I know we're not suppose to blog twice in one day, but I've been in the mood.
First off - I attempted to re-spark some elevator controversy by placing another image in there. But it wasn't so successful. Someone took it down within a day, and no comments were made about it. I think in order to get another reaction like before, it has to be a new elevator in a different building. Or if I am to use the elevator in my building again, I'm going to have to do something completely different.
On another note - while I was looking into first black presidents, I came across some interesting information. According to Dr. Leroy Vaughn, author of Black People and Their Place in World History, we have already had black presidents. 5 to be exact. These include: Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge.






According to Vaughn and a few other sources he sites, these men have African American ancestry. This is what he says about each president.
"Thomas Jefferson was “a mean-spirited son of a half-breed Indian squaw and a Virginia mulatto father.” In his book entitled "The Slave Children of Thomas Jefferson," Samuel Sloan wrote that Jefferson destroyed all of the papers, portraits, and personal effects of his mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson, when she died on March 31, 1776. He even wrote letters to every person who had ever received a letter from his mother, asking them to return that letter. Sloan says, "There is something strange and even psychopathic about the lengths to which Thomas Jefferson went to destroy all remembrances of his mother, while saving over 18,000 copies of his own letters and other documents for posterity." One must ask, "What is it he was trying to hide?"
Andrew Jackson was our 7th president from 1829 to 1837. The Virginia Magazine of History Volume 29 says that Jackson was the son of a White woman from Ireland who had intermarried with a Negro. The magazine also said that his eldest brother had been sold as a slave in Carolina. Joel Rogers says that Andrew Jackson Sr. died long before President Andrew Jackson Jr. was born. He says the president's mother then went to live on the Crawford farm where there were Negro slaves and that one of these men was Andrew Jr's father.
Abraham Lincoln was our 16th president from 1861 to 1865. J. A. Rogers quotes Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks, as saying that Abraham Lincoln was the illegitimate son of an African man. William Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, said that Lincoln had very dark skin and coarse hair and that his mother was from an Ethiopian tribe. In Herndon's book entitled "The Hidden Lincoln" he says that Thomas Lincoln could not have been Abraham Lincoln's father because he was sterile from childhood mumps and was later castrated.
Harding himself never denied his ancestry. When Republican leaders called on Harding to deny the "Negro" history, he said, "How should I know whether or not one of my ancestors might have jumped the fence." William Chancellor, a White professor of economics and politics at Wooster College in Ohio, wrote a book on the Harding family genealogy and identified Black ancestors among both parents of President Harding. Justice Department agents allegedly bought and destroyed all copies of this book. Chancellor also said that Harding's only academic credentials included education at Iberia College, which was founded in order to educate fugitive slaves.
Calvin Coolidge was our 30th president, and he succeeded Warren Harding. He proudly admitted that his mother was dark because of mixed Indian ancestry. However, Dr. Bakhufu says that by 1800 the New England Indian was hardly any longer pure Indian, because they had mixed so often with Blacks. Calvin Coolidge's mother's maiden name was "Moor." In Europe the name "Moor" was given to all Black people just as the name Negro was used in America."

I could not find other readings about this, other than the sources Dr. Vaughn gave, so I thought to ask my African American Literature professor, Dr. Pat, if she had heard of such findings. Dr. Pat said she had never heard about those five presidents specifically, but that she wouldn't be surprised if it were true. Everyone, she says, has a mixed heritage. Rarely is anyone strictly of African American decent, or European decent. Thomas Jefferson's wife for instance, Martha Wayes Jefferson, was known to have had a half-sister slave, Sally Hemings, who apparently looked almost identical to Martha. When Martha passed away, Jefferson fathered several children with Sally Hemings, which he neither denies or admits to. So - those who were mixed and "forntunate" enough to pass as white did, and those who looked black, remained to be slaves.
I don't know if it's the recent election, my literature class, or both, but I have recently been more and more interested in our government's history and presidents. I think the government is the root of all racism, the reason Race was created in the first place, and that it is a very important issue for me to address in my work. I need to find a really effective way of displaying all this new information I've obtained.

This semester I am taking the Fashion Photo class, which also includes students from other majors as fashion design and fashion merchandising. The class is divided into groups, compromising 2 photographers, one designer, and one merchandiser, to simulate a "real world" situation. So far my group dynamic is okay - I think I might have some difficulties with my other fellow photographer because she is very opinionated and not very open to other ideas. But besides that, I've noticed an interesting dynamic between her and our merchandiser. The fashion merchandiser in my group is African American, and when the other photographer addresses her, she completely changes her tone of voice - she gets a little twangy, a bit southerner-ish, maybe even slurish? In all honesty, she tries to talk "black". She speaks to the merchandiser like she thinks black people talk to one another, saying things like, "yea, gurl, dats right, dats right," or " I know what you sayin'" OR even going as far to call her "homegirl." Who the fuck says that? "Homegirl looks tired," or "see you next week, homegirl."
It kills me - it makes me uncomfortable and embarrassed for this photographer, yet I don't know if it's obvious to anyone other than me. The thing is - the merchandiser doesn't even talk like that! This photographer is completely stereotyping her, making assumptions about the merchandiser because she is black.
Now, I cannot say that I am not guilty of doing similar things, not to the extent like the photographer in my group, but I know I have made stupid assumptions of my own - I think we are all guilty of that. I just find it very sad and difficult to understand how two races can be so unfamilar to one another. How there really isn't very much interaction between white and black people, or more specifically, white people to black people. In Peggy McIntosh's Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, she lists the daily effects of white privledge, her number one answer being, "1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time."
I have also noticed that almost always when there is a group of white and black people together, there is an immediate awkwardness, a tension fueled by the unknown. My study abroad trip this summer to Barbados was very evident of that. It was like two different breeds exploring one another, trying to find what makes them alike, what makes them different. And every single personal question directed towards someone of a different skin-tone was prefaced with, "I'm not trying to be racist or anything, but..."
Things like, " Do you ALL tan? Do you ALL get sunburned? Do all black people have curly hair? Do white people eat cornbread? Do you ALL get ashy?" Not only were these questions a bit sad and ignorant, but most of them were directed towards the race as a whole, not the individual person being asked. As if that one person can speak for their whole race, as if every single black person has the same skin type, the same hair texture - It is incredible to me how different white people think they are from black people, and vice versa. But even as the trip continued, and some of the original hesitancies disappeared, there were still assumptions made. Some white students would ask the black students, "Do you like Kanye West, or Queen Latifah, Will Smith, Nas, etc. etc." Assuming that black people only knew or were interested in other black artists. And upon finding out that my Mother is Jewish, technically making me Jewish, one student asked me CONTINUOUSLY, "Do you know that comedian David Cross? He's Jewish." Uhh - Oh, okay. AND? It was like the only way he thought he could relate to me was by informing me he knew of another fellow Jew. I'm sure, and know, that African American people get that ALL THE TIME.
I don't know how long it will take for people to understand that they are not that different from one another - that just because someone's skin is lighter/darker then their own, they are not ALIENS. Obviously society has made it an issue to be something other than white and it's difficult to get out of that mind-set. But I feel it should be a priority for people to take it upon themselves to get to know someone of a different race to disband any stereotypes and assumptions they have. I think it would really make a difference.

The Political RACE

This current democratic election has been quite interesting to follow. Though this isn't the first time that a female or a black male have run for president, I think it's the first time a female and black male have run against each other, and have been the top two contenders. Therefore, there have been a lot of new and controversial discussions about the democratic election. People say race and gender should not be an issue or topic of discussion in this campaign, but how can it not be? Race is continuously talked about during election time. For instance, which candidate will get the black vote, the hispanic vote, the womens vote, etc. The voting system is divided into race and gender and even the candidates campaign towards those specific demographics to get that vote.
What I find to be the most interesting aspect of this election, is the question of whether or not Barack Obama will get the African American vote. Apparently, Bill Clinton has been coined as the "first black president," which has in some ways challenged Barack's role in this election. In 1998, the term was used by Toni Morrison, the author of such famous novels as Beloved and The Bluest Eyes. She said, "Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas," and comparing Clinton's sex life, scrutinized despite his career accomplishments, to the stereotyping and double standards that blacks typically endure. (Wikipedia)

In 2001, Clinton was honored as the nation's "first black president" at the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Annual Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C. So it's a real deal, not a just nickname like I originally thought. Obama's blackness has continuously been discussed, saying that he is not black enough and does not represent his community. He hasn't been fully supported by other politically active black men like Rev. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, which has probably hurt his campaign a bit. But how can a white man like Bill Clinton, be more black than a black man like Barack Obama?
What I hadn't really thought about was Blackness not being so much about color, but as a mind-set and an attitude. Bill Clinton is considered the "first black president" because he cares about the African American community and did a lot during his term to initiate equality. I guess Barack Obama had not yet shown his dedication to the black community and was questioned to prove himself.