YOU CAN TOUCH MY HAIR, CALL ME OUT OF MY NAME, DO WHAT EVER YOU LIKE TO ME!

  WE ARE ALWAYS ON DISPLAY

If you've read or seen anything about the "You Can Touch My Hair" exhibition, which happened in New York City on June 6 and 8, then you have most likely seen this picture:


That's me and an over zealous white woman touching my hair. And while I completely understand how this image could be shocking and conjure up thoughts of objectification, there is more to the story.

As the Style and Beauty editor for The Huffington Post BlackVoices, I attended the interactive art exhibit's Thursday showing in order to write about the event. Antonia Opiah, founder of the website Un'Ruly and the event's organizer, wrote a blog for The Huffington Post explaining why she created the event. Opiah, like countless other women of color, has been asked the question "can I touch your hair?" or has simply been touched without permission. So her mission in the exhibition was to "take one for the team and further explore the tactile fascination with black hair" by allowing anyone the opportunity to touch a black woman's hair.

Cue millions of jaws dropping. Mine did too. Why would anyone want to open the flood gates for perfect strangers -- white, black or otherwise -- to touch their hair? Not I. However, I realized after fully digesting Opiah's blog about the event, speaking to her and then attending the exhibition this was truly a social experiment and NOT a movement.

What I witnessed was a highly provocative approach to starting a conversation. Having three black women stand in one of New York City's busiest areas holding signs that read "You can touch may hair" is going to get people talking, a lot.

Although I wasn't a part of the exhibition and I definitely didn't have a sign inviting anyone to touch my hair, the white woman in the picture approached me and said: "You have really beautiful hair! Can I touch it?" I explained to her that I normally don't allow people to touch my hair, however for the sake of the demonstration it was ok.

She gently touched my hair and gleefully exclaimed "it's so soft!" While that was a sweet sentiment, I was left feeling uncomfortable and awkward-- even though I allowed the touching. However, I loved the fact that opening myself to this opportunity in turn invited a very real and honest conversation with the woman. I asked her why she wanted to touch my hair. Her response: "It looked so beautiful and I wanted to see if it felt beautiful too. And it does." I thanked her but then explained how it made me feel. She was receptive and apologetic. We continued to talk for awhile about how many black women feel dehumanized and other-ed when people touch their hair without permission or even when they are asked. Long story short, I doubt this woman will ask to touch another black woman's hair.

That was the essence of most of the interactions I observed for the two hours between the black women with the signs and the people that approached them. It wasn't simply a petting zoo where strangers walked up, touched and walked away. There were real, powerful, heartfelt conversations happening.

But that was Thursday. By the time Saturday rolled around and news about the exhibition got out (including my photo) and people were pissed. Protesters ascended on Union Square and a real debate had ensued. I personally think that's wonderful. The point was to get a conversation going and both sides of the issue were definitely being heard.

A group of women opposing the exhibit held signs reading "you can't touch my hair but you can kiss my ass" and "touch my hair with your hand & I'll touch your face with my fist." Feisty!

One protester explained that "people with kinky hair are not a monolith and unfortunately in mainstream society when one black person speaks it becomes the voice of many," and that she was not ok with the message of "touching" being presented.

To her point, I agree that black women with natural hair (and black women in general) are not a monolith, which is why I'm glad she voiced her views (although I'm not sure threatening violence is the best way to get your point across). Furthermore, I hope she took the time to listen to the conversations the "touchers" were having because she may have found that the "You Can Touch My Hair" exhibitors were in fact imparting the same message she was.

In the end, I understand the confusion that my photograph incited -- and I'm grateful for this platform to explain it. I'm glad I enjoy the free will that momentarily indulged the white woman's request, which in turn indulged my pointed questioning. Again, what I experienced was a creative and stirring social experiment NOT a movement inviting the world to touch black women's hair.

I leave you with an excerpt from Opiah's blog, which I believe further supports my views of the exhibition.

And if that effort means asking someone if you can touch their hair so it's not something that's foreign to you anymore, ask it. Ask the question. But ask it only when you've earned the right to do so. Ask it when you've taken the time to Google some of the basic questions about black hair. Ask this five-word request when you understand that it carries the weight of hundreds of years of being told our hair is unacceptable and now being told that it's a curiosity. Ask it when you understand that enlightening you about our hair is a responsibility no one individual wants to bare. Ask it when you've actually developed a relationship with a person to the point where you don't have to doubt their response to the request. Because if you're actually friends with a person, "Can I touch your hair?" is a question you don't have to ask because you know that you can either just do it or know to steer clear. And if you don't know any black people that well enough, maybe you should be asking yourself a different question.
Word up.

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LACK OF SLEEP LINKED WITH INCREASED HEALTH PROBLEMS AMONG BLACKS

  WHEN YOUR 9-5 NO LONGER PAY THE BILLS

Lack Of Sleep Linked With Increased Health Problems Among Blacks, And More Health News This Week
The Huffington Post  |  By Jessica Cumberbatch Anderson   
Updated: 09/22/2013 10:47 am EDT

The consequences of not getting enough shut-eye may be more serious than you think, especially if you're African American, a study published this week in the American Journal of Epidemiology shows.

Previous research has linked poor sleep habits -- a risk factor that's more likely to occur among professional and management-level African-American adults -- to weight gain, low libido and less attractive facial features, but according to this latest report, insufficient sleep may even kill you.

Read more on what researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found, and more notes on the black health chart this week.

 

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THE CAUSE AND THE EFFECT

                                           WE KNOW WHO THE ENEMY IS!

                                                      E. L. PLEASANT

The Cause and Effect!


The media is the greatest evil known today, for it has always dictated and influenced the behavior of blacks and whites culture.  It stocked their fears with hate and misleads or guided their trust among the ranks telling you just what you wanted to hear and see.  They love to profile and parade the images of blacks’ crime and punishments. Which only lead to more self hatred from both side of being black.  They have you say things like, black on black crime to the point of disdaining each other  and never thinking twice of the effect that this have had on us as a race believing it.  While pointing the finger misdirecting the real cause of our problem back to us and once again blacks will say, don't blame the white man for our problems when in fact they are the only one that the blame should rest and not us but them.  Still they have you believing that they are not the, blame because the blacks had said so, ignorant as they are even they can see and know that much. When whites kill, they kill the whole family and the dog. When they shoot up an entire high school or shopping mail to Movie Theater and these are white people killing white people.  You want hear a single white person say one word about white on white killings need to stop, but you will her them say it's a tragedy.  They want plaster their picture up as quickly as ours nor will they seek out an illiterate person to comment on it to embarrass their race.
As Don Lemon and some of us keep saying and trying to get your attention, "It is time to wake up."

After the shooting that took place yesterday,the suspected gunman was identified by the FBI as Aaron Alexis, a 34-year-old civilian contractor from Queens, N.Y.  The pictured posted by the white media is of him smiling and the one that Huffpost Black Voices used, tell a different story.  See the difference when it comes to our image.  FOR THINKING OUT LOUD, I'M E. L. PLEASANT

 

                                                          AARON ALEXIS

                                                          AARON ALEXIS

 

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AARON ALEXIS: SICK AND TIRED

                                                   WE ARE SICK AND TIRED

AARON ALEXIS  -  TOP LEFT

 

Chris Moody and Dylan Stableford

WASHINGTON — The FBI is asking the public for help in determining why a former Navy reservist opened fire early Monday at the Washington Navy Yard, killing at least 12 people before he was shot dead by police. Police said they also are seeking another possible shooter.

The suspected gunman was identified by the FBI as Aaron Alexis, a 34-year-old civilian contractor from Queens, N.Y., who most recently resided in Fort Worth, Texas. The FBI asked the public to contact the bureau with any tips related to the shooter. "This investigation is still very active," Valerie Parlave, the FBI's assistant director-in-charge, said at a news conference. "No piece of information is too small."

According to a bio released by the U.S. Navy, Alexis was a full-time reservist from 2007 to 2011. He left the Navy on Jan. 31, 2011, as a petty officer 3rd class and had been working for the fleet logistics support squadron No. 46 in Fort Worth.

Washington Mayor Vincent Gray said Alexis was shot during a gun battle with officers.

Alexis was arrested in Fort Worth in 2010 for discharging a firearm in city limits, police records show. Alexis told police he had fired the gun accidentally when he was cleaning it, according to a police report filed with the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney's Office. Charges were never filed.

Alexis was also arrested in Seattle in 2004, according to the Seattle Police Department, for "shooting out the tires of another man’s vehicle in what Alexis later described as an anger-fueled 'blackout.'"

A Navy official told Reuters Alexis received a general discharge from the Navy in 2011 "after a series of misconduct issues."

The Navy Yard was placed on lockdown after shots were fired inside a building on the base, the Navy said. A Metro police officer and naval base officer were among those injured in the shooting, according to the D.C. Metro Police.

"As far as we know, it's an isolated incident," Gray said. "We don't have any known motive at this juncture."

The mayor said there was "no reason at this stage" to believe it was terrorism, but would not rule it out.

D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said authorities were seeking a potential second suspect, described as a black male, approximately 40 to 50 years old, 5 foot 10, 180 pounds, medium complexion with gray sideburns, wearing an olive military-style uniform and carrying "a long gun."

Before a scheduled economic speech at the White House, President Barack Obama deplored "yet another mass shooting" — this one targeting military and civilian personnel.

“These are men and women who were going to work, doing their job, protecting all of us," Obama said. "They’re patriots, and they know the dangers of serving abroad. But today they faced the unimaginable: violence that they wouldn’t have expected here at home."

"We will do everything in our power to make sure that whoever carried out this cowardly act is held responsible," the president added. "I want the investigation to be seamless."

Janis Orlowski, chief medical officer at Washington Hospital Center, said one Metropolitan Police officer and two civilians are being treated there. All three arrived in critical condition, Orlowski said, but are expected to make a full recovery.

One was shot in the legs, another in the shoulder. Those victims were in surgery, Orlowski said. A woman who was shot in the head and hand would not need surgery because the bullet did not penetrate her skull.

The Navy said shots were fired at the Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters building on the base at 8:20 a.m., and a "shelter in place" order was issued for Navy Yard personnel.

Rick Mason, a program management specialist, told Yahoo News he was on the fourth floor when he saw someone with a gun aiming down into the atrium. The gunman, Mason said, was targeting people who walked into the cafeteria.

Other employees described a chaotic scene.

"We heard two shots and started wondering if that was the sound of someone dropping something or if they were really shots," Omar Grant, a civilian employee at the Navy Yard who was on the first floor of the atrium, said. "We heard three more shots, and that's when people started running out of the building and getting the hell out of there."

Grant then led a blind colleague to safety.

Approximately 3,000 people work in the building, the Navy said, though it's unclear how many people were inside at the time of the shooting.

The U.S. Senate complex was locked down "in light of the uncertainty surrounding the shooting at the Navy Yard this morning and particularly the possibility of suspects remaining at large," the Senate said in an alert to staffers. "You may move about the building; however, for the next two hours you may not leave nor can anyone enter the building."

A White House official said the president had been briefed several times throughout the morning about the unfolding situation at the Navy Yard by assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism Lisa Monaco and deputy chief of staff Alyssa Mastromanaco.

A heavy SWAT and police presence could be seen around the Navy Yard. Outside the base, employees sat huddled, crying and holding each other. At least one of the victims was airlifted from the scene, as helicopters circled overhead.

A temporary ground stop was ordered at Reagan National Airport, and schools in the area were placed on temporary lockdown.

The 41-acre Navy Yard, located five blocks from Nationals Stadium and a mile and a half from the Capitol, is home to the chief of naval operations and headquarters for the Naval Historical Center and numerous naval commands.

COMMENTS:

Hey Al Sharpton. Waiting for you to come and say AMEN and defend them you turd

Duker99 2 hours ago

Is this another one of obama's sons if he had one? Bet you hear zero from the race baiters such as al sharpton and jessie jackson. Please note that the use of small letters to start all of these names was on purpose.

Master 2 hours ago

If I had a son...

peggy 14 minutes ago

racist #$%$ commenters ^^^^^ n down

Jumong 43 minutes ago

They are searching him at the wrong place. How to find? Why not just dig his grave at night. Maybe his spirit or ghost will appear.

 

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DON LEMON: BLACK COMMUNITY

YOU DON'T HEAR ME


                               DON LEMON

Don Lemon: Black Community Must Take Mental Illness Seriously
The Huffington Post  |  By Danielle Cadet   
Posted: 09/17/2013 3:54 pm EDT

Yesterday, the nation was rocked by yet another mass shooting that claimed the lives of 13 people and, once again, left the country asking questions about the shooting suspect and what could have motivated someone to commit such an atrocity.

After he was identified as the alleged shooter, reports surfaced about Aaron Alexis' history of violence and mental health issues, a topic that journalist Don Lemon felt was especially important for the black community to discuss.

During his bi-weekly segment on the Tom Joyner Morning Show, Lemon took some time to address a disturbing trend making rounds on social networks and share an important message with the black community.

"'If I had a son he’d look like Aaron Alexis'- that is the new Internet meme," Lemon said. "That’s the new hashtag that’s trending on Twitter. If Obama had a son he’d look like Aaron Alexis. If Obama had a son he’d look like the shooter. Or if Obama had a son he’d look and act like Aaron Alexis."

The hashtag is an effort to mock the president's early comments on Trayvon Martin in March 2012. Many took to Twitter, spinning the sentiment around.


And although black males are less likely to be suspects in mass shootings, Lemon pointed not only to examples of mass shootings-- like this one and the Christopher Dorner shooting-- but also brought up the suicides of Don Cornelius and Lee Thompson Young as incidents that should encourage the black community to have a more honest conversation about mental health.

"So here’s something else for you to think about. These incidents will probably increase if we don’t bring something into the light and discuss it. And that is mental health among black people, or the converse, which is mental illness, which are taboo subjects in our community."

He went on to discuss African American's propensity to prioritize prayer and spirituality over seeking professional medical help, and shared his own personal story of discussing his own mental health with his mother. He closed by challenging the community to "wake up to these realities" and make a change.

"If we don’t wake up to these realities, that we cannot pray it away, the next time we see a crime on the news, especially a mass shooting, the first question you might ask yourself; is it the usual one? Oh, no, are they black? You know you all do it; I hope they’re not black. It might be the same one that the haters are posing on the Internet. If Obama had a son would he look like the killer?"

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PA. GUNMAN TRIED TO KILL AS MANY AS HE COULD

  I DON'T WANT NO TROUBLE


                     ROCKNE NEWELL


               MY HOME IS MY CASTLE

AP

MICHAEL RUBINKAM and JOANN LOVIGLIO

Coroner: Pa. gunman tried firing more shots

 

SAYLORSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A man who fatally shot a township official and two others during a municipal meeting in northeastern Pennsylvania was about to fire more rounds when he was wrestled to the ground, possibly preventing more bloodshed, authorities said Tuesday.

About 15 to 18 residents and town officials were at the meeting Monday night in Ross Township when the gunfire erupted, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

The gunman, 59-year-old Rockne Newell, who had been involved in a long-running dispute with the township over a dilapidated property, was tackled to the ground by two people and was shot with his own gun, authorities said. He was treated at a hospital for a gunshot wound to the leg and was arraigned Tuesday on homicide charges and other counts.

Newell was armed with a .44 Magnum handgun and was about to shoot six more people when a resident and a township official wrestled him to the ground, Monroe County Coroner Bob Allen said at a news conference. The two people who subdued him were identified as Parks and Recreation director Bernie Kozen and resident Mark Kresh, according to state police.

At the arraignment, a judge asked Newell if he owned any real estate and he responded: "They stole it from me. That's what started all this."

He is charged with three counts of homicide and two counts of attempted homicide.

The shooting happened during Ross Township's monthly meeting, held a short drive from Newell's property in the Pocono Mountains, about 85 miles north of Philadelphia.

Gerard J. Kozic, 53, and James V. LaGuardia, 64, both of Saylorsburg, were pronounced dead at the scene, Allen said. David Fleetwood, 62, who died after being flown to Lehigh Valley Medical Center, was a Chestnuthill Township supervisor who doubled as the Ross Township zoning officer, the coroner said.

A spokesman for Pocono Medical Center told the Pocono Record newspaper that Newell and two other people injured in the shooting were released from the hospital late Monday.

State police said Newell had a long-running dispute with township officials over the ramshackle, trash-filled property. He said he lived on Social Security and could not afford to clean it.

Pocono Record reporter Chris Reber said he was at the township building Monday night when a man armed with a long gun with a scope shot through a wall into the meeting.

"The thing that got my attention: plaster flying out, blowing out through the walls. Witnesses would later tell me they saw pictures exploding away from the walls," Reber said in his account told to his editors, Marta Gouger and Chris Mele.

COMMENTS:  NONE

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SLAVERY HAS NEVER LEFT US

      THEY KNOW IT AND SO DO YOU!


                            E. L. PLEASANT

Welcome to another Web Edition of Thinking Out Loud, and I'm your host, E. L. Pleasant Thinking out loud, as we are quickly approaching 2014 is slavery finally over and if so why wasn't I notified, which is like having Jessie Jackson speak for me and I never got to hear the question, but only Jackson is our voice that count.  Many stood around on 9/11 commemorating on the horrific event that taken place on that grim day.  The caption read, "We will never forget."  Yet we as blacks insist on forgetting the horror that were committed to our race when we are constant reminded every day of our lives.  The Jews haven't forgotten the holocaust, just the mention of the word and their facial expression turn hard and cold.  After the war, many of those that where responsible were brought to justice.  Even those that had change their names and fled to the United States and around the world.  Yet not one soul were every brought to justice for the crimes perpetrated against us.  To tie a man to a horse and have him ripped from limb to limb and makes the other slaves watch.  Just up the street a few blocks over they use to purchase slaves on the Riverfront.  It is said that St. Louis had one of the worst race riot in the history, and are the most racists of states in America, which is probably still true today.  Gabby told Oprah that they use to tease her by calling her their little slave. 43 old Daniel Stewart shot his neighbor in the head called the police and continue eating.  When the police arrived he told them that he only killed a nigger so what's the problem.  The Willie Lynch letter is something ever parent should have in their library as a concern parent when it comes to our history.  Not just blacks but the white as well because you would be surprise how great the number are that neither side knows of it existence.  This is a part of our DNA!

THIS THINKING OUT LOUD and I’m Your Host E. L. PLEASANT

 

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