DeNeen L. Brown, Washington Post, August 5, 2009
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Wondering who would win the coveted title of Miss Black USA.
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Around midnight, when the audience is losing steam, is hardly the time to take an assessment of the state of black beauty in a so-called post-racial era. And yet somebody has to do it.
It is necessary because a ceiling has been shattered and there is a black man in the White House. And where better to ask the question than at a black beauty competition: Why is there a need for a Miss Black Whatever in 2009?
‘Embracing individuality’
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The contestants were tall and thin, short and round, an ample selection of black beauty. They wore their hair short, long, spiked, straight and natural, and with locks twisted into crowns piled on top of their heads, competing in a world that some say has found only a certain aesthetic beautiful, and has “been absolutely suffocating to women of color all over the world,” says one woman. You see Asian women changing their eye shape through surgery. Black women wearing blue contacts, Latinas bleaching their hair. All these contortions and foolishness going on to reach a Barbie doll standard.
The reason, they say, there needs to be a Miss Black Whatever: so black differences can be appreciated. Then the variety within a subculture can be fully explored and celebrated, and a beauty that does not conform to a dominant standard can be recognized. Because in the mainstream pageants, someone is always left out. Sometimes there can be years before a black winner emerges. In a black pageant, black beauty will win every time.
{snip}
“I would say black beauty is all about embracing oneself, embracing individuality, uniqueness,” says Miss South Carolina, Molesey Knox Brunson, 26, a business owner from Columbia, S.C. “It’s different because instead of conforming to a certain ideal, we are allowed to define beauty on our own. We bring to the table what we think is beauty. We celebrate our curves. We celebrate our dark complexion. We celebrate our natural beauty.”
She twirls. Her black hair is natural and twisted into an updo. She has skin that looks like velvet. A dusting of Black Opal purple eye shadow. She is an intense beauty. “We celebrate our heritage, drawing strength from our foremothers all the way from Africa to our modern day sheroes, Oprah to Michelle Obama, we celebrate black women.” {snip}
{snip}
‘A certain attitude’
Roger Bobb, supervising producer of Tyler Perry Studios and a pageant judge, says: “There are still areas of the country where women who look like them are not necessarily appreciated or respected. It’s a certain amount of strength that comes with black beauty. Beside the skin complexion, the body types, there is a certain attitude that comes with being an African American woman no other race can emulate.”
What do you mean?
He stares down: “Don’t make me quote Maya Angelou on you.”
He catches the Angelou spirit if not the words: “It’s in her walk, in her eyes, in her strut,” he says. “And there is a difference I can’t articulate.”
You turn and there is Ian Smith, of Celebrity Fit Club fame and founder of the 50 Million Pound Challenge for weight loss in the African American community. {snip}
“We think it’s a post-racial era,” he says. “But it is very important that when you are considered a subculture to have your own reward system. If you try to assimilate, you will always be looking for validation from the majority group. That can do damage to your psyche.”
By 8:40, 40 minutes after showtime, the house lights dim.
The contestants appear in black cocktail dresses and introduce themselves. Then there’s a fitness routine, bouncing—running, push-ups in fitness suits that replace the usual bathing suits of pageant competition.
“There is nothing like an accomplished proud black woman. I love to be a black man,” says actor Lamman Rucker, the co-host. “But then, I digress.”
Pale yellow, royal blue. Gold glitter. White dresses with debutante bows. The eyes grow tired. Whispers when Miss Black Virginia comes onstage: “That dress is stunning. She looks like an angel.”
{snip}
Miss Black Tennessee talks about black queens and her grandmother “who wore the same dress every day. I have to recognize her for what she did in my life. Everything we ate at her table came out of her back yard or my grandfather shot it.”
The audience laughs.
{snip}
Original article
(Posted on August 5, 2009)
Comments
If a White person had associated ANY positive traits with being White and had done so publicly they would immediately be labeled a White Supremacist.
I love being White.
““It’s in her walk, in her eyes, in her strut,” he says. “And there is a difference I can’t articulate.””
I can articulate what this oh-so-elusive quality is, as I’m sure most people can. I’ll give an example of this “difference” and “attitude”. I am a small white woman. I’m walking towards the escalator this morning to leave the subway. Everyone is politely lining up. This large black woman comes charging up to shove her way to the front of the line. I step to the left a bit to prevent her from cutting in front of me and the people in front of me who are waiting. She plows into me, and has the unmitigated gall to say “What choo doin’?” in as loud and nasty a tone as she can manage. This is an all too typical way of blacks intimidating others who try to stop their nasty, anti-social, self-centered behavior. I glare, not to be intimidated, she shuts up, and doesn’t get to shove her way in front of any more people.
THAT is the “certain attitude” of black beauty (whether male of female, I’ll add).
If some group wants a black beauty pageant it’s fine with me. And if there was a asian, hispanic, white or whatever then that’s fine with me, too. But I’m not really into the whole beauty pageant thing. A bit shallow for my tastes.
It’s testament to the effectiveness of the last several decades of unremitting racial propaganda that some people can portray themselves at “post-racial” while at the same time—without the faintest awareness of their hypocrisy—approving of a race-based beauty pageant.
Do we need to ask ourselves whether a Miss White USA pageant would be found acceptable in “post-racial” America?
“…competing in a world that some say has found only a certain aesthetic beautiful, and has ‘been absolutely suffocating to women of color all over the world,’ says one woman.”
Ah yes, those evil whites, having such beautiful women.
“…the smell of curling irons…’…We celebrate our natural beauty.’”
No they don’t…where are the afro’s of “the 60s”? I kind of liked them.
“…there is a certain attitude that comes with being an African American woman no other race can emulate.”
Can someone please tell me, IS there or ISN’T there an ‘African-American attitude’? If there is, then I can’t be considered a racist for holding such a belief, can I?
And even though they have their own Black pageants, they often still complain bitterly when a black woman does not win a Miss America or Miss Universe pageant, and often blame it on racism of course. Whenever their beauty or talents are not being constantly acknowledged, they always blame it on white bigotry.
As I’ve said before,I encourage blacks to have EVERYTHING separated from Whites- - housing, schools, shopping areas, work places etc.. I just wish that WE were able to have something to ourselves, but they always force their way in. It’s really something, here they gather to celebrate black
You’ve heard the saying, “Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful!”? I think this phenomenon can help to illustrate the cause of this special Afro American female attitude. Unfortunately, strutting around, acting arogant doesn’t make you beautiful. But I do think that Afro American female attitude comes from the unaknowledged fact that they occupy the bottom rung of the ‘beauty of the races’ ladder. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some amazing looking mulattos out there like Haley Bailey for one. But these are the exceptions. You know, the top of the bell curve.
I remember the last time I watched a beauty pageant. I think it was Miss America. They got down to the final five contestants. Only one of the final five, Miss California, was white, and she was the first of the five to be eliminated, leaving four nonwhite contestants. I turned off the TV at that point, and I bet millions of others did, too. Do whites make up only 1/5th of the population of the US? Will someone please tell me why we need “Miss Black America”?
“I can articulate what this oh-so-elusive quality is, as I’m sure most people can. I’ll give an example of this “difference” and “attitude”. I am a small white woman. I’m walking towards the escalator this morning to leave the subway.”
— Hi ‘AN’. It sounds to me like you live in NYC. It’s good to read the writing of an awakened White New Yorker. I’ve seen this type of behavior all too many times. They get away with it because Whites ARE intimidated. That is a simple fact. The behavior of most Whites is so sad. An intimidated and beaten down majority saying and doing nothing while all the pain and sweat of our ancestors to build the greatest country the world has ever known goes down the drain. If you had said anything to her you probably would have gotten zero support from the other Whites present. Incidentally the escalators at the 34th Street subway station and also the 42nd Street subway station are among the worst.
They can rhapsodize all they want about their great beauty. But if you ever engaged in a conversation with any of them on the subject of black versus white beauty, 90% of the time, all they can talk about are their “booties” I kid you not. They might as well call their own pageants a booty contest, since they are literally fixated with that aspect of their anatomy.
From the article: Black women wearing blue contacts, Latinas bleaching their hair. All these contortions and foolishness going on to reach a Barbie doll standard.
Then in the very next paragraph, it states,
The reason, they say, there needs to be a Miss Black Whatever: so black differences can be appreciated. Then the variety within a subculture can be fully explored and celebrated
Black differences? It seems one of the very reasons the contestants are bleaching their hair is to increase the differences. After all, the normal hair color of blacks and latinas is, well, black. Not a whole lot of difference there. Of course, reading between the lines, one knows that the reason blacks are so uptight about their natural looks is the fact that they are “forced” to live in a racist white society. And so the cycle of blame shifting continues.
“It’s a certain amount of strength that comes with black beauty. Beside the skin complexion, the body types, there is a certain attitude that comes with being an African American woman no other race can emulate.”
Ah yes, life in Obama’s Amerika. Racialism for me but not for thee.
Actually, I am jealous. If whitey had this display of racial nationalism we would be charged with violating AG Eric Holder’s hate crime laws.
keep voting democrat. they have made us second class citizens
“Beside the skin complexion, the body types, there is a certain attitude that comes with being an African American woman no other race can emulate.”
That’s because they have a bone in their necks that is unique to Africans that permits them to rotate or oscillate their heads while assuming the hand bent backwards in the hip position while dishing up an unhealthy serving of “additut”.
A black beauty contest? You have got to be kidding!
“Because in the mainstream pageants, someone is always left out . ”
I’ve got news for the genius who wrote this. In every beauty pageant (or anything else, where there’s a winner), everybody who did not win is ‘left out’.
“Sometimes there can be years before a black winner emerges. ”
Yeah - and sometimes there can be years before a Russian or a German or a French woman or a Spaniard or an Italian or an Irish woman or an English woman or (insert any European country of your choice here), or a Jew or a Catholic or a Protestant or an atheist, transsexual Martian winner emerges too. So what?
“In a black pageant, black beauty will win every time. ”
Not if they did as ‘mainstream’ pageants did (but in reverse), and allowed white women to enter. Then you can kiss your ‘black beauties’(sic) goodbye.
This article is a classic glimpse into the mind-set of Black America - it has it all…Black supremacy, delusional assessments of their supposed beauty, thinly-veiled resentment of Whites bleeding through in every paragraph, ridiculous rationales for why exclusively Black events are necessary and in no-way racist, fantasy twaddle about mythical Black royalty, etc…it’s all in there!
t’s a certain amount of strength that comes with black beauty. Beside the skin complexion, the body types, there is a certain attitude that comes with being an African American woman no other race can emulate.”
“Attitude” being the key word there. We should count ourselves fortunate that women of other races, do not even attempt to emulate them.
I must say that although I grew up in a racially mixed neighborhood I have never dated a black woman, but I had a work related discussion with a very striking one a few weeks ago. I would put her in the same class as Halle Berry, expect for the darker skin. I know she had contacts in to change the eye color, but the difference was so subtle I found it rather intriguing and was drawn in by those eyes. This young lady was very well educated, well spoken and an overall joy to talk to compared with the usual Shaniquas my job requires me to deal me with.
I work in public service in the South. When I get out on a call I can immediately tell whether I’m dealing with a southern black or one raised and schooled in another part of the country. Those from the south are usually poorly educated and speak ebonics and gang speak at extremely high volumes. They also refuse to listen to reason, logic or attempts to explain the situation. In general, southern blacks are quick to cry ‘racism’ or ‘racial profiling.’ Those from the west coast or from the northeast tend to be better educated and usually speak actual English. They generally see the logic in my explanation of the situation. They also don’t seem to be as prone to the hysterics as Southern blacks. I can count the number of times I’ve had northeastern and west coast blacks tell me, “These black folks down here are C-R-A-Z-Y!!!
I am only interested in a white miss america pagent.
Lets have separate pagents.
.
I don’t look anything like those white pageant women with their fake boobs, bleached hair, hair extensions, spray tans, acrylic nails, veneered teeth, nose jobs, colored contact lenses, etc. Why should black women only be allowed to have “real” beauty pageants where the women are short, tall, round, bony, athletic, etc? Oh, but of course, if there were a whites only pageant, it would be racist.
“It’s a certain amount of strength that comes with black beauty. … there is a certain attitude that comes with being an African American woman that no other race can emulate.”
“Black women …competing in a world that some say has found only a certain aesthetic beautiful, and has “been absolutely suffocating to women of color all over the world
Well, no one is FORCING anyone to subscribe to that standard. If they don’t like it, that’s fine. They’re perfectly free to go along with it, or not. If these women around the world decide they want to look that way, it’s their own choice. I don’t see anybody choosing to look like Papuan natives, though. Is this about discrimination, or is it about beauty?
I’d say it’s just about more black griping.
Well, has anyone EVEN TRIED to have a Whites Only beauty pageant?
Or are we just assuming it can’t be done?
I was just driving down the street, and I saw a black woman, reminiscient of those two hulking tennis players, walking down the street. Then I saw, at random, four separate White women. The contrast was striking— the elvish figures of the Whites, compared to the lurching masculinity of the black.
Ah, yes, “Latinas bleaching their hair”…what a crime! Is that the best complaint this author can come up with? Actually, I like natural color hair on women, but this is ridiculous.
To my taste, there are many more good looking Latin women than black (except mixed ones like Mariah Carey).
If you want to cleanse your mind of this junk, I suggest going to Youtube and entering “Margot Fonteyn”, “Baryshnikov”, “Nureyev”,”Bolshoi” or just ballet.
You may recall that recently Great Britain had its first black winner in the Miss Great Britain contest. What was conveniently shoved aside was the news that the organizers had a public poll at the same time where for a cost of £1 the public could vote for their favorite. Some 10,000 people did so, the winner garnered a total of nine - yes only nine votes. The public favorite with some 2,000 votes was unfortunately white.
I think its funny the way they classify themselves with other “women of color.” The Asians are getting eye operations??OH MY! RACISM!! Latinas are getting blonde highlights!! Self esteem!! All pure nonsense of course;Asians and Latinas do not have the issues with their looks that black women do.I dont think they,Asians and latinas(wise and otherwise!) would happily be categorized with them either!
“There is nothing like an accomplished proud White woman. I love to be a White man,” says poster GenX in Oz.
It’s sad how we collectively have allowed ourselves to be conditioned to be nervous while making such a statement.
BeatandRelease, the educated, classy Blacks from the North you are dealing with are from the top 20% of their population. They have the means to move to different parts of the country.
There are lots of uneducated, racially seething Blacks in the North. In fact, many Whites who move to the South say that Southern Blacks are much nicer than their counterparts in Chicago or Detroit or Philadephia, for example.
Ah, yes, “Latinas bleaching their hair”…what a crime! Is that the best complaint this author can come up with? Actually, I like natural color hair on women, but this is ridiculous.
Agreed, though being that the writer is anti-white, he would have no problem if white females with naturally blonde hair dyed their hair jet-black. The ultimate desire of such types, is a world where everyone is uniform and alike, even though he talks about the natural diversity of his women. And though he talks about their natural hair, I
— TechnoDan wrote:
Actually, they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
With some of them, though, it has to be said, the imitation doesn’t work well. Where I live (in NYC) I see some darker Dominicans, with exotic features and dusky skin, who are strutting down the street proudly sporting flaming red hair or a glaring metallic blonde. It just doesn’t look right. It’s often hideous, although they must think they look terrific! Sadly, they’ll never be Marilyn Monroe, no matter how hard they try. (But not for lack of effort!)
By 8:40, 40 minutes after showtime, the house lights dim.
This insanity of the double standard (i.e. having a Black Miss America but not a White Miss America contest) will continue so long as white people remain weak and intimidated by liberals.
“This insanity of the double standard (i.e. having a Black Miss America but not a White Miss America contest) will continue so long as white people remain weak and intimidated by liberals.”
A Black beauty pageant?
I mean, the only black women who are attractive (to a certain point) are those who obviously have some measure of White blood, like Vanessa L. Williams or Halle Berry.
I don’t know… maybe they should have a mulatto pageant, instead?
Frankly, I prefer it. It should be encouraged. The more separate black things they have, the better. The alternative would be to integrate them into everything with us. Let them have their own whatever… and maybe someday we can have ours (once again).
Sadly, I doubt that will ever happen, they want “theirs”, but will always call us racist if we don’t include them in “ours”
Having separate beauty pageants is not enough. They need to have the White world’s confirmation that black women are the most beautiful of any race. States that are not generally thought of as heavily black like Montana and Idaho will field a black Ms. Utah, etc., because they know that this will guarantee a few affirmative action points in the pageant.
A separate beauty contest for Black women is probably fine with the vast majority of White Americans. What we Euro-Americans dislike is the obvious double-standard in America that won’t allow Miss White America contests or praise of our uniqueness too.
