Dr. Barbara Sizemore "Black Folks Just Don't Get It!"

[NIShakur]

Brothers and Sisters, I am not sure if everyone knows of this wonderful woman, but I send this out in the honour of our dear sister Asaata; Dr. Barbara Sizemore; one of the most intellectual women that was introduced to me recently! This series was recorded in 1995, but it touches so much on the perils we are faced today as a culture and a people in his cracka ass society. I give my respects to Dr. Sizemore, for she is no longer with us, but she tells it like it is! I have posted the 4 links so you can view her series. This woman is POWERFUL! She speaks on our survival and has lived through the beginning of what our dear Sister Asaata fought against in this new society! I hope these links will inspire you.

[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10QlAw_JtjA&feature=related[/nomedia]
[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwlXcGJBQqA&feature=related[/nomedia]
[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bd2MFwq_Eg&feature=related[/nomedia]
[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGr6gerNHBc&feature=related[/nomedia]

[Pragmatic]

That was hard.

Bell Hooks, pg. 114 from the book "Tenderheaded"

"When I interviewed for my job at Yale, white female advisers who had never before commented on my hair encouraged me not to wear braids or a large natural to the interview. Although they did not say straighten your hair, they were suggesting that I change my hairstyle so that it would most resemble theirs, so that it would indicate a certain conformity. I wore braids, and no one seemed to notice. When I was offered the jobe, I did not ask if it mattered whether or not I wore braids. I tell this story to my students so that they will know by this one experience that we do not always need to surrender our power to be self-defining to succeed in an endeavor. Yet I have found that the issue of hairstyle comes up again and again with students when I give lectures. At one conference on black women and leadership I walked into a packed auditorium, my hair unprocessed, and all over the place. The vast majority of black women seated there had straighted hair. Many of them looked at me with hostile, contemptous stares. I felt as though aI was being judged on the spot as someone out on the fringe, an undesirable.

A number of black women have argued that straighted hair is not necessarily a signifier of low self-esteem. They argue that is is a survival strategy; it is easier to function in this society with straightened hair. There are fewer hassles. Or, as some folk stated, straighted hair is easier to manage, takes less time.

Individual preferences (whether rooted in self-hate or not) cannot negate the reality that our collective obsession with hair straightening reflects the psychology of oppression and the impact of racist colonization. Together racism and sexism daily reinforce to all black females via the media and mass culture that we will not be considered beautiful or desirable if we do not change ourselves, especially our hair. We cannot resist this socialization if we deny that white supremacy informs our efforts to construct self and identity."




Tenderheaded by Juliette Harris and Pamela Johnson
"Straightening our hair" story by Bell Hooks pg. 114, pg.115

The Human University: Seperating the "real from the fake"
The Human University: Seperating the "real from the fake"



Peace be upon you

[Nfant_De_Mileu]

Thank you for this powerful enlightenment! Sistah Sizemore talks so much truth on how we need to do for ourselves. We need to stop letting ourselves being exploited learn "how to play the game".... Building Black Wealth

[Pragmatic]

"The individual is handicapped by coming face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst. It rejects even the assumption that human creatures could espouse a philosophy which must ultimately destroy all that is good and decent."

J.Edgar Hoover

The Elks Magazine (August 1956) wikiqoute via

Cointelpro Documentary, Part 6 of 6
[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqNOTOVBAYM&feature=related[/nomedia]


Peace be upon you