Wow - ignorance is a bitch eh? - JAMAICA & the LGBT crisis

This post is a response I wrote to the recent YardEdge post and Jamaica Gleaner Article on the LGBT community here in the US lobbying to boycott Red Stripe Beer as a message to the world to punish Jamaica for it's known prejudice against gays:

Wow - ignorance is a bitch eh? I suspect what is probably obvious here - that Red Stripe was a logical choice for the lobbyists because it's one of the more internationally recognizable brands to come out of Jamaica and thus would resonate immediately to anyone listening to their protest. It's just unfortunate that they didn't bother to do any research on the business they are targeting. And my goodness - its so EASY to find any number of businesses, organizations, or individuals in both the public and private sectors in Jamaica to target in this boycott!! It's sick but true to say that we Jamaicans have enjoyed a local freedom of open discrimination and abuse of our gay brothers for time immemorial!

Being a Jamaican national, I worry of course about the bad press for Jamaica on the one hand, but on the other, I can't object to the idea of this protest as we yardies are undeniably known for such reprehensible views and behavior towards the LGBT community.

It of course doesn't help that we have yet to see one of our social or political leaders take a public stand in this. But back to the other hand - there's quantifiable reason for this: in Jamaica - it's literally a risk to your physical safety to support ANYTHING to do with gay men and women!!! In fact - I find myself just a tad bit nervous even commenting here on the matter. For God's sake we're taking about a nation from where members of the LGBT community seek asylum...yes...ASYLUM here in the States due to the real danger of being openly gay in Jamaica.

Should this boycott become a big international campaign, will it change anything in Jamaica truly or will it simply make it more dangerous for gay men and women due to some violent backlash; like the child being beaten for the exposed bad behavior of the parent?!?! I think the only thing that could make this boycott somewhat useful on the human/equal rights stage is for a responsible leader in our country to recognize the existing distaste that other nations hold for us regarding this issue, and thus taking the social and political risk to stand with the international community in an attempt to start creating (and I hate to use this word but we'd have to start somewhere!) TOLERANCE.

'Carpe Diem'...even in the rain...

From Chess in the Rain

The other night I was lucky enough to see what I thought was the best example of "living in the now". I had just finished dance classes and was walking across the Union Square piazza in the pouring rain towards one of the train entrances. After bidding adieu to two friends as they descended into the MTA tunnels, I continued on my wet journey. Very shortly thereafter I stumbled upon two chess players seated on crate boxes barely sheltering themselves and their chess board with one black and one bright yellow umbrella! It was startling and unreal and wonderfully amusing. They were rapt in their game and barely noticed the second and third glances they got from passersby.

As I strolled slowly past them I almost gave myself whiplash unable to resist repeatedly looking back at them and at another passerby in particular who was having the same trouble. Note though that they didn't attract a crowd or even a small gathering as spectacles are apt to do in city squares - I think because it was raining buckets. But the irony is, if it were dry outside they wouldn't have attracted any attention at all!

I have always been nerve-wracked about shooting public scenes - I guess a true photojournalist I am yet to be. :) Anyway, on this singular occasion how could I resist?!?!?! Manifest before me was the odd reality that bore resemblance to a surreal dramatic scene in a Kubric film! In recognition of this I muttered sotto voce to myself "fuck it", pivoted on my heel and approached the men, and asked them if I could take a shot. They didn't look up, but instead nodded "yes" in unfettered compliance.

As I began snapping away, that other similarly seduced passerby had apparently also decided to follow the 'now' example and came over to join me. Together we circled the men, he holding the umbrella steadily in the wind, as I did my best to capture a clear flash-free shot in the pouring rain, at night, with my little old point & shoot camera. I promised my spontaneous companion that I would email copies of this most unforgettable moment to him.

I'm glad to have these pictures (blurry as they may be)** of the 'chess game in the rain', to remind me of an age old philosophy recycled a thousand ways these days because we keep forgetting:

CAPE DIEM!!



**I took advantage of the blur by playing around with saturation and hue levels in photoshop to make certain colors pop out more. I reduced the noise as much as possible in some shots, did some slight sharpening, and added a crosshatch filter (varying strengths and stroke lengths in the images) to create a painterly effect.

Sorry to beat a dead horse - but can you imagine BUSH pulling this off???!!!

Check out the full transcript HERE

Just for reinforcement

URGENT REPORT ON DARFUR: You too, from where you sit, can act like a humanitarian!

Okay folks - so this isn't another subversive entry about "what life means". It's an appeal - to anyone who's looking, even if it's just one. Below is a copy of an email I just sent out - read it, follow the links, pass on the info, do something - ANYthing! This issue is actually under the radar in western media and I hardly understand why that is. SPEAK UP PLEASE!!

Dear friends and family,

I had to reach out and discuss something that is of great concern to me. I'm not sure if many of you know about this or not - as there has barely been any press coverage, but I'm sure everyone knows of the urgent circumstances that have existed for the past few years in Darfur, Sudan. Since 2005, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, president of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been investigating all claims of crimes against humanity there, and since, issued a warrant of arrest for the alleged militia/Janjaweed leader "Ali Kushayb". Well, last week, the ICC also issued warrant for the arrest of Omar Al-Bashir - President of Sudan (see ICC Press release here.)

To the great shock of all humanitarian agencies (most of which are only concerned with humanitarian non-politically affiliated aid), the immediate, insensitive, and quizzical Sudanese governmental response to the ICC issued indictment, was to order all 12 known agencies to immediately shut down all operations and to leave the country. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) , Doctors Without Borders (DWB), and Refugees International were the organizations with the largest numbers of workers and aid officers on the ground - some 7000+ people who have been working in camps in Darfur for years, responsible for (as I understand) 60% of refugees and closely guarded villagers and nomadic groups - some 1.7 million people. They have been primarily providing shelter, fuel/firewood, access to clean water, food, and medical care for people who have no other access to these essential life giving services and resources.


The urgent concerns are:

1) The only action that can be taken by the Darfurians right now is to take to foot. The risk is they will try to migrate into Chad, Central African Republic, Uganda, or Kenya - all places that ABSOLUTELY cannot accommodate more refugees as they are already maximized in this regard, with just as few resources as these nations are already suffering their own strains.

2) Fresh water is running out. The IRC was able to set aside supplies in some camps for up to two weeks of water, but not all were so lucky. Smaller agencies with aiding Darfurians in smaller camps, with less funding simply didn't have the resources to prepare quite so well. This particular issue will soon (in a matter of days) lead to near immediate spread of disease - which furthermore cannot be addressed all all medical care providers from DWB have been removed from the country.

3) Perhaps the most obvious concern is safety. Without any presence of the international community - the people of Sudan are now in complete danger of serious harm that may be visited on then by militia/Janjaweed forces. Women and children who have suffered the greatest and most unspeakable crimes are now in even ever greater danger.

What can we do? Please make your voices heard! You may not realize or believe this - but it makes a huge difference. It's important to know that the confusing and appalling circumstance here is that the IRC, DWB, and other smaller orgs are strictly concerned with humanitarian aid. They ARE NOT in any way affiliated with lobbyists, governmental agencies, or the ICC - their interest is not at all political, it is strictly for the welfare of millions of people who NEED and are dependent on their help!

I just sat in on a truly informative phone conference conducted by IRC development officers in the field issuing reports from their current posts in neighboring Kenya, and answering our questions as best they could. I've taken the time to write this to you guys in my own words, and not to simply send you a forward.

lease, take the time to inform yourselves at the links above, and to support these organizations.

Pass on the word to your friends and family.

Go to this link and sign the appeal to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to "Keep Humanitarian Aid in Sudan" - as the government is under no threat to host them or the other humanitarian agencies!

Write to the New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, or any of your local printed or electronic media source and demand that they cover this very urgent story.

Place a link to the any info or the petition on your online community accounts, your website, or your blogs.

Look up the IRC on Facebook and Twitter.

(Just a little plug for my # 1 hero of human rights advocacy, Albert Einstein...the IRC American chapter was founded by his suggestion in 1933, as a branch his International Relief Association that assisted victims of Hiltler.  It's also his birthday in a couple days...March 14th. Happy Birthday Einstein!) 

Remember Rwanda? The world abandoned those poor people, let's participate and not abandon Darfur. YOUR VOICE COUNTS!

Love, Peace, and Hope,

Berette


FOR A LIST of Humanitarian Agencies Working in or recently ousted from Darfur -

GO HERE

Nip/Tuck?

So I've always been dead set against plastic surgery, and now...well, I'm perhaps still dead set against it for myself, only because I'm really a coward when confronting the idea of going under a knife while unconscious. I mean...think about that!

Anyway I just heard the funniest thing:

"If its saggin', baggin', and draggin' - get it sucked, nipped, and tucked"
~Dolly Parton~

Now that's all this vapid line of life threatening procedures needed! A cute AND funny tag line.
Thanks Dolly, now if I suffer later on from S-B-D, I may just consider this.

What it means to PRIORITIZE!!!

Quick note to get some stuff off my chest here. I'm a bit exhausted by the near daily forwards now advising me to lift my fists in outrage, to march, or to boycott some product or service because of an idiot who has again successfully enraged people of color by expressing an ignorant disdain for non-whites. Are we really doing this now? Are we going to give up our time, energy, and attention to this (rather than to real problems or to our victories), to validate EVERY single minor allegation or sign of racist sentiment???

Listen - Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are educated and successful representations of us, of ALL of us, black, white, red, and blue, and one of them IS the leader of the free world. Yes, it's true. Believe it. Can we focus now on mobilizing everyone we can to roll with the changing hand of power and hopefully the driving philosophies that could possibly save our world and NOT to attention seeking idiots???!! Please???

I just bought Vanity Fair and Vogue magazines, both featuring Barack and Michelle on the covers – photographed by Anne Leibovitiz. I spent some down time looking at these photos and reading the articles – I did, and you know, it made me feel like I was above the nonsense. And gasp, I bought them both at Barnes & Noble.


Want something to foward around? Humanitarian agencies are being kicked out of Darfur as we speak!!!

Read about it HERE

Sign the Petition HERE . I just did.

And the Congo is on a real fast track to hell!!!

Read About it here at the NY TIMES - "The Invisible War"

For God's sake folks - a swapped around book in a Barnes & Noble window in ONE neighborhood in all of Florida???!!! Offensive yes...grand scheme importance? None.
PLEASE PRIORITIZE!!!!

the Barnes & Noble Picture...

So no doubt you've seen or heard this one today...

-----Original Message-----

Barnes & Noble

Let us not be lulled into a sense of complacency, due to the recent political success of President Obama!

Racism still exists in this country. Like all things, nothing is perfect on this planet, in this world.

We have an obligation to be active on issues that simply cannot be ignored.
Along these lines we should all actively spread the word of how Barnes and Noble apparently feels about black people or at least our President.

Please forward this to as many people you think should be aware of it and would be offended by this.


Boycotting Barnes and Noble will show the economic effect of people who will not tolerate racism.


Barnes and Noble had this as their store front display in Coral Gables, FL, in the Miracle Mile Mall. I am totally disgusted and I think it isimportant that we all find a different place to buy our books. Obviously this is a place of extreme ignorance. How far have we really come?

God bless the CP race!


----
AND I SAY:

Is this a joke? I’m sorry but I don’t agree with this at all.

1)
As a photographer I have to note that if this was indeed a B&N window and I wanted to point out this outrage to the world, I would have ensured that there was an entire storefront photo to help market my outrage. Since this is not the case I have to question whether if this is a joke or not (considering there are so many folklore sights out there invalidating this issue)

2)
This has indeed put B&N in quite the tricky position of having to apologize as an institution for an occurrence at ONE store in one of the more racist states in the country, where it may have been a stupid prank by a customer or store worker. And so now, I should boycott the ENTIRE company (that does not sanction nationwide uniform corporate displays) for this supposed act????

3)
I live in New York and if you walk into ANY B&N here you feel proud of Barack Obama who has all but been immortalized in full show more than any other figure I’ve ever seen in ANY bookstore!

4)
The world now knows how overly sensitive we’ve become to the jokes, snears, and primate comparisons (which of course are not to be tolerated), but be careful that those who mean to offend us also mean to distract us in time wasting matters, lest we keep our attention steadfastly on continuing to build positive symbols of our obvious greatness, while enjoying the discounts off the very books that document just that. Ha!

It’s time to LIVE IN GLORY people. Pick the battles carefully, do no wear yourselves out on a win that may not count. The only satisfaction won here as I see it is the attention the prankster fool is getting out of this.

Long live the HUMAN race!

YardEdge Interview with Marisa Willoughby

Check out the latest YardEdge video blog - featuring Jamaican Artist Marisa Willoughby.

PART 1



PART 2

The Black List Project and the conversations it provokes..

I must sleep and digest what I just saw and heard at the Brooklyn Museum today - and then return to this entry. But for starters - I was invited by another female photographer of color, Amanda Adams Louis, to attend a special event, a panel discussion "What's Black Got To Do with It?" at the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium. The summary of this was as follows:

This panel discussion, moderated by Elvis Mitchell, interviewer for The Black List Project, continues the exhibition’s consideration of how race, history, and each individual's striving shape and enrich their stories of success. The discussion will center on what the next four years might hold for Black women now that First Lady Obama and her daughters have moved into the White House. Panelists will include Studio Museum in Harlem Director and Chief Curator Thelma Golden, acclaimed artist Lorna Simpson , and CNN Entertainment Correspondent Lola Ogunnaike.

I had wanted very much to see this project featuring large format portraits by Timothy Greenfield Saunders - so the topic of discussion was simply an added bonus. Sitting in that auditorium and listening to these women, and to Elvis Mitchell, made me realize and remember a simple truth...it is really important to congregate, to gather and share your experience. I heard things that I thought in my self imposed isolation were my own concerns or observations. Gosh what a shock to realize how common it was that women of color do so revel in Michelle Obamas skin tone and features, and what meaning it brings to how we feel we will be perceived henceforth.



There were many areas of discussion enveloped in the question of "What's Black Got to do with it?" such as:

-How we will weather the complete destabilization, well, destruction of our federal funding for the arts, and how that will challenge particularly non-commercial artists of color. Lorna Simpson made some incredible points about the technological inequities that exist, where access and ability to participate in the new world of internet exposure is sharply limited among people of color, particularly in the poor nations of the world, in Africa and the Caribbean. The irony is that its much cheaper to get your work seen in today's digital world - but you must have access to those cheaper means in order to benefit from this advancement. When and how, in today's economy will we have sufficient initiatives to bridge this gap? At least, I heard today, that Obama's stimulus proposal will include $50 million to the Nat'l Endow. for the Arts. It's a start...

- We are now by default made to return to important conversations and cultural observations of our place, our growth, our importance, and our contributions to society, now that the "bling bling" era of self-serving materialistic distraction has now been brought to a sudden and jarring halt.

-We must now consider how to quantify the significance or gravitas of Michelle Obama's win, how black women will be viewed, and what will now be expected of them, of us; the excitement and concern of what it means to suddenly be shifted from invisibility to complete and utter important symbolic visibility..., hers, her daughters, and thus our sudden and near ubiquitous image now and forever and positively included in the photographic history of America...of the world!

Lola Ogunnaike was repeatedly noting that in her experience, she was constantly responding to comments of how her presence as a dark-skinned black woman on CNN was of particular importance to many sisters, that the meaning of this has apparently swelled with Michelle Obama's ascent to First Lady in the White House.

-There was too, a question by Elvis Mitchell whether all people of color, will disappear AFTER Obama - like how TV land looked post the Cosby Show? Could this attention be just for the moment? Where will we be in four years? And someone asked too - what is Black History Month now going to be like - and will it become redundant?

There were indeed SO many things I wanted to discuss regarding my understanding of the significance of this time - through the eyes of an immigrant, a perpetual immigrant...a West African (Sierra Leoneon born), raised, and schooled in the Caribbean, British, and American societies, seeped in the social sensitivities of the black diaspora from three very distinct points of view. I asked what I thought was quite an important question:

So now that our image has been positively redesigned in the likeness of the Obamas for other 'races' - what will this do for relationships WITHIN the black race? How does this address intra-racism? And since this panel is specifically about black women - how does this affect the relationships among all sisters of color?


More anon - but in the meantime...I've found the Black List playlist on youtube. Check it:

What Is It to Live Creatively?

The question I've pondered my whole life is "what is it to live a creative life?" Is it to search, or to find your purpose and passionately without fear or caution, chart a course of action to pursue this singular purpose and fulfill it? Or is it to let the essence that is YOU change and unfold anew, as you keep yourself open to any and all adventures you may happen upon; to create and share multiple textures of self and to be rewarded and fulfilled by the experience itself?

I've tried both and neither way has settled the question. The traditional paradigm that we all exist in - particularly in America I think, offers little permission for the latter, and few rewards for the obedient follower of the former. There is great monetary reinforcement and useful social gain to opt for another path - that is, to live the pre-meditated, strategic life: get the traditional degree - one that has been proven to be socially necessary and profitable, and get it from the right institution; attend the right parties; join the acceptable clubs; learn the unoffensive, agreeble language; think critically only when a format is set as to how to do so acceptably; invest here; buy that; live here; eat 2000 calories a day; laugh at this volume; marry that person; procreate by X age; don't curse; never share; expose nothing; eat your vegetables; drink more water; etc, etc. By the time you've satisfied even half of this list perhaps 20 years have gone by and suddenly you're gripped by a frighting and urgent need for a DO-OVER, back when you knew who you were and what your taste was, how to take risks, and the fact that you hate water and like to use the word "fuck". Sound familiar? Perhaps because we're horse fed this shit, only about living as a straight player BY the straight players as it were; the mysteriously irrefutable and unidentified 'they' we always hear about...

But what about those of us who live only in a state of risk? We wake up one day too from our non-traditional high-on-life trip, only to realize that we're on the outside with no way of buying our way back in. The mid-life crisis of the artist??? What in Christ's name is that? Well, if you didn't sell your soul to Big Brother - you wake up and realize that you made the decision to be financially and socially isolated from the majority of 'swimming sleeping minions', who you now idolize from inside your 'empty' fish bowl, sealed and seated in a vast tank of unreachable toys and comforts, while their faces press in to your globe wishing to experience for a day what it could be like to be such a liberated and exotic misfit. Incredible.

Could the grass be greener only and simply because we have our backs turned to our own lawn while craning our necks over the fence to get a peep at the garden next door?

To live creatively I believe is to live honestly; in truth; however that is to be manifested by you - whatever that means, so long as it is satisfying an intrinsic need within you to feel, experience, create, or express, and NOT to satisfy some external requirement or subscription on how to live out the limited days you have on this earth.

With that - I leave you with a trailer for a documentary I intend to watch VERY shortly, about someone who has done just that: Dr. Hunter S. Thompson





see link below also.  serious talk and hard truth with eerily current relevance.

Top Ten Hunter S. Thompson Quotes on Alternative Reel

SeBiArt Hosts Video Blog on YARDEDGE - 1st Interview - SPUR TREE LOUNGE, NYC

PART I

PART II

1 COMMENT FOR THIS ENTRY

germaican_lady

Laaawwed, mi hungry now!! ...lol... Oh, by the way, what DON'T you do, girl?

Posted by GermaicanLady on Sunday, January 18, 2009 - 21:50
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