Africa – Susan X Jane

Your Country Of Origin Does Not Determine Your Humanity (Look At Us)

There are 54 countries on the continent of Africa with a population estimated at 1,273,131, 890. There are 11,051,616 residents of Haiti There are a total of 546,000 living in the United States. These 1,283,729,506 people, close to 20 percent of the world population, a group 4 times the population of the United States, cannot be dismissed with a single word.

Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?

–Donald Trump

Trump’s implication that people from countries Haiti and Africa and are undesirable while people from Norway are somehow deserving of immigration opportunities has the outrage machine working overtime, and rightfully so. The President labels millions of people and dozens of countries with a single crass vulgarity, and once again, his comments clearly reinforce the same line of white supremacy he has drawn in the sand over and over.

It goes without saying, though Trump’s comments beg us to say it again: Africa is a continent, huge and varied with every kind of climate, people of every color and faith. Haiti is a country that has made significant contributions to the world, including being the first country in the Western hemisphere to free itself from colonial rule (hmm, maybe that’s why he hates them…).

What I’m not going to do is write a 1000 word defense of the countries he maligned. Trump’s game of distraction and deflection sends us down the rabbit hole of racism every time he throws red meat to his base. Haiti and Africa today, Mexico last year, some other country of black and brown people next month. Instead, let’s question his underlying assumption–your country of origin determines your merit.

While different countries political and economic context certainly opens or closes opportunities and resources off for many, the humans in those countries are no less intelligent, capable or motivated to succeed. When Trump maligns a whole people and when we line up to defend the countries he disrespects, we are debating whether a whole population, for good or bad, is deserving of opportunity. Both sides of the argument are wrong: your country of birth does not determine your intelligence, your humanity, your potential or your ambition.

Anders Breivik, neo-nazi terrorist killed 9 people in a bombing then went on to shoot 69 people in an armed attack on a children’s summer camp in Norway.

No country on earth is made up of only good deserving smart people–even Norway. There are killers and con men even in the greatest countries (side-eye, Don the con). There are actual geniuses and super-rich people even in the most resource-strapped country. When Trump’s comments are demonstrably not fact-based, we know we’re in coded-language territory. Trump’s latest comments are no more than just another racist do whistle in a long song of dog whistles he has been playing since he began his campaign. And me? I’m not running when he calls.

Blackface: Neva Eva Eva

If there’s one rule you can bet your lunch money on it’s that putting on blackface will get you flamed. It may get you lots of hits–you’re sure to get attention, but it may not be the attention you crave. Quick-someone send a link to smntks to Boglarka Balogh before she keeps helping African woman show off their beauty to the world! The Hungarian photographer, well travelled across the continent (of Africa) wanted to bring attention to the wide diversity and beauty of African women. In order to show African’s finest she took a bunch of pictures of…herself.

Yup, that’s right. Despite having a bunch of pictures of beautiful African women, she chose instead to don blackface and mimic her photoed beauties. Slowly for those in the back–in order to show how beautiful African women are she took their style and showed picture of herself a-la-“enough about me! What about you? What do you think of me?”

This is where appreciation becomes appropriation. The women are beautiful–so just show their pictures! To assume that their beauty is only accessible when filtered through the lens of a white body is racist. While I do believe that she believes that she is showing their beauty, she is little more than a thief, knocking off their looks and turning the authentic inauthentic. Boglaka, I admire the intention–and a dope set of passport stamps–but check you ego at the door and let the true beauty of Africa that you’ve captured shine!

Not to throw shade, but duck: In a head to head match up of the women she copied, I’m sorry but Balogh loses to every one. She looks best as herself, but most def can’t best an African beauty at being, well, an
African beauty. You be the judge: who takes the cake? Weigh in in the comment below for most beautiful African.

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Your Awesome Blackface Costume: A Rating System

Its Halloween time, and nothing says Halloween like an Awesome costume. Lately the stupid PC police have been raining on everyone’s parade, talking about how your Halloween costume shouldn’t be disrespectful to women or latinos or blacks or whatever, but its just for fun so they need to stop being babies about respect .

Blackface is a classic. So what if blackface was the narrative that contributed to the oppression of blacks from slavery straight through Jim Crow, the makeup is cheap and your fun is worth perpetuating racism in the 21st century. Besides, no matter what kind of character you go as, if it includes blackface, your sure to get tons of attention. But how do you know which blackface costume is right for you? Picking the right one is a matter of taste–are you looking for something more subtle, maybe a socially acceptable black or are you a real risk taker? Here we’ll show you some of the boldest blackface costumes with our very own special level system from beginner to advanced.

Basic level

There are too many Awesome black people to not dress up as one. So what if you are a white person. Saying whatever you want is your first amendment right–no, as a matter of fact, it’s your privilege –so whats wrong with a little Halloween privilege? If people are staring at your Mr. T costume, its only because Mr. T is so culturally relevant, they wish they dressed as him too. Since you love Mr. T, you automatically are not racist. Pretty sure blackface is okay as long as you like the guy, right? So what if your friends tell you its not cool? What would they know about how cool shoe polishing your face for A-team greatness is?

Emmy Level

Dressing up as Crazy Eyes is totally okay because Orange is the New Black won an Emmy. The character is soooo cool, I mean sad too, and so she’s not a stereotype, right, a black woman in prison, so what’s the problem with that? Dressing as Crazy eyes wasn’t tone deaf–it’s tots relevant, just like my friend’s Michonne costume.

I mean, the Walking Dead won an Emmy and even though zombies are wicked gross, Michonne is a strong black woman and totally feminist so she can’t be off limits. These Michonne costumes are everywhere. They’re too popular to be racist. So what if your sorority may be featured in the local news, they just don’t know how cute your pixs looked on Instagram.

Intercontinental Level

Blackface isn’t really like blackface when you dress up as an African, because they’re, like, African. You know your history, and of course blackface was used to denigrate American blacks during the 19th and 20th century, but those were Americans, see? So dressing like an African, thats not racist because they’re Africans. So nothing wrong here, you world history buff. So what if your social media pictures spark international outrage, shaming your family on multiple continents. the outfit was too good to pass up.

Jeezy Level

Get creative with your reasoning: Only racist do racist things, so if you’re not racist, then racist acts become not racisct, get it? George Bush doesn’t care about black people, but you do, so you can’t be racist. Besides You’re so cool with black people, they might think it’s real! Don’t get mistaken for Kanye in this season’s hottest blackface costume. No one will mistake you for racist, just a clever consumer of all things TMZ, right? Besides, as an educator, you want to set a good example for the kids. If you’re going to do blackface, make sure you really commit to doing the hands too. Kanye’s awesome, and with your wife dressed as Kim K., your couple Kimye costume is worth ending up on the evening news. Its worth writing that apology letter. Its worth the employment consequences that come with Jeezus Level blackface.

White Hood Level

When offending people with blackface is just not enough, trade in the last of your human dignity for this halloween costume. Mocking the death of unarmed teens is sure to make you the talk of the town. So what if your costume is overtly racist, you have the right to act like a walking sack of shit by trading on death and injustice for a few seconds of negative attention. And if you lose you job and your friends because you just couldn’t resist, at least you know that white hate groups are still recruiting.

Remember, dressing up in blackface is always offensive, so definitely be prepared for all the comments you’ll get! Be sure to take plenty of pictures, and post them widely on social media–the internet loves to make blackface pictures go viral, ensuring your moment of racism lives forever. Level up by tagging your boss, your mother and favorite local community organization so they can tell you how proud they are of your ignorant racism, or cut you a final check before they ask you to leave. Whatever your blackface level, get your makeup on and get out there.

Is This the New Black?

Guinness is redefining the way we see Africans with it’s new Made of Black Campaign. They’ve enlisted artist from across the continent to contribute to this extended campaign. Take a look and let us know what you think–is this a new black? Check it out and hit up the comments!