Black history month with a extra dose of history!
And it's time to get your reading glasses on cuz i'm gonna do a lot of talking and ya'll better do a lot of reading!
Starting off with some doodles based both of the culture i come from and memories from my childhood.
I hold the memories of sleeping on plastic white chairs and sitting down as my mom braids my hair very close to my heart. And visting my families home country made me very happy. I got to see all these significant moments all around me, even those i missed out on because of the fact i grew up so far from Cabo Verde.
Alright time to get even more politcal.
I have actually been debating what race and origin i wanted to make Ava. I honestly couldn't decide for like the longest time.
And i landed on black, south afrikan.
And the reason for that is because historically, black people have been deminished to be less than our white counterparts.
Portrayed as stupid, violent animals -- undeserving and incapable of learning and existing as "humans"
And Ava being a very smart, talented girl made me want to hc her as black. Because we can be smart, we can be well educated.
Gonna drop in some Clacy as i also revisit a memory from when i was younger.
There had been this drama about if HC Macy as black was controversal or not. And i was brougt in as i was the only black person there.
And i obv said that there wasnt, but i want to now publically go more in depth regarding this.
Macy's character is very much dimished because she's a woman from the 2010's. Her entire character was made around the trope "independant woman". It minimizes her and it pisses me off.
But to state she is "angry all the time" is wrong.
She shows a lot of emotions -- sad, angry, happy, ect -- and she shows that. But to state that angry is all she is, is wrong. Especially only saying it whan she's hc'd as black.
However if Macy is the only person you hc as black. Maybe revisit that.
Because she is at the end of the day a very masculine, most likely muscular woman. Which DOES have racist origins (The person who was being attacked for this did hc other characters as black, so yet again, they did nothing wrong.)
But that doesn't mean you can't hc black woman as masculine or muscular. You just need one that isnt.
It isn't controversal to, for example have a black character who likes sports, comes from struggle and all that jazz. But if thats the ONLY character that follows those characteristics, you've got a problem.
if you have two characters -- one who follow the often stereotypical characteristics and one who doesnt -- but the one who follows the controversial one is signifanctly darker, we have a problem again.
Colourism is a very real thing.
You are not less human for being darker, and you're not less black for being lighter.
I have been wokring on headshots (which i haven't posted yet and will be delayed further.)
And originally i just hc Axl as Nigerian as meantioned in a earlier post
But i recently rememebered the stone dish their resturant makes.
Which remined me of a asian stone dish i had read about a couple years ago. Now obviously i looked into this further to avoid spreading misinformation. And i found 3 things.
1. The European folktale
2. A chinese retelling of said tale
3. An actual dish named Suodiu (嗦丢), meaning "suck and dispose" and is actually a struggle meal from China's Hubei province, created by boatmen traversing the Yangtze River.
So not the same, but i'm still keeping this hc, due to 4 reasons.
Its interesting and shows some love towards all our biracial baddies, ofc
Its my way of showing and displaying the historic unifacation of black and Asian communities, of which was destroyed by white supramasist (If you wanna read more about this heres a article i found)
Its my way of showing how much i HATE when shows display a certain type of food as "disgusting." Because
a. A lot of the time it ends up discrediting or demonising food from cultures that arent eurocentric. Even if this is unintentional, it genuinely can do damage.
b. I don't like the word disgusting being used towards food. It's okay not to like something, i just think digusting is a unnecessary word. so-
c. every showcase of Axls family very much feels classist and it makes me feel iffy. so
4. it gives me a nice opening to broaden the representation within my works -- original. and fanfiction.
And the reason i want to do this, and why i hc most of the characters within Nk as black is because it is a fairly new thing to see people that look like me on tv.
When i was growing up the best thing i had was maybe a black sidekick, a black best friend. But there was never a main character that looked like me.
When i watched The Princess and the Frog for the first time i was so excited. Because there was a princess that looked like me. Even if she was a frog for like the entire movie (which is a whole different topic i'd GLADLY discuss one day, but not today.)
When i got even older and I went to toy stores, either so i could look at Legos or to shop for my family members, mom would always show me the dolls on the shelf with dark skin, braids and curls. I wasn't all that excited, but my mom was.
And eventually it kinda clocked to me that this was new for her too.
I got to grow up right at the time where enjoying being black, enjoying our natural features and body shape was activly working towards being accepted. And my mom grew up in a time before that.
Products made for my hair, characters looking like me, it's a privilge.
And just because it's more normalised doesn't mean i don't still face racism and micro aggression.
I went to a school where white boys would yell the N word, and i got upset (obviously). They barely faced any consequences for this, but i won't ever forget how awful it made me feel.
I have been yelled at at the top of a white womans lungs for a extended period of time. And when i simple put my foot down and stood up for myself i was labeled as the "aggresive one."
I was angry, but to reduce me as only that was unfair. I was also happy, lonely, sad. My emotions were more complex than what it was being reduced to.
I watch white people dictate and decide what makes me or others black. and i watch black people turn on the others thinking that acting in a way would please these people will spare them whenever they start debating if we deserve to live as humans. (I dont listen to this type of music, but i will still direct ya'll to this song cuz i feel like it shows this point pretty well)
At the end of the day it is impossible to never say something insensetive, because a lot of this stuff is very deeply embeded in our everyday langauge. And so i ask ya'll to listen whenever it's pointed out.
I am not claiming i have never unknowingly said something that was insensitive towards a group of people. But when i learned it was, i stopped using that word and listened.
Also very important to listen to actual members of affected communities.
A lot of white people tend to want to do the right thing and speak up, but a lot of ya'll end up speaking OVER people of us instead. Which isn’t any better than being quiet.
Listening is important, speaking up is important.
And thats why i'm also gonna mention some people whos struggles need to be spoken about.
Free Palestine, free Congo, free Iran, free Ukraine, save the indigenous people in america, sweden and so forth.
And of course all those people of which i am not aware of suffering from the same violence.
I don't care what group of people you're from. No one has the right to kill others from a certain group, nor does anyone deserve to be killed just because they are from a certain group.
Alright hope ya'll enjoyed reading this and feel a bit more educated! Happy black history month ya'll!
