Foolishness : A long Time Coming (Whoopie! Pepsi and others UNITED in F*ckery)

So...it's been awhile since I have deemed it necessary to write in a blog I am not sure anyone read. But today, in my EXHAUSTION over the foolishness, I thought it was time I say SOMETHING. So this post covers a few different topics. In order of how they shall be addressed: Whoopie and Foolishness that Lifts Itself from her Lips, PEPSI: The great fuckery, and UNITED in the BS. 

WARNING: For Lent I gave up sugar...coating. I will be honest and not hold much back regarding my thoughts and the right direction for these three subjects. I will also relate mental health back to each one, so no one can say I have stepped out of my lane. :)

**Warning pt 2: this is LONG. I'd Pick a story/section and come back to the rest. 

***None of this is exhaustive, just FYI and For Your Edification 

WHOOPIE & The Foolishness that Lifts Itself From Her Lips: A commentary

In case you have not heard, Whoopie said, on TV, in front of millions of folks, that Black Women culturally appropriate from White folk because they use weaves and have blonde hair. Now, for those who are astute and aware, there was an immediate negative reaction, because she is so obviously WRONG. But, I understand that not all are versed in the hair universe as I am (since I wrote my dissertation on it). For those that don't know why this statement is wrong, allow me to divulge SOME of the reasons (this is by no means an exhaustive list).:

1. Whoopie is going under the false assumption that Black folk can't grow blonde hair naturally. There are a group of folk dark and beautiful as the night that do. 

2. Whoope is going under another FALSE assumption that there is only ONE group of people who wear weaves. Black folk on the continent have been doing it for a LONG time. Using a weave is  more of a people thing than any level of a White thing.

3. Researching even a LITTLE of history will tell you that Black folk sometimes conform to Eurocentric beauty standards for many reasons including personal safety and ensuring they are able to get and maintain a job. Natural hair that is wonderful and wild is not readily accepted and continues to be discriminated against. Check the stats, Black women with coiler/curlier/kinkier hair are less likely to get the job and more likely to experience discrimination on the job. I could school you further, but while I write this blog for free, I don't teach full lessons for free. Hit up my contact page to have me come and do a workshop/training, etc.  

NOW, for the final reason her ass is just wrong:

4. WHITE'S PEOPLES'S WHITENESS IS NOT BASED IN THEIR ABILITY TO HAVE BLONDE LONG HAIR ALONE!! Having blonde hair or have long tresses is not cultural to white people! Where  did she even get that stupid idea?

Watch this video for a  good overview

Mental Health Relation: Hair impacts Black mental and sexual health quite a lot. Feeling unattractive, or like you are less than the visual images viewed is a constant struggle. Black girls as young as 4 years are known to prefer lighter skin and straighter hair. Little girls have their hair pulled in all kinds of ways and even get chemical relaxers just so they can be considered acceptable in public. Downplaying the importance of hair in beauty image, and ultimately self image is a mistake. 

PEPSI: The Great Fuckery

On to the next one. I don't know what more to say other than they seriously got me and a bunch of people messed up! Like seriously? The cold refreshing chemical taste of Pepsi is supposed to lift spirits so much as to take away years of racism and civil unrest? Does it work on classism, sexism, heterosexism, and all general bigotry? They really tried it. 

If you don't now what I'm talking about, Pepsi made a commercial featuring Kendall Kardashian that had her as an uninformed model watching folk march for a protest. We don't know what they were protesting or why, but they wanted people to "join the conversation." Anyway, she takes off her blonde wig (which could be subtle hair politic way of saying her "dumb blonde" moment), and joins the protest. She gets a can of Pepsi, walks up to a cop, and gives it to him. He opens, take a sip, and all is right in the world as evidenced by the  celebration. 

I won't be wasting anymore time on this since number 1, I don't really drink soda, and #2 I prefer CocaCola. Obvs they are biting from a Black Lives Matter protest with no acknowledgement of the violence often encountered. 

Mental Health Relation: Being discriminated against takes an untold toll on your mind AND body. Mental health is often trivialized in media, but with the waking of a people, this was dumb. The struggle people experience shouldn't be used to sell a can of death. Furthermore, that Pepsi apologized to Kendall (an ADULT) and not to the others they offended with their tasteless commercial is astounding and insulting. 

UNITED in BS

For this one, there is even less to say than for the one above it.

For those in the dark: A man was dragged off a United flight, after being forcibly volunteered to give up his seat because they overbooked the flight. 

What's the problem, you ask? There are several! But here are my top 3

1. Volunteering is well...voluntary. He PAID for his ticket, his ass was in the seat HE PAID FOR, and he was removed AGAINST HIS WILL. Somewhere in there the word "voluntary" doesn't seem to fit. 

2. They overbooked a flight and needed ppl to get up so their more important crew could get to their next location. So, does that mean that dude was riding the plane for sh*ts and giggles? I am not sure. BUT even if he was, HE PAID FOR HIS TICKET AND AND HIS ASS WAS IN HIS SEAT! Don't let people board a plane when you know "volunteers" are needed. SMH

3. Overbooking a plane, though great for an airline, amounts to no more than acceptable fraud in my eyes. If I have one computer to sell, but I sell it to you and someone else in the HOPES that the other person doesn't come to claim it, but y'all both show up, one of y'all is fittin to be mad. You wouldn't accept that I "got you on the next one" No one should be allowed to sell more than they have. United should have planned better for their folks to be on that plane, if it was needed. Failure to plan is a plan to fail. 

Mental Health Relation: Imagine that you were that man being hit and dragged off. Filmed. Public fodder. How would you feel?  I imagine there would be physical pain, yes. But what about suddenly being a public sensation? Knowing everyone saw this embarrassingly painful display. Being the butt of some people's jokes. Maybe you'd be scared to fly ever again. Or scared/anxious around "authority." Maybe you'd also wonder "What if something else were ever to happen, would people be more interested in filming me than helping me." 

Now imagine yourself a passenger on that plane. Witnessing first hand a travesty. What would it feel like to feel helpless. To wonder if you were to intervene what could happen to you. Would that scenario replay itself in your mind long after it was over? The sound of his head being hit, his crying out, the way they DRAGGED his body off the plane. Might you be a little scared/anxious you would be volunteered to get off a future flight? Would you be scared/anxious around authority? Would you be worried someone might film your incident but not lend a helping hand?

Wanna know more about how these stories relate to mental health? Then ask you question. Comment or send your emails to Annodright@gmail.com Subject line: "Foolishness: A long time coming" and I will answer you either privately or publicly in a couple of days. 

Peace!