Lisa Durden is a New Jersey talk-show host. I met her when I lived there and interviewed her once. I plan to get that interview back online at some point. It dealt with black men on the down low. I decided to post this clip of her talking about interracial dating because I may be writing on this topic later at the African-American Books Examiner.
She is outrageously funny at times, and in this 2008 video clip below she's on the M&J Show sharing some words for white women dating black men.
Part of the transcript as I heard the conversation
Host: Lisa Durden says "When black men date outside their race, black women pay a price."
Lisa: I think interracial dating ... is a bad deal (for black women) black women because we don't have enough good black men for us to go around. (laughter) Hello!
Host: So marry a good white man!
Lisa: I think that if we had more good black men for us, we'd be fine. Listen, I'm very generous. If I had a whole loaf of bread, I'll give you two slices. If I have two slices, I want the sandwich for me!
Donna Carboni, a white female who dates black men: I want the whole loaf.
Then the discussion moves on to how black skin turns Donna on and Heidi Klum on Oprah telling why she was attracted to Seal, how white women are portrayed as the "vision of beauty."
Lisa takes issue with white women like Donna and Klum reducing black men to sex objects. Klum told Oprah that she saw Seal in bicycle shorts and was attracted to "the package."
Howard University Professor Kellina Craig Henderson is on as well saying that twice as many black men are involved in interracial relationships as black women.
O.K., Lisa is dominating this conversation, but that's Lisa. She's got some zingers for everybody and she's definitely not concerned about being politically correct on anything.
In closing, the white male host tells Donna that if she keeps tanning, she'll be black. And then he says he's just kidding her.
When I was a young woman in the late 70s and early 80s, I was only disturbed when I saw fine black men, who'd rate an 8 to 10 on attractiveness, with white women who were average to below average in the looks department. I felt like, "Yeah. Slap some black skin over that face and extra gut, and you know you'd pass it by."
Later on, black men earning more money as athletes and rap stars or business executives started appearing in the news more with white trophy wife material. And with the rise of HipHop, I saw more white men trying to imitate black rappers for their gangsta bravado and swagger that seemed to attract women in droves. So, times change. Possibly the stereotype of the black male as misogynistic gansta perpetuated by black rappers disturbed me at that point more than anything else.
Consequently, I got over my crumb of concern about who dates whom across ethnic groups. People have all kinds of issues about skin color. Perhaps they always will, and yes some people are dating outside their race for all the wrong reasons, but I no longer care, probably because I'm not in the dating pool at the moment. Furthermore, life is short.
Still, Lisa's appearance on the show was entertaining.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Lisa Durden: Black Men Dating White Women is a Bad Deal for Black Women
On the Run With Erykah Badu
Other Side Of The Game - Erykah Badu
And then, Danger. Telling the story in order. Somebody should do a movie of these just to use the music.
Danger - Erykah Badu
New Orleans Literary Events for Thanksgiving Week
Here are New Orleans literary events (book signings, writers' groups meetings, poetry readings, book sales, book discussions) for Tuesday, November 24, through Saturday, November 28. ... Read the list at the New Orleans Literature Examiner.
The Power of Pine Sol, Baby: New Sexy Ad
When I heard about Pine Sol's new ad direction, to dress up its African-American spokesperson, Diane Amos (you know, the heavyset black woman with braids), in a couture gown and to be seen coming home to sexy, muscled chocolate man mopping the floor, I had to post it. (See New York Time article: Selling a Household Cleaning Product on Its ... Sex Appeal?)
And then I recalled this article that my daughter saw via David Letterman, I think, or it could have been Jay Leno (She doesn't ever know who she's really watching) that's up at the UK Daily Mail saying men who vacuum and use a microwave have lower sperm counts. I don't which is funnier, the study or the commercial. See Pine Sol commercial from YouTube video below.
All right, you know how we like to pick at Madison Avenue. Who will be the first one to ask this question, "Is Pine Sol saying that in order for a black woman to be sexy she has to have straight hair and ditch the braids?" Maybe I'm the first. Hmm. I'll google it.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Colored Things, A Poem by Nordette Adams
Colored Things
By Nordette N. Adams
Keep the color of onyx in your heart,
every color almost but you might need 2
add blue and mix it with blood
for purple needs red like passion,
like salvation.
Color don't hurt nothing,
don't cut nobody nor spill blood.
The color phobic do.
The colored afraid slice up a rainbow
like a nasty shade thinking it can gnaw
off the bottom of a shoe
with stench of cancer,
expelling waste on a human sea.
Cleansed of our loathings, this dung
psychoremediates our tainted field,
feeds our land until it grows lilacs
and with lavender harmony's reborn,
the blues kissed with red, life.
Cleansed of our loathings, we
reflect the resplendent prism, making God
shout "Oh, how beautiful!
How these children have grown."
(c) 2009 Nordette N. Adams
Melissa Harris-Lacewell Says Democrats Owe New Orleans on Morning Joe
As I said just moments ago on Twitter, er, maybe it was 30 minutes ago:
Finally get 2 watch @harrislacewell on @MorningJoe. Better late than never. She's 1 great advocate 4 New Orleans. http://bit.ly/8JFpXb (Nordette's tweet)She tells Joe and Mika that New Orleans has always been about rebirth and that not only does President Barack Obama owe a debt to New Orleans but the entire Democratic Party owes New Orleans a debt because the flooding of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina illustrated the failure and incompetence of former President George W. Bush’s administration.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Melissa Harris-Lacewell, the Princeton professor, who calls New Orleans her second home, tells at Daily Kos, how she ended up on Morning Joe with Joe Scarborough. She shares the story under "Time for some %$#% Change in New Orleans," a post about James Perry's controversial campaign ad (he's running for mayor of the city).
I hope that some of you caught me on MSNBC's Morning Joe this morning. ... The show was filming in my second home, New Orleans, at a high school just around the corner from where I live. If you follow me on Twitter, (@harrislacewell) then you know that I snagged a spot on the show after sharing a flight to NOLA with Joe and Mika. Although I often (almost always) disagree with the political views on Morning Joe, I am grateful that they chose to come to New Orleans, and bring much needed national attention to the continuing challenges of recovery here in the city. (Melissa Harris-Lacewell)Her appearance was probably a win-win for her and Scarborough. He's got a TV Show, but she's got more Twitter followers than he has on Twitter.
Who is Angus Lind and Is his Book about Steak?
The New Orleans literary events calendar (book signings, writers' groups meetings, poetry readings, book sales, book discussions) for Sunday, November 22 has been posted. Today the New Orleans Literature Examiner features Angus Lind, author of Prime Angus. He'll sign books later today, 6:00 p.m. at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.
If you've been dropping by to peruse the New Orleans Literary Events Calendar over the last few months, you've probably seen this author's name frequently, something like "Author August Lind signs Prime Angus at (you fill in the blank here), and if you're not familiar with Lind's work, you may have wondered, "Who is he, another New Orleans cook, a famous griller of steaks?"
Close, but no crawfish. Lind is well-known, and he can cook well enough, but ... Please read more at the New Orleans Literature Examiner.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
And the Poets Trembled, Reading Their Works
I joined Blip.fm so I could share music easily on Twitter and was brave enough to upload "And then the Rain God Screamed for Love" with me on spoken word vocal, words by Aberjhani, and music by Rahkyt after seeing my old friend William F. Devault was uploading his.
I say brave because it's always scary to put your voice out there, even if it's simply speaking and not singing. In this day of high powered spoken word artist, a lowly poet reciting his or her work should tremble. But I did manage to walk up at 17 Poets! earlier this year and read.
Call this posting a blast from the past, 2006. We had hoped to get it up on CD Baby, the whole poetry CD, but ran into technical issues and as always, no advance without finance.
Anyway, here is Rain God, a mystical romance. Kind of fitting since I'm writing this novel with gods and goddesses in our modern world, and I'm procrastinating writing more of that novel as I type this. However, I do have more than the words posted at NanoWriMo.
For the text of Aberjahni's poem, click here. For one of my old goddess poems, click this link.
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