So Jennifer Borget, the blogger behind Baby Making Machine and an occasional contributor to MyBrownBaby, wrote a perfectly delightful post on BabyCenter earlier this week, explaining why she was absolutely pumped that black women, including Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce, ran the world on Superbowl Sunday, using their talent not only to entertain the audience of one of the largest sporting events of the year, but to represent African American women and moms in a big way. Jennifer’s post came after she noticed a recurrent theme in her Facebook and Twitter feeds from white folk, questioning why African American women were making such a big deal about it; her answer was simple and beautiful:
Growing up I didn’t see girls who look like me rocking the stage. There weren’t politicians with skin near the shade of mine leading the country. Advertisements, movies, models, dolls, and toys didn’t often showcase people who looked anything like me. I imagine it’s hard to understand when you don’t grow up noticing this.
To be honest, I hope that some day there will be a time when people don’t feel the need to point out and celebrate a specific race. But the only way that happens is by witnessing moments like these more often. So often that it becomes a norm…
Perfectly logical explanation—at least I thought. But damn if a grip of white BabyCenter moms agreed with Jennifer; they took to the comments section of my girl’s post to call her everything but a child of God—including a racist—all because she said she was thrilled to see black women perform in the Superbowl. I swear, you would think Jennifer told those women they should grill their children and serve them for Sunday dinner.
For the record: I noticed that all the Superbowl entertainers were black moms and I applauded it on my Facebook page. Almost 100 of my Facebook friends “liked” that post because they agreed with it, too. Kudos to Jennifer for pointing our Beyonce’s note congratulating the African American female Superbowl entertainers and for explaining why she was geeked about it, too, on BabyCenter. Forget those idiots in the comment section, Jenn; they’ll never understand because they choose not to. And there’s absolutely nothing you can do about that. Read Jennifer’s BabyCenter post “Beyonce: ‘Proud day for African American Women'” here.
And other MyBrownBaby Fresh Links
The Top Job For Women Is The Same As It Was 60 Years Ago (CNN Money)
The evolution of me!: What is Life in Black? (USA) (Back To the Motor League)
A Barbados Family Tree With ‘Sugar In The Blood’ (NPR)
Another Attack on Michelle Obama’s Butt — When Will It Stop? (Clutch)
Where Was the Diversity In the “So God Made a Farmer” Super Bowl Ad? (Lifetime Moms)
Hadiya Pendleton and Gun Violence: When “Black Problems Become White” (Washington Post)
Michelle Obama to attend funeral for Hadiya Pendleton (HuffPo)
The Happiest Place On Earth Just Got Very Sad, Disneyland’s White Rabbit Accused Of Racism (Mommyish)
A Dad Deals with His Baby Girl’s N-Word Encounter (Ebony.com)
And, finally, y’all know how I feel about Bilal. He has a new single out, called “West Side Girl,” which appears on his new album coming out this month, A Love Surreal. Wanna hear it? Here it go. Click here to listen to “West Side Girl,” and when the album drops on February 26th, act accordingly. Smooches!
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Denene Millner
Mom. NY Times bestselling author. Pop culture ninja. Unapologetic lover of shoes, bacon and babies. Nice with the verbs. Founder of the top black parenting website, MyBrownBaby.
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I understand both sides. We as blacks want to be respected for so much because in the past our group has been disrespected to the fullest. But I also understand what whites are saying too, because if a white person said that it was a proud day for White Americans, it would be a big deal and everyone (and I do mean everyone) would scream racism. We have to understand what the slave trade did to black/white relations and the residuals left today………black/white relations were not damaged like they are today before the late 1400’s and the slave trade.
I will never, ever proclaim to understand white folk who dare question the celebration of an African American first—and be very clear, it was a FIRST, in 2013, for the largest sporting event in the U.S. to feature all African American women. Whites are celebrated every day just by being… on the television, in movies and magazines, on product packaging and websites that claim to be “for all” but never, ever are. (Except for, like MLK Day and Black History Month. Then all of a sudden, we’re not invisible anymore.) If all you see is yourself reflected in everything within your sight, why would you feel the need to point out, “Yay, white people rock”? You’re already so clear about it that you don’t even notice. That’s the very heart of the definition of white privilege. Plus, are we really to dismiss the history and meaning of the phrase “white power” and dare to compare it to “Yay! Beyonce, Alicia and Jennifer are all singing at the Superbowl—it’s a great day for Black women?” For real? One is a symbol of a group of monsters who terrorized an entire race of people for no other reason than the color of their skin. The other is a bunch of people proud of a first for three celebrated entertainers who sing for a living. No comparison. Truly.
@Denene I totatlly agree with on 100% on white priviledge I am currently taking a film class on black directors and the professor is right but she is so educated on white priviledge and everything else. A really open minded person she even opened my eyes about how hollywood is owned by white uneducated males and it frustrates her that this is the media they deplict of different races, and women. She said a lot of stero-types exist and even using Birth of A Nation as the main struggle for blacks in the media and everyday life. I guess thats all I wanted to say without going into much depth about it but i do agree and even some white people agree.
Amen very well put!
Alicia keys and beyonce are not even black theremultiracial. I appreciate that people of color are getting together more. I hope media starts to show more postive about the black community. I love beyonce ,but she doesn’t represent the average black women. I hope black women would start to be represented as black,not biracial women. Media is not appreciating are true heritage by diong that.