmeelah is of her organizing an America's Next Top Model competition in the park during Summer School. She was only in 5th grade but she exhibited the confidence and style of a much older child.

Circa 2006/07

One of the things that I admired about her was her quick wit and her extremely high-self esteem.  Jahmeelah was so sure of herself that I began to wonder if it was a front for some hidden insecurity.  My cynical self questioned whether any middle-school student could adore themselves that much!

One day I  decided to put her to the test.  I had all of the students in my advisory write a list of 100 things that they liked about themselves.  Most students struggled to get past number ten, yet when I looked over at Jahmeelah she was casually listing characteristic after characteristic.  Not only did she have a lot to say, but she seemed to be enjoying the task!

That convinced me that Jahmeelah was the real thing, so when she named herself "Queen Peaches," that's what I called her (much to the chagrin of her classmates).  When she told me that she thought  that The Bluest Eye presented a negative vision of dark-skinned black people, I listened and added Zora Neale Hurston's essay "How it Feels to be Colored Me" to the curriculum.  When one of her classmates insulted her and she hopped up on a table like a character from Paris is Burning and said "look at these thighs" I laughed until I cried rather than giving her a detention.

Two Queens (Not really sure why she's holding that glass of water like it's wine, though)

During Parent Teacher conferences, I had the chance to ask her mother how she instilled self-esteem in her daughter, especially in a world that does not value aggressively outspoken black girls.  Ms. Nash looked at me and said "every night I pray it into her existence.  I pray it into her spirit."  I admit that at the time, I did not really understand what she was talking about.  I'm not religious so I assumed that her advice was not something that was particularly relevant to me.

That was until one day a few weeks ago.  Chloe and I were at Nicole's house celebrating Morgan's birthday.  We were all sitting on the floor watching television when I heard Mrs. Farrow talking to Morgan.  "Do you know how much I love you?  Do you know how smart you are?  You are so beautiful.  Do you know that?"  It was like a mantra, repeated slowly like a prayer.  One that Morgan had clearly heard before.   One that Chloe will hear every day.

Morgan being fabulous!

So, I am joining ranks with those who have declared that 2015 is "The Year of the Conceited Black Girl."

Photo: Tumblr

There is nothing wrong with being conceited; feeling superior to those who don't acknowledge your light or seek to dim it is ok.   Having an "excessively favorable opinion of one's own abilities or appearance" is not vanity; it's survival.  

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Her tolerance of nonsense is at an all time low

Back in the day when I spent 10, 000 a year on Preschool,  one of the things that I disliked the most was the birthday parties.  It seemed like every weekend I was buying a gift I couldn't afford and heading to the celebration of one of her friend's birthdays on the Upper West Side.  Even though it can appear otherwise, I am an introvert.  I dislike socializing with people that I don't know (especially when there are juice boxes available instead of wine).  Furthermore, being the only single parent in the mix made me feel awkward and sorry for myself.

Anyway, this weekend when Chloe was invited to a birthday party I was relieved when her father agreed to take her.  The morning of the party I could have sworn that my sweet seven year old had morphed into a sixteen year-old drama queen.  She was stomping around the house slamming doors, messing with her freshly braided hair, and claiming that "nothing was going right today."  I had a feeling that she was afraid that her father wasn't going to show up, even though he had called to reassure her that he was on his way.

When he did arrive we were putting her coat on and she said something about being excited to go her "best friend's" party.  I responded, "that's not your best friend" (the girl had been part of a group that ganged up on Chloe earlier in the year).  She replied, "yes she is, we've known each other since Kindergarten."  I asked if the girl was always nice to her,  and then Chloe went off!!!

She turned to her father and said "well, I only see YOU once every two weeks.  You're just a number in my phone. But you're still my father!  You don't even like my mother! All you do is argue about money. You don't need money to be happy!"  She was preaching like it was Sunday while her father and I stood there with stupid grins on our faces.  She wasn't angry or sad, just very matter-of-fact.

Ridel started hugging Chloe, laughing and telling her that he and I were friends (kinda true), while I slowly made my way up the stairs before she told me more about myself.  I was proud of the way that she expressed herself so directly,  yet sad that the lesson that she is learning is that it is ok for people not to consistently treat her with kindness because of her father's inability or unwillingness to be there when she wants.  One of the things that I like the most about Chloe is that she is an extremely loving child who likes people and makes friends easily.  Everyone in the neighborhood knows her: the mail woman, the crossing guard, the man in the corner store.  She is very much like her father in that way, but unlike him, I want her to know what healthy love looks like as a child.

After the party ended, Chloe and Ridel returned home laughing and tripping up the stairs.  They were excited to share videos of Chloe skating around around like a seasoned pro and Ridel struggling to keep up holding onto the side of the rink.  When we had a moment alone, I asked Ridel what he thought about what Chloe said.  His response was "it was hot!"  Thinking that he has misunderstood the question, I asked again and he repeated, "it was hot; what she said was how she felt, and Chloe never lies.  She said that she needs more time, and I'm going to try to be there for her."  There was no defensiveness, no claims that I was over-reacting.  And because of that there is hope.

I Have a Dream: Teaching a Speech That Everyone Thinks They Know Already

I don't think that I had actually read Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech until two or three years ago.  Like every other American, I had heard the speech and seen black and white images of it on television. If I were being honest, I would admit that I would cringe and tune out when the speech came on or was brought up in History classes.  I think that my reaction was based on the fact that I thought that I knew what it meant, when I really didn't.  

We all know what an eloquent and powerful speaker King was, but what we miss is what a master of metaphor he was. Furthermore, once I read the speech, I was surprised by the tone of it .  Martin Luther King wasn't begging whites for acceptance, he was demanding re-payment of a debt owed. His words are eerily relevant today.

The lesson below is one of the best that I have taught this year (if I do say so myself).  In really good lessons there is a feeling of transcendence.   I sure that it is similar to the feeling an actor has when he is on stage knowing that he or she has the audience in the palm of their hand.  It doesn't happen every day, but when it does it reminds me why I love teaching.

                 

Figurative Language and MLK's "I Have a Dream Speech." 

1. I review the definitions of metaphor and simile.

2. We discuss how and why authors use figurative language.

3. Students write and share their own metaphors and similes inspired by the photographs in the slides below.

4. Students look at examples of 8th grade metaphor projects about Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye.

5. I read quotes from the novel aloud and ask students to identify what is being compared in each project. (They were enthralled by the projects).  

(I made this on Haiku Deck, which is really easy to use presentation software.  Click through the slides to see what my student's saw during class.)
Figurative Language - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires


6.  I explain that student's will read Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, and then create a visual representation of one of the metaphors in the speech.

7. I give each student a copy of the speech and then project it on the Smartboard.  

8. As we read the speech together, I choose a particularly energetic student to underline the metaphors in the speech on The Smartboard.  Students highlight and annotate their speeches, and I draw (really basic) sketches on the white board.

9. I have the students annotate their text with notes about The March on Washington, The Emancipation Proclamation, and the Declaration of Independence.

10.  As a class, we focus on several of the metaphors in the first half of the speech.  Below are some of my favorites:  

 "The Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity."

In a sense we've come to our nation's Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check; a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality.

After we finish the speech we will watch the video, and begin our metaphor project.  Hopefully my students will understand and appreciate why they have the day off after they finish this assignment!

When a Joke is Not Just a Joke

The first full week of the New Year was deadly.

• On Wednesday the offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo was attacked by a pair of French-Algerian brothers who claimed to be a part of Al-Qaeda.  
• The next day a French police officer was killed by a man claiming to belong to the same jihadist organization that the brothers belonged to.
• On Friday hostages were taken at a Kosher market by a French citizen of Senegalese origin who claimed to be in contact with the two brothers responsible for the shooting at Charlie Hebdo.  Police assert that this same man was responsible for the shooting of the police officer a day earlier.

In total 20 people were killed (including three suspects), and millions took to the streets in solidarity with the victims.

Photo: The Economist

Worldwide, millions more tweeted using the hashtag #JeSuiCharlie or I Am Charlie.  Hashtags bring awareness to important issues, but in this case I wonder how many people tweeting and re-tweeting bothered to look at the cartoons featured in Charlie Hebdo.

Black Minister of Justice Christiane Taubira depicted as a monkey

In the first image, France's Justice Minister Christiane Taubira is depicted as a monkey with large gold hoop earrings.  Supporters of Charlie Hebdo say that the image is poking fun at Taubira's racist detractors, and is therefore not racist in itself.  This argument is similar to the argument made by supporters of the New Yorker who claimed that their controversial cover was making fun of those who associate the Obamas with extremist Muslims, rather than racist itself.  The problem with satire is that some will get it, some will be offended, and some will have their racist suspicions affirmed.

The New Yorker

The title of this image below reads, "Boko Haram's Sex Slaves Are Angry."  The thought bubble over the girls' heads says "Don't Touch Our Welfare."

There are some explanations online that assert that this cartoon is a satire of racism, rather than an example of racism.  The idea is that the cartoon makes fun of anti-welfare politicians who are so irrational that they assume even Nigerian girls held as child sex slaves want welfare.  For those who are offended by the image, the larger implication is that they just don't understand French humor.  My question is do the African and Caribbean immigrants in France get French humor?  Do their children?

The pen may be mightier than the sword, but the visual image is an even more powerful.  Just as one can't talk about police brutality without considering the legacy of slavery and segregation in America, one cannot talk about terrorism in France without talking about the legacy of colonialism in Africa.   France can keep ignoring the anger of the children of it's former colonies, claiming that they "can't take" or "don't get" the joke, it but will do so at its own peril.

Black is Beautiful: Haley

How old are you? 24 yrs old

What's your beauty philosophy? I think that anyone can be beautiful; it's all in how you present yourself. My beauty philosophy is to emphasis simplicity and natural qualities and add a splash of interesting. "Interesting" for me usually means a vintage flair, something sparkly, or a bright color.

Accessorizing is in our blood!

Who do you look to for beauty inspiration? I look for beauty inspiration in my cousin Candace (whose fashion choices are always flawless) and in my mother and grandmother (whose vintage jewelry and purses I've incorporated into my wardrobe). 

Wearing the same hairstyles since 2005!

Describe your skin care routine. My skin care routine changes with the season. Right now I use Neutrogena's Grapefruit Scrub with an electric facial brush both morning and night for exfoliation. Then I use Clean and Clear's Oil Free Dual Action Moisturizer in the morning. For breakouts I use Burt's Bees Herbal Blemish Stick which is amazing and still surprises me with its effectiveness every time. 

What are some of the things in your make-up bag that are tried and true and you can't live without?

-Covergirl Mascara Exact Eyelights Black Pearl 700 for brown eyes. This mascara is made differently for every eye color, and it is designed to bring out your personal eye color. I like it because it's not very clumpy. It's also easy to take off and I feel like my lashes have been conditioned once I do.

-Red Lipstick. For me, any scarlet red lipstick will do. I pick it up at the drugstore and use it as my "going out" lipstick. I love the vintage look of it.

-Bite Beauty's Luminous Creme Lipstick from Sephora in Zin, I would describe this as a matte wine color. I wear this one almost daily. The color is perfect for everyday because it adds deep color without making me look like I'm going to the club. 

Photo: allure.com

-Neutrogena Deep Clean Long Last Shine Control Daily Scrub. I LOVE this scrub because it removes all the oil from my pores and controls shine for most of the day. I usually take this with me when I'm going to a humid climate because I know the humidity makes my skin skin even more oily. 

What are some of the new things you've picked up lately that you're obsessed with?
-Anything Burt's Bees! (I know I am very late to this trend)

-I love the Herbal Blemish Stick. It works surprisingly well, especially when I put it on overnight.

-Burt's Bees Honey and Grapeseed Hand Cream. The mother of one of my students brought this for her daughter whose hands were so dry they would crack and bleed. I noticed how well it worked for her so I bought some for myself. It feels a little sticky when I first put it on but after a couple seconds it seeps in and feels amazing.

There are never too many gold sparkles!