Source: touchfm.org

So while you all were enjoying your burnt hot dogs and busting illegal fireworks outside of my window at exactly 1:24 a.m., Frank Ocean celebrated his independence after publicly revealing that he’d had a romantic relationship with another man and was bisexual.

In a very heartfelt and beautifully written letter posted Wednesday morning on his Tumblr page, Ocean sought to clarify the rumors that a few of the love ballads on his soon to be released debut album, entitled Channel Orange, were intended for a male love interest. In the letter, Ocean writes:

“4 summers ago, I met somebody. I was 19 years old. He was too. We spent that summer, and the summer after, together. Every day almost, and on the day we were together, time would glide. Most of the day I’d see him, and his smile. By the time I realized I was in love, it was malignant. It was hopeless There was no escaping, no negotiating with the feeling. No choice. It was my first love, it changed my life.”

Ocean went on to say that he thought about the women he had been with and thought he was in love with and the love songs he listened to and “realized they were written in a language I did not yet speak.” Ocean wrote in his closing. “I feel like a free man. If I listen closely. I can hear the sky falling too.”

One of the first Hip-Hop community insiders to speak on the matter was Russell Simmons, who wrote on Global Grind, “Today is a big day for hip-hop. It is a day that will define who we really are.  How compassionate will we be? How loving can we be? How inclusive are we? I am profoundly moved by the courage and honesty of Frank Ocean….”

Others outside the Hip-Hop community are speculating about what impact his announcement will have on his career including questions about how the genre and its fans, which are said to be notoriously homophobic, will react to his lifestyle. But within this mix of congratulatory pats on the back and questions about what the future holds for the singer/songwriter/rapper, there is a certain level of incongruity in his declaration of sexual freedom and what Frank Ocean represents.

Ocean, who is probably most known on the R&B front for the hit song “Novacane” and for appearing with Jay-Z and Kanye West as one of the few features on Watch the Throne, is a part of the collective, Odd Future Wolfgang Kill Them All, or OFWGKTA, an alternative, suburban black skater boy/girl rap group, known for saying some pretty outlandish stuff. And when I say outlandish, that includes lacing their lyrics with the kind of homophobic, anti-black and female debasement glee that could probably make Lil’ Wayne blush (maybe that’s why he’s a fan). The leader and co-founder of this clique is Tyler the Creator, who uses multiple personas to exhibit his creativity as well as his angst. One such alter-ego is Wolf Haley, a white ginger (e.g. red-haired) kid, whom he said that he always wanted to be. It may be this persona, which causes him to refer to himself as a self-racist or to use his Twitter feed and rhymes as platforms for anti-gay slurs and references. And when he is not calling people f****ts or even berating himself, his targets include veteran female emcees such as Rah Digga, who he once called a dude, and MC Lyte, who he called a “dyke.”

Grammy-winning rapper Lil Wayne says he feels “unwanted” in Oklahoma City because of his race. Apparently, after a dispute over courtside tickets to Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals in Oklahoma City, Lil Wayne says its’  unlikely he will return.

It looks like Lil Wayne was denied court side tickets because they were sold out, however Lil Wayne believes it’s because he is black…

Read full story here..

It’s funny how people stand so strong in their racist and homophobic convictions but refuse to accept those labels when they’re put on them. Anytime someone prefaces a statement with, “I believe everyone should have equal rights, but” you pretty much know bigotry will follow and that’s exactly were we are with former SNL comedian Colin Quinn. Hopefully this man is comfortable being an unemployed stand-up comic because he’s pretty much angered the entire black and gay community over the course of a three-day Twitter rant on equality when it comes to race and sexual preference. Don’t worry, he’s not racist or homophobic though. Let’s look at the long line of inappropriate comments he made late last week:

Now if you don’t support same-sex marriage, you’re well within your rights to express that however somewhere in between protesting this effort, Colin attempts to out a bunch of stars like former SNL castmate Will Ferrell by saying he was one of the closet celebs on set but he doesn’t want to blow his cover because his wife is his “anchor” but he has an “elf” like quality that made him wonder. And that’s his business how? He also suggests John Travolta is homosexual among other male actors and points out all sorts of questionable behavior, playing into the whole feminine versus manly man gay argument.

Switching from an anti-homosexual stance to one of white power, a day or two after going in on gay celebrities, Colin expressed his terror at stats showing minority births are growing in the U.S.:

This foolishness on top of John Derbyshire’s comments last week about White Europeans running better society’s really has me baffled. I thought deep down white people knew their racism was pretty baseless but I’m realizing some people really believe they are superior—and that they own America. It’s easy to see how this country was founded like it was. When fear kicks in about other races overpowering them, white people tend to lash out. Luckily followers have been letting Colin have it all weekend for proudly proclaiming such ridiculous ideas—unfortunately, he thinks this is good news since TMZ reached out to him for more info about his statements. He tweeted “Finally a little publicity for standing up for what’s right! #backontop”

No, finally a little publicity for being viciously inappropriate. Good luck with that in “your” country.

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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blogs.indiewire.com

If you watched HBO’s hit drama, Oz, you will no doubt remember Adebisi, the tough as nails African prisoner who intimidated almost everyone at least once, played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. Well,  the England raised actor recently did an interview with The Guardian in which he discussed his new project, Farming, a movie based on his own life.  Sounds a bit much for an actor and perhaps even a little cocky? You might not think so when you hear this.

Although he was born in Nigeria, Adewale’s parents gave him to a white family in a practice called farming which is defined as informal fostering.  His foster parents who sometimes housed up to 10 African children at a time were what he called “ignorant” because they didn’t understand how to take care of them.  They also appeared to harbor certain racist views which lent to their ignorance. Adewale grew up wanting to be accepted in a neighborhood full of Skinheads who beat up anyone who even remotely looked non-white.

So in an attempt to avoid those beatings and also a way to let out his own anger about his birth and foster parents as a confused teen, Adewale became a member of the Skinheads. He hated the fact that he was Black because not only did he not fit in to his “European” world, but he also did not fit in to the “African” world since he hadn’t grown up there. Adewale took on the racist views (and the bald head) of the Skinhead group and participated in various crimes.  As he put it:

“When a child wants to be accepted,” he explains, “he’ll do anything. And if it means you’re getting a certain amount of notoriety from a fight, that’s what you’ll do. If all you’ve known is racism, abuse and persecution, then all of a sudden you’re getting some recognition, that’s your new drug. That’s what you want. By the time I was 16 I was someone to reckon with. I was so eager to repudiate any connection with any immigrant race I would go above and beyond. I was desperate to belong to something. That was my drive as a teenager.”

Wow. The story is absolutely compelling and continues to dig deeper about how he got out of that life and the roles both sets of parents played in his life, if any, as he got older.  I’ve heard some pretty radical things over the years but it would have never crossed my mind to think that someone could hate themselves so much that they’d join a gang to hurt the very people who look like him.

Please make sure you read the article right here.

Source: Racialicious.com

Thanks to the never forgetting archive of YouTube, you can now watch a number of banned cartoons from the golden era of overt racism in America. According to Wikipedia, the cartoons are part of The Censored Eleven, which is a group of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons that depicted black people in an offensive manner.

One of my favorites is “Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarfs,” a tongue and cheek take on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which features classic darkie minstrelsy by way of So White and Prince Chawmin, a big lipped, gold tooth, Cadillac driving, jive talking suitor. Despite the obvious Blackface, the cartoon was revered at its time for the incorporation of African-American-inspired jazz and swing music. Likewise, Bob Clampett, the creator of the cartoon short, has claimed that the cartoon was a homage to some jazz artists he once knew.  Some of the musicians were involved in the creation of the music and voices of the characters, even though they never received credit, and they concluded that there is nothing racist or disrespectful towards blacks in it. He attributes the controversy around his cartoon to a changing attitude towards black civil rights.

There is something to be said for how obtuse some folks are in regards to the idea that just because something is not offensive to you, that doesn’t mean that it is acceptable. Recently, Aston Kutcher, best known for punking celebs with stupid pranks and being the husband of Demi Moore, got in a little hot water for his eyebrow raising portrayal of an Indian. Kutcher appeared in an advert for Popchips where he donned ‘brown face’ makeup and put on a badly imitated accent (think Apoo from “The Simpsons”) to play a character named Raj, a 39-year-old Bollywood producer looking for love in a series of spoof dating videos.

Of course, the advert has drawn the ire of some in the Indian community, who deemed it racist. Others, like Anil Dash, didn’t call the company racist, but said they made a racist ad because, “they’re so steeped in our culture’s racism that they didn’t even realize they were doing it.”  In response, the advert has been dropped and Popchips CEO Keith Belling issued an apology, saying the following:

“Our team worked hard to create a light-hearted parody featuring a variety of characters that was meant to provide a few laughs. We did not intend to offend anyone. I take full responsibility and apologize to anyone we offended.”

Not sure what an Indian has to do with chips – in fact, I’m not even sure what Popchips are – but the fact that the Hollywood star saw fit to dress up in stereotypical garb and put on an Indian accent without even thinking, “Hmm, this might be a tad bit offensive” speaks volumes of how deep the pathology of stereotyping and “othering” goes.

Source: gallery-directory-stars.blogspot.com

The legendary comedian made several appearances on television last week, including stopping to do “Press Pass” (an extension of “Meet the Press”) with David Gregory, and also sat down for an interview with CNN. For both interviews, he talked about his thoughts on the murder of Trayvon Martin, among other things, and let it be known that the real problem in this situation is gun violence in general, not racism and racial profiling.

While on “Press Pass,” this is what he had to say on the topic:

“It’s about the gun. It’s about this gun. Guns in this country…When you have a gun, you may not realize it, but you put it on your person and you mean to pull this and kill somebody. That’s what you mean to do…You provoke with a gun. You have this power. You have this thing on you. It heightens what you’re supposed to be looking for.

You’re going to profile anyway, if you’re going to profile. But if you have this, it provokes a feeling.”

And when he sat down with CNN, he let it be known that he feels a gun in the wrong hands is what is responsible for this young man’s death, and calling Zimmerman a racist doesn’t change anything.

“When a person has a gun, sometimes their mind clicks that this thing will win arguments and straighten people out. In the wrong hands and the wrong mind, it’s death…What is solved by saying, ‘He’s a racist. That’s why he shot the boy.’ What solves that?”

And while he’s not trying to take away anyone’s rights to have a licensed firearm, he believes those who want to own guns need to be trained beforehand on how to use them and be “checked” out. Clearly, not everyone is capable of handling one and being responsible with said firearm.

“You’ve got to protect yourself in your own home, but I also believe that when you tell me that you’re going to protect the neighborhood that I live in, I don’t want you to have a gun,” Cosby said. “I want you to be able to see something, report it and get out of the way.”

After Cosby shared his comments earlier last week, some folks weren’t feeling them. They felt saying the race equation needed to be taken out of the picture was irresponsible, especially since a lot of evidence seems to point to the fact that Martin’s race was why Zimmerman found him to be suspicious. Writer and television personality, Touré, who says Bill Cosby is “rather misguided about the black community,” went on MSNBC recently and said that Cosby’s comments were very dangerous.

“Trayvon Martin was clearly profiled as a criminal black man…that’s why he [George Zimmerman] pulled his gun and used it on Trayvon. When a person of Bill Cosby’s stature comes out publicly and says it’s not a race issue, it’s a gun issue, it gives fuel to all those who misunderstand the situation…And he’s giving fuel to those people to say, “See look, even Bill Cosby agrees with us.”

But Cosby might have a point. Of course, racism is still an issue in this case, but I think we all know guns, both illegal and legal, are doing more harm than good these days, making them a huge problem as well.  And Cosby knows the effects of gun violence, as his son, Ennis, was shot and killed while trying to change his tire in a robbery attempt in 1997. Guns make the weakest people brave, as was the case with Zimmerman. He thought he was going to be able to handle the situation, despite the dispatcher saying NOT to follow Martin, but if he hadn’t had the gun, how would this incident really have turned out?

Do you agree with Cosby or do you agree with Touré in saying that Mr. Cosby has it backwards? Check out clips from their performances below:

Cosby on “Press Pass.” Fast forward to around the 11:30 mark:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

On CNN:

Touré on MSNBC:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Source: Uptown Lounge

Awkward really isn’t the word to describe some of the responses Issa Rae, creator of the Awkward Black Girl web series, received in response to her Shorty Award win the other night. Ignorant might be more applicable.

Shorty Awards recognize the best in social web across all forms of media from Twitter to Facebook, Tumblr, and YouTube, and when ABG won for best webshow, some weren’t too happy that a black woman took the top prize and tweeted things like this:

Another person wrote, “of course the black one wins. F*** the Shorty Awards,” while another tweeter suggested the win was “#Fixed PC bulls***” because at the time voting closed, another runner in the competition, Anthony Cumia, was reportedly in the lead.

As you can see, Issa brushed the race hate off her back and celebrated the victory as it was supposed to be, but this situation along with the backlash to The Hunger Games this weekend is really starting to make me question the idea of preferring to know someone is racist outright versus wanting them to keep their hate to themselves.

For now I’ll just let Issa’s words comfort me while I contemplate this foolishness: “Racists haaaaaate me, I’m on my OJ. #ABGNation”

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Source: Buzz Feed

Abercrombie & Fitch is no stranger to controversy, but their drama is usually about half-naked prepubescents not race matters. According to the preppy clothing giant that’s because it has nothing to do with this latest scandal.

Yesterday, the above screenshot of A&F’s cargo pants available in n***er brown popped up on the Internet and immediately set people off. Luckily, it seemed too ridiculous to be true, and in a way it is. The site isn’t Abercrombie’s official website, it’s abercrombie-and-fitchoutlet.com, one of several impostor sites that sells Abercrombie-like knock-offs. According to Styleite, the fake website was registered to a Hong Kong email address and Gawker says  the use of the N-word was likely due to a poor Chinese-English translation program.

Just to be sure no one blames the real Abercrombie and Fitch for this, the company made this declaration:

“We do not condone racist language. This is a counterfeit website and we have initiated legal proceedings to shut it down.”

A&F’s legal team moves fast; abercrombie-and-fitchoutlet.com has already been shut down along with any chance of buying these brown cargo knock-offs. If only we could shut down real racism that quickly.

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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When you blog, Facebook or tweet you open yourself up to a vast network of potential contacts, new friends or maybe even romance. But be careful not to have too much success, too much happiness and too much uncommon sense and you might as well put a sign on your backside that says, “Kick me.” And boy, they do. They spew the most horrid and vile word vomit, cloaked behind the glass shield of the computer screen. These are the Trolls, from the land of Trollpania, and they walk amongst us, cowards that they are, because what the write online they would be too yellow-spined to say to your face.

Khadija Nassif, founder of the ground-breaking Black Women’s Empowerment blog, Sojourner’s Passport, called these folks internet Ike Turners, if they’re men and “Ikettes” if they’re women. These trollpanians/Ikes/Ikettes feed off of throwing salt, extinguishing any hopes and dreams you have, poo-pooing on your success and want you to be as miserable as they are.

Here’s a few reasons why trollpanians like to sling e-turds online.

Control and Fear

It seems silly to try to control someone you don’t know with no skin in the game, yet they try. And try. And try. Perhaps you stand for a cause that threatens them and upsets their entire worldview. Could you imagine if the internet was around when Ferdinand Magellan discovered the Earth was round, and then blogged about it? Just picture all those Flat Earth people hurling f-bombs and threatening to burn ole’ Ferdi at the stake. Some people would rather seek to destroy what they fear rather than expend the brain cells necessary to think critically. Flat Earth folks would rather Google and cut and paste something–ANYTHING–that supports their point of view, no matter how wrong it is.

Envy and Jealousy

I see a lot of this on You Tube, when some happy couple publicly announces an engagement, eager and giddy to share their happiness with the world. They’ll be absolutely no reason to “dislike” a couple with plans to pledge their lives to one another, so why do I keep seeing “thumb’s down” on videos as tame as Bambi in a field full of flowers?

“It’s jealousy. These people think they are entitled to have what you have,” says psychologist, relationships expert and author, Dr. Gilda Carle. “They are mad at themselves because they have not succeeded as much as they would like,” and hate to see you doing what they aren’t doing.

Perhaps if the trollpanians spent a bit more time on their personal development and less time tearing others down, they might be able to celebrate the good fortune of others. Could we all be so lucky?

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There is no Christmas cheer between African American leaders in Dallas, Texas and Asian-owned businesses this year. Outraged African-American leaders are calling for a ban on Asian-owned businesses, claiming the store owners are racist.

“We will no longer be disrespected as a people when we spend our money,” Rev. Ronald Wright said to local NBC station.

The protest started in front of the Diamond Shamrock store in downtown Dallas where protesters claim the owner insulted an African American customer. Civil rights leader Peter Johnson says he hopes it will send a message to all of the other businesses in the downtown area as well.

The trouble started earlier in the month when Minister Jeffery Muhammad from a Nation of Islam mosque stopped at the Diamond Shamrock to buy $5 worth of gas on his debit card. The store’s policy requires a $10 debit or credit card minimum, and Muhammad complained to the store owner.

“He said ‘you’re a slave and you all should go back to Africa,’” Muhammad said to local NBC station NBC-DFW.

The store owner than says that Muhammad “called him a ‘Chinaman’ first and told him to go back to China,”

Muhammad doesn’t deny he made these remarks but claims that the store owner’s remarks came first.

“We do not need a green card. We do not need a citizenship test. We do not need a visa. We were born here. We’re American and we will stay here,” Dallas NAACP President Juanita Wallace said to NBC-DFW.

Demonstrators say they will be back to stage another protest at the convenience store. Despite the call to boycott the business, many African-Americans still visit the Asian-owned store regularly.