Author: Shirtoria Smith

Beyonce has been in the entertainment industry for over 23 years and as she evolves she is able to represent black culture to her hearts content. Previously in media, black women are forced to conform to a Eurocentric view of beauty to obtain publicity and fame. In todays society, the celebration of melanin is being popularized and black culture is joyfully being celebrated and sadly being appropriated. Beyonce is the first black woman to headline Coachella, and she is also one of the first people to negotiate all rights to her performance. After doing this, she was able to upload her recreation of an HBCU band performance to Netflix and showcase beautiful black art forms. Soon after Taylor Swift performed an exact replica of Beyonce’s performance. How do you guys feel about Taylor Swift copying Beyonce’s ode to black youth culture?

Marvel has been known for their action packed films and amazing visual affects. After created the film Black Panther, which showcased a different portrayal of an African country, Marvel received raving reviews and praise. After Black Panther was released, Marvel showcased their new film Captain Marvel on National Women’s day. Feminist and women alike were happy to see the ultimate hero of the universe be a woman. In the final movie, Endgame, Captain America gives his shield to Falcon, a black man. Immediately this symbolized to me that white captain America was tired and played out. Captain America giving his shield to Falcon making him the new Captain America was essentially showing a visual representation camaraderie between old white America and new black America. What do you guys think this means for future marvel movies ?

Over half of the diverse faculty and staff members at the College of Wooster are leaving. Most of these faculty members had tenure and a secure career here at the College. Many people said that each staff member has their own reasoning but the numbers are quite too high for this to be a coincidence. Is there a degree of racism we have not noticed at the College of Wooster? We speak out against forms of oppression from a student level but in order to change the institution and systematic oppression at the college, the staffing needs to be re-wired as well. The College of Wooster increased their acceptance of black students from 10% to 30% of their population. Without proper support and aid, these students will have a difficult time surviving the Campus climate.  There are no diverse staff members in STEM. After a trustee commented “Would you rather have a black professor or a good professor”, the College of Wooster’s mayhem involving diverse faculty members did not stop. The effects of Wooster’s racism is showing and the institution needs to be revamped.

– A primary source from the College of Wooster

Jordan Peele’s Us debuted in 2019, a previous post covers the nuances about the film. Other critiques focused on the duality of individual people created by society, or in the movies case “the government”. The golden rule of looking into ones self in times of fear is a major theme throughout the film. I’m not trying to spoil the film too much, but in this post I will discuss the particular parts of the film that relates to black women and their narrative in their own freedom struggle movement.

The leading lady(ladies) of the film was played by non-other than oscar winning Lupita Nyong’o. In one of the first few opening scenes, the family links up with another family that happens to be white. When Lupita’s character Adelaide is talking to the other wife there, Kitty, the dialogue seems forced and strange. Kitty tells Lupita how she’s got a few new operations done to her face and after she spitefully adds that Lupita Nyong’o’s character would never need work done. Flashing forward to the part of the film where Kitty’s doppelgänger has tied Adelaide to a table. Kitty traces Adelaide’s face with a pair of scissors and runs to her mirror to mimic Adelaide’s face. Peele has a tendency to nod towards social issues and this part of the film definitely dances around the topic of beauty standards in the US. In regards to the black women freedom struggle movement, the movie could be seen as an aid in that it showcases and represents a black female leader as the face of a revolutionary movement. While engaging in the beauty of Lupita’s character, Peele does not take away from the strength of Adelaide’s role. What do you guys think?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6857112/