Well, gosh. It's just not the same for Sean John to use an all-black modeling cast and for whatever white designer to do so. And it's only white privilege and a failure to get over himself and look at the world as it is that prevents him from seeing that. I mean..."art is subjective, in all colors." What kind of grasping toward multicultural, universalist-type through a claim to art and the personal choice ... so annoying. The issue is hardly out of hand. Such discussions are finally bringing race and racism into hand where they are meant to be discussed and more clearly understood with humility and historical grounding. What Sean John did sounds beautiful and provocative. So it is threatening. Because really people are comfortable with the question of diversity -- there can be one or two black people and other colored people and we are in some kind of collection. But that is meant to be representative of white people's benevolence. It's a gift they give to black folk -- your place is to be 'diverse.' But not black. And not independent. And not to be out there not thinking about me, the white person. Diversity is like a controlled role. But to have all those black models I'm sure must be very striking and scary because they aren't contained as just the one. I suppose if Sean John has the power to articulate his clothing through an all-black modeling cast, it does complicate the question of inclusion of black models in "white" shows or you know, among a regular group of models. It is the conundrum at the center of separation/independent and integration/assimilation--interdependence -- how to define all that and what is in the best interest of black folk? I mean isn't this about power? Who wields power in the industry and in whose interests? Black people hold a tremendous amount of cultural power in the U.S. and across the world but it seems out of proportion to their--to our capacity to define and defend the terms of that power. If no one criticized Sean John for using all-black models it must be because they looked great and because they are afraid--because they looked great and because black bodies are just marked with the volatility of question of power, history of slavery, pain and things like that. People know that if they approach a discussion about racism that they are approaching a huge, hot volcanic abyss at the center of their fantasies that life is wonderful for everyone and that their lives are what they are because they deserve it. This grasp at artistic subjectivity and personal rights is like grabbing nearby tree branches through the car window as it careens toward the abyss that is race/racism in America.
Well, gosh. It's just not
Well, gosh. It's just not the same for Sean John to use an all-black modeling cast and for whatever white designer to do so. And it's only white privilege and a failure to get over himself and look at the world as it is that prevents him from seeing that. I mean..."art is subjective, in all colors." What kind of grasping toward multicultural, universalist-type through a claim to art and the personal choice ... so annoying. The issue is hardly out of hand. Such discussions are finally bringing race and racism into hand where they are meant to be discussed and more clearly understood with humility and historical grounding. What Sean John did sounds beautiful and provocative. So it is threatening. Because really people are comfortable with the question of diversity -- there can be one or two black people and other colored people and we are in some kind of collection. But that is meant to be representative of white people's benevolence. It's a gift they give to black folk -- your place is to be 'diverse.' But not black. And not independent. And not to be out there not thinking about me, the white person. Diversity is like a controlled role. But to have all those black models I'm sure must be very striking and scary because they aren't contained as just the one. I suppose if Sean John has the power to articulate his clothing through an all-black modeling cast, it does complicate the question of inclusion of black models in "white" shows or you know, among a regular group of models. It is the conundrum at the center of separation/independent and integration/assimilation--interdependence -- how to define all that and what is in the best interest of black folk? I mean isn't this about power? Who wields power in the industry and in whose interests? Black people hold a tremendous amount of cultural power in the U.S. and across the world but it seems out of proportion to their--to our capacity to define and defend the terms of that power. If no one criticized Sean John for using all-black models it must be because they looked great and because they are afraid--because they looked great and because black bodies are just marked with the volatility of question of power, history of slavery, pain and things like that. People know that if they approach a discussion about racism that they are approaching a huge, hot volcanic abyss at the center of their fantasies that life is wonderful for everyone and that their lives are what they are because they deserve it. This grasp at artistic subjectivity and personal rights is like grabbing nearby tree branches through the car window as it careens toward the abyss that is race/racism in America.