"When I dare to be powerful, when I use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid" - Audre Lorde
People drove all the way across various cities spending time AND gas money for an 8 piece for $5.00? What the fuck is this about? Equally important is the fact that besides the one lone Crystal Meth looking white woman, everyone else was fat and black.
Before you interracial dating advocates attempt to slay me for being a little pissed at Disney's newest heroine let me state emphatically, I don't care about who you love or even why you love them. Of course, I do have one exception. If your SOLE REASON for dating outside of your race is due to an unfavorable experience or set of experiences you've had while dating within your own race, then you have some personal demons you need to address. Being treated badly by a cadre of men/women with whom you share your ethnicity may say more about you than it does about them. I'll talk more about this later, but please be forewarned that this post will NOT be PC (As if anything I ever write ever is).
So Princess Tianna is DC's newest heroine. There is an interesting conversation happening over at What About Our Daughters? regarding this movie. I was going to comment over there about this topic, but since I respect Gina and her blog, I chose not to fan the flames of the small amount of foolishness being expressed over there. For the most part the comments centered around Tianna's portrayal of being this superwoman/princess, thus reinforcing the stereotype that all black women are strong, defeminized, invulnerable, and ALWAYS in survivor mode. I can see the argument that Tianna deserves to be just as "dimwitted", stupid, and damsely so that she can spend less time saving herself (and more than likely her prince) and more time looking like the frail damsel typified by the boy meets princess-boy saves princess story line. However, I think if Disney had portrayed its first black princess as a voluptuous Sambo, there would be hell to pay and black women would be decrying the mammification of Tianna. Disney obviously won't be able please everyone and I believe has no intention to.
The Washington Post ran an article about the movie which is slated to be released in December of this year. Tianna, is actually a young lady who has a dream of being an awesome chef and owning her restaurant in what appears to be NOLA. She kisses a frog, turns into one, and then her journey begins as she battles Louisiana swamp and marsh creatures to visit an evil voodoo queen to get a cure to be turned back into the "Skrong Black Wummin" she is. Sounds like Heaven, huh? She has cascading black hair, pulled back into a bun and typical black animation features: white, with brown skin and eyes. But for the brown skin, it's very apparent that Tianna could have easily been a white doll with hazel eyes.
Then comes the foolishness! So Tianna is the first black princess, where is Disney's first black prince to accompany her? While I can understand that premise of interracial dating and love seeing no color, I am completely troubled by the fact that Disney saw NOTHING wrong with it's latest minority princess not being able to find love with a prince who looks like her. What's wrong with Tianna being able to find love with a black prince? Jasmine had Aladdin, Ariel had her white man, Pocahontas had her John Smith (only because the Disney story adapted the "true" story), Mulan, Belle, Megara from Hercules, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, Anastacia, etc. All of these princesses had boy toys who looked like them. They lived happily ever after etc. What is Disney REALLY attempting to say to black women and girls about their prospects for relationships if those same black girls desire to be with black men? This problem isn't just limited to Disney animation. Entertainment media has been on a non-stop mission to negatively portray healthy and loving relationships where both people are black. With the exception of the Cosby Show in the 80's, there has not been a program with such broad appeal that has made a deliberate attempt to demonstrate that black people aren't prone to bad relationships.
There is a definite misstep here and one that involves the further vilification of black relationships. This is where I disagree with the handful of commenters on WAOD who hate black men and make no bones about it. One commenter in particular, is an ardent lover of white men and and enthusiastic hater of black men, who is also a NON-AMERICAN black. She wears the hell out of me with all of her vitriol for black men, but she comes off as bitter and kinda stupid, but hell... it's her torn up life so I believe in letting people who are ignorant stay blissful. From the tone inferred by their comments it's a wonder if any man would date them, black or white. Being bitter, angry, and hateful of black men because your experiences with the ones you've chosen to date and fuck is YOUR problem. It does NOT mean that an entire race of men can be indicted for the shortcomings of your suitors. It also doesn't mean that white men, asian men, middle eastern men, etc. are more appreciative or more protective. The last few weeks and HISTORY should demonstrate that equal amounts of evil exist in all men regardless of race. The failure of some black men does not constitute the failure of all black men.
How Disney finds it so convenient to exclude black men from having romantic relationships with black women is offensive. I will NOT be watching the movie.
I am on my way back, but I've been busier than a beaver! Of course you know that I have an opinion about some of the latest bullshit that's been happening, from Burger King's subliminally pedohilic kid's meal commercials to the blight of the Somali Pirates, to the scores of people killed by loved ones in murder suicide rages.
I'll be going out of the country tomorrow and I'm probably gonna unplug for the vacation, but I'll be keeping a journal.
