Race and Representation

i was reading an article about an artist by the name of Kenya (Robinson) on a blog and something she said stuck out to me:

"I feel like Black people in America (specifically) feel a sense of shame attached to the brutality of our collective history. I hope to inspire a sense of entitlement that comes from acknowledging our strength and recognizing our birth right to the American dream. I wish to inspire active questioning through my artwork. Whether it’s an address to the lucrative ambitions of the prison-industrial complex (or a visual investigation of the misrepresentation of women in mass media (White Bitches: The Platinum Eaters). There is a reason that Art can transcend language- I believe that I can help create a space to insert diverse voices into this dialogue."

i think theres at least a tinge of shame as well as a lot of ignorance and misinformation surrounding our history. i read a book a while back that spoke about shame and how people are shameful of things they shouldn't be many a times. being a descendant of a slave and being raped, for example. i believe the book was Black Rage.

i would really like to explore more imagery of black and brown people from a time when our society was more covertly racist. googling words like "mammy", "jim crow", and "pickaninny" produce a plethora of strikingly racist, negative, and sometimes just confusing images from the past. for example, i've seen an image of black children with alligators many a times without the slightest explaination. recently, a blog i follow-Abagond, did a post about the history of "Gator Bait" that provides the story behind the photos.

more importantly, how have the images of the past translated to the present day? have they translated at all? if so, what is the impact on our society? what is the impact on our individual identities? does anyone see similarities between, for example, mammy and the black woman with a southern fried accent selling none other than chicken on Church's commercials (really. the only thing she's missing is a gingham rag on her head, a white baby on her hip, and the omnipresent "yessa massa". although theres a mountain of reasons to stop eating at Church's, i'd stop eating there just off that)?

comment. think. criticize.

also, if you have some other photos that have racist content for other groups of people, feel free to share. i know there are plenty of racist cartoons from the early 1900's depicting Mexicans and Fillipinos in demeaning and ignorant ways, but there weren't many i could find on my search.