Saul Williams' letter to Oprah

the more things i read from Saul Williams, the more i am blown away by his critical perspective and amazing poetic abilities. here is a letter i found that he wrote to Oprah. if you've read some of my other posts, you'd know that me and Oprah have a connection like theists and their gods. talking shit about Oprah in my presence is a sure way to get a cap in yo ass. just sayin...lol.

anyway, while i adore Oprah on my levels, i actually am open to criticisms of her. most of them happen to be jealousy, misunderstandings, and nonsense, and some of them happen to be informed and constructive. Saul's letter is one of the latter. he write a letter to her addressing her stance on Hip Hop, and he has some very very valid points (although it should be noted that bell hooks makes many similar criticisms in her book Outlaw Culture-definitely a must read. heres an excerpt from his letter:

"...You see, Ms. Winfrey, at it's worse; Hip Hop is simply a reflection of the society that birthed it. Our love affair with gangsterism and the denigration of women is not rooted in Hip Hop; rather it is rooted in the very core of our personal faith and religions. The gangsters that rule Hip Hop are the same gangsters that rule our nation. 50 Cent and George Bush have the same birthday (July 6th). For a Hip Hop artist to say "I do what I wanna do/Don't care if I get caught/The DA could play this mothafukin tape in court/I'll kill you/ I ain't playin'" epitomizes the confidence and braggadocio we expect an admire from a rapper who claims to represent the lowest denominator. When a world leader with the spirit of a cowboy (the true original gangster of the West: raping, stealing land, and pillaging, as we clapped and cheered.) takes the position of doing what he wants to do, regardless of whether the UN or American public would take him to court, then we have witnessed true gangsterism and violent negligence. Yet, there is nothing more negligent than attempting to address a problem one finds on a branch by censoring the leaves.

Name calling, racist generalizations, sexist perceptions, are all rooted in something much deeper than an uncensored music. Like the rest of the world, I watched footage on AOL of you dancing mindlessly to 50 Cent on your fiftieth birthday as he proclaimed, "I got the ex/if you're into taking drugs/ I'm into having sex/ I ain't into making love" and you looked like you were having a great time. No judgment. I like that song too. Just as I do, James Brown's Sex Machine or Grand Master Flashes "White Lines". Sex, drugs, and rock and roll is how the story goes. Censorship will never solve our problems. It will only foster the sub-cultures of the underground, which inevitably inhabit the mainstream. There is nothing more mainstream than the denigration of women as projected through religious doctrine. Please understand, I am by no means opposing the teachings of Jesus, by example (he wasn't Christian), but rather the men that have used his teachings to control and manipulate the masses. Hip Hop, like Rock and Roll, like the media, and the government, all reflect an idea of power that labels vulnerability as weakness. I can only imagine the non-emotive hardness that you have had to show in order to secure your empire from the grips of those that once stood in your way: the old guard. You reflect our changing times. As time progresses we sometimes outgrow what may have served us along the way. This time, what we have outgrown, is not hip hop, rather it is the festering remnants of a God depicted as an angry and jealous male, by men who were angry and jealous over the minute role that they played in the everyday story of creation. I am sure that you have covered ideas such as these on your show, but we must make a connection before our disconnect proves fatal."

and check out this video of Saul. about halfway in he starts his "Telegram" to Hip Hop.

nobody talks shit about Oprah

so i needed to do a slight rant....
so i was at work (i work at a department store) and i was working as a cashier on Thursday and i was checking this woman out. right as i was informing her of her total, this guy comes up as is thumbing through his wallet full of various bills. she jokingly says something like "oh you're paying for me? haha..." and he says "oh no. ha. you've been watching Oprah too much. i'm not one of those guys..." he then goes on to talk with this woman and i about what type of men sistas really want...how we don't know a good man when we see one....how Oprah has tainted our minds and some shit. the woman says she doesn't really watch Oprah anyway to which he responds positively as if she's a child that gets a cookie for being obedient. i respond and say "i love Oprah. she's awesome" ( ;) i really do. she's the shit. i praise her like any typical Hindu praises Ganesh, Krishna, or Shiva....or any of their other trillion gods...).
to which he says "yea...you keep watching her and you'll end up just like her-rich, SAD and ALONE!". to which i say "how do you know she's sad? you don't know her! and anyway, she doesn't give relationship advice anymore. she's ABOVE that." which is true. Oprah and her audience have more important things to think about than how to get a man, get married, or satisfy your man. thats '80's Oprah BRUH!
then he says some more bullshit about how how he's knows i want a man that has all this money and a nice car....because apparently thats what all women want. to which i say "you don't know what kind of man i want. you don't know me. and you don't know most women so you can't make a statement like that."
blah blah....he leaves talking really loud along with this woman (who is vehemently trying to explain to him how she's not the type of woman he thinks she is. but she was wrongly under the impression that he would ever cede in being the asshole that he is and admit that, no, he does not have all women figured out).

aside from this brother making assumptions about all women being gold diggers and shallow, i was most angered by his shit talking about Oprah!! Oprah is my lord and savior Jesus Christ. she is the MESSIAH for all women!! NOBODY TALKS SHIT ABOUT OPRAH AND LIVES TO TELL ABOUT IT!! if i see this mutha in the store again....it's a definite shanking. no question.

on a more serious note, i think what he said struck a cord because it brought up the sentiments in this video i saw on a blog.

i saw it on this blog. the woman that does and blog and i exchanged a few words, and i think she is an intelligent woman with an interesting blog, i just think she has some ideas gender relations wrong.
you'll see in the video that this man talks smack about Oprah as well. and what is it that these men have against Oprah? (you'll see my issues with this video more in detail under the comments of this video on her blog).

is it that she's one of the richest people in the Unites States and has obtained her riches without the help of a man? is it because she's not all about (like i said earlier) getting a man, keeping a man, marrying a man, satisfying a man, and popping out babies? is it because she really is happy WHILE being single? and the fact that both of these men were black probably shows more issues they have with her.
Oprah's success is a win for all black people, not just women. in being a financial powerhouse, she's given black women another face...other than that of the mammy, the singer that does a better job of shaking her ass than singing, and the welfare queen. she has raised the standards of what all black people can achieve. and in addition, her show (watch it. don't just watch tidbits of it on youtube) is one of the few shows that radiates positivity and speaks about a number of issues that others don't, such as race relations, spirituality, health issues, and womens' issues (such as Female Genital Mutilation, domestic violence, abortion, and other reproductive rights). and on top of all that, she is one of the biggest philanthropists! and she has made it to where she is without compromising her principles or her ideals (such as posing nude or half naked on some magazine cover, or biting her tongue when it comes to politics or social issues).....all while coming from less than impoverished childhood. i mean, i really don't understand what it is that someone could have against Oprah. well...aside from the fact that they may be a WEAK man that cannot handle a real woman thats strong and happy within herself.

comment. think. criticize. go pray to Oprah.

Hair and Tyra Banks

so...i'm watchin the Tyra Show, and she's talking about hair with Chris Brown (promoting his latest movie Good Hair) in this episode, and i just needed to add my twenty seven cents...even though i just did a post about hair.
she's talking about extensions, weaves, wigs, tracks...and all the other shit black women put on their heads to look good....and, not too long ago she revealed her "real hair" on the show, and everyone praised her for it and she acts as if she did something revolutionary. but she's more like a semi, pseduo, diluted version of a revolution.

heres the problem.
on one hand, Tyra is different and understand that there is a problem with women and their hair, especially black women. she also realizes that she has been influential in maintaining artificial ideals of beauty, seeing as how she's one of the biggest black models in america and has had straightened hair throughout her career (theres 2 other black models on her level- Naomi Campbell and Iman- both having straightened hair). she also realizes that many women and young girls look up to her and try to emulate her hair, even while it is far from their own texture. its evident that she knows these things because she's had a number of shows about this, and she felt the need to start rocking her own hair free from tracks and clip-ins. this is something no other black woman has done or brought attention to. not even Oprah (and i FUCKIN LOVE Oprah, let me just say....).
on the other hand, its clear to me that she doesn't fully understand the reasoning behind the depths at which black women in particular go to change their hair. for one, her hair was wet when she revealed it, making it appear longer and straighter than it would be normally. and second, she continues to rock the Beyonce weave on most of her shows.

she continues to uphold the high maintenance, unrealistic, fictitious, and more importantly, eurocentric status quo. the same is for Oprah, who grew out her natural hair for 2 or 3 years, hiding it under wigs, only to have that natural hair straightened, and be praised for wearing her own hair. ??? neither weaves nor straightened hair is the hair that grew from their heads, so they're equally false.
their message that was branded on us as colonized subjects continues to be branded in the minds of little girls-that you have to look this way, opposite of what you naturally look like, to be successful/attractive/intelligent/accepted by all.

its similar to the backwardness of having a black college, while the students had parties in which the attendees were subjected to the Brown Paper Bag Test; like having a revolution that combats the racism and capitalism of the system we live in, while ignoring or trivializing the patriarchy that dominates our culture.

that is all...comment if you'd like.