Thank you all for stopping by. I'm grateful f...

2010-03-30T20:12:57.472-04:00

Thank you all for stopping by. I'm grateful for the additional insights.

Thanks for this post. It is crucial for us to poin...

2010-03-16T15:14:22.088-04:00

Thanks for this post. It is crucial for us to point out racism whenever and wherever we see it. I have done so at work before, and I'm not afraid to again.

I recently wrote a little article mentioning the whole "colorblind" issue, if you have time I thought you might like to read it:

http://cchronicle.com/2010/03/will-you-enter-your-race-on-the-u-s-census/

I think it's dangerous for us to raise our children to be colorblind, because it's teaching them to deny racism still exists.

In Beauty and the Beast, I believe the original st...

2010-03-11T22:55:44.242-05:00

In Beauty and the Beast, I believe the original story states he was a beast. Princess and the Frog...I don't remember that.

But that's not even what bugs me. I'm more perturbed with the bullshit notion that "kids are too young to learn about race."

I really enjoy reading your lexicon. I read part ...

2010-03-11T02:09:14.786-05:00

I really enjoy reading your lexicon. I read part one as well when I was playing catch-up. I hope you're doing well, Ankhesen Mié.

Enjoyed your insight, want to read you books. And...

2010-03-10T23:19:05.980-05:00

Enjoyed your insight, want to read you books. And it's a handsome page.

The Boycott issue-- hope you're beginning by tweeting and writing actors, directors, and screenwriters of color. I agree we have to be open about why certain images disturb us. But we also to SHOW UP for those movies which contain images that as my friend Lucille says--delight us and inspire us. And to be honest: I don't want to watch this movie because I'm tired of films too eager to show me men of color beating the heck out of their black wives as the ONLY depiction of women of color overcoming adversity. There are in our culture women joined with loving men, who face adversity from out side their home.

As to the Disney Cartoon, I couldn't find the Frog and Prince discussion detailing the instances in the movie where the "Princess" spends most of the movie as a frog-which would have interested me. (As opposed to the Beast in Beauty and spending most of the movie as a Beast) But yes, I expect to actually see a lot of the young Princess, as a princess interacting with the Prince in the film.

However, on the discussion page you linked too there was much discussion about the Prince's skintone. What merit is there in complaining about the lack of melanin in the Prince's complexion, as this IS an American story? I know how fair some of my ancestors were in that time period. Why should the love stories of fair complexioned people of color be Ignored? Though yes, probably a great deal of them where, not every white man who fathered a child with a black woman was a slave master rapist, and not all of the children of these unions were female. What a wise man of color replied to the White racist fear of black men marrying their daughters, we black women can say also: White folks, we've been marrying your sons for years!

My question to Disney would be, as you (Disney) wanted to produce a film about a African Princess, why not choose one of the many warrior queens/princesses of the black African nations?
The first Chinese herione,Mulan, is based on a true story of a Chinese warrior, so there is precident for a African Warrior princess--with a fine African Warrior Prince or king at her side.

I don't play into the dark skin/light skin argument I found at the link AT ALL. I have a multi-ethnic heritage and so do my grandchildren. Now, if in this film, I discover that all the darker complexioned persons are characterized as bullies, sweet, strong but dull witted, or comic relief then yeah-- lets flood Disney with letters and pickets signs. I would love to see a big, strong, man African man portrayed like the big strong African men I know: romantic, intelligent, refined, kind, discerning. However, debating the merits of Complexion among people of color is a self-hating debate if ever there was one. What next, in order to qualify as Black Americans will someone hold a paper bag to our faces, and if we're not darker than the paper bag, then we're not black enough to represent? Lets not go backwards. The film takes place in New Orleans, where we would expect to find a Portuguese Creole nobleman romancing a woman of color. And because of "Katrina"-- yeah I know, that old song __ they wanted children to celebrate the complex culture of the area.

But again, if this is a story about a Black Princess why doesn't the action take place in Benin, or Ghana, or Angola, or Mali, or Cush, Or Egypt, or Carthage?

Comments on At the Bar: The Ankhesen Mié Lexicon, Volume II

Thank you all for stopping by. I'm grateful f...

Thanks for this post. It is crucial for us to poin...

In Beauty and the Beast, I believe the original st...

I really enjoy reading your lexicon. I read part ...

Enjoyed your insight, want to read you books. And...