Just A Thought On The Amber Rose Interview

I don't know much about Amber Rose except that she is a former video vixen, ex-girlfriend of Kanye West who is a rapper and infamous for his Twitter rants and the ex-wife of stoner rapper Wiz Khalifa.  I recently discovered that she is an advocate against sexual assault against women and an author.

The past few years I have seen Amber Rose have cameo appearances on television shows and infiltrate social media newsfeeds and timelines with her racy selfies.  I cannot say that I am a fan of hers, but I do give credit where credit is due and during a current interview, I agreed with some of the things that she had to say regarding women and sexuality.

The Oprah Winfrey Network also known as OWN has a new show titled It's Not You, It's Men, hosted by former Run DMC emcee Rev. Run and singer turned actor Tyrese Gibson.  On the show the two give their advice and share their different perspectives on sex, love and relationships with celebrity guest joining the conversation. 

On episode five which aired on February 20th, one of the show's guest was Amber Rose.  The topic of discussion was modern romance, but somehow the conversation veered into the way women dress when Rev. Run made the comment, "Dress how you want to be addressed."

Amber Rose on It's Not You, It's Men. Photo: theguardian.com

I would like to address this, no pun intended, but just because a woman dresses in a provocative outfit does not mean that people, mostly men, have the right to touch her, call her derogatory names or act sexually aggressive towards her.  Although Rev. Run's comment was greeted with cheers from the audience, Amber Rose on the other hand defiantly booed at the remark.

After the segment was over with Amber Rose and the show was about to end, Tyrese directed a quote towards the ladies saying, "Keep in mind that if you keep on putting on those 'right-quick' outfits, you're going to keep attracting 'right-quick' men" which I totally disagree with. 

It would seem that all of the fault is pushed on women and that somehow our "energy" can send the wrong message (this was expressed by Tyrese during the show) to men or simply by the way we dress we are asking to be disrespected, groped and possibly sexually assaulted, but maybe the fixing isn't on the part of the women, but in the way men think?

Just a thought.

Thanks for reading!
(John 3:16)

Edited by Craig Bennett

Does America Still Need Black History Month?

Black History Month was started in February 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, but was known then as Negro History Week.  It was not until 1976 that the transition was made from Negro Week to Black History Month which is still celebrated in the month of February.

Does America still need Black History Month?

America has seen a two-term president with brown skin, there are black CEOs and heads of corporations, black people can sit anywhere on public transportation and in establishments where "White only" and "Colored only" signs were once visibly hung.  There are no longer miscegenation laws prohibiting the mixing of races and everyone from different cultures are our neighbors.

It would seem that the societal restrictions prior to and during the Civil Rights Movement are no longer an obstacle for black people.  Although many black people feel as if we have 'arrived', there have been many events within the justice system which have shown that the barriers of inequality are still at play and in the words of Kanye West, "racism still alive they just be concealing it".

Some people fail to realize, however, that black history is American history.  The American financial and industrial infrastructures were built on the whipped backs of African slaves.  America still needs Black History Month, but our educational institutions need to move away from only teaching black history during the month of February.

In my opinion, the intentions for Black History Month were never to segregate the races, but to showcase the accomplishments and sacrifices of black people.  Black people have always fought for a place in the American landscape so to call for the abolishment of Black History Month would be asking for an entire component of American history to vanish as if it never existed. 

Plus think about this, if the government feels that we, black people no longer need to celebrate Black History Month what else could they feel is not necessary for us to do?  The Voting Rights Act of 1965 comes to my mind.

Thanks for reading!
(John 3:16)

Edited by: Craig Bennett