This is a Normani blog

I may have a thing for Normani.

[no-controlss]

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(x)

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pros/judges + praising normani (requested by anonymous)

[givemelaurmani]

Normani talks about being racially bullied on social media

[90smelanin]

Normani Kordei singing “Cranes in the sky” by Solange

-Not mine-

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[heykordei]

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[zenndaya]

normani deserves this type of love and support everyday and everywhere!!!!

[ohmanis]

For the past couple of days, Normani Kordei of Fifth Harmony has been the latest victim of extreme racially-charged cyber bullying from fans of one of her bandmates, Camila Cabello. The above post is her response. I’m not going to post the pictures but if you want to see: They made edits of her being lynched, made series of “massa” jokes, said all the variations of the n-word. Camila has vaguely tweeted about this by referring to Normani as “anyone”. Most of these people, she follows and has been following for years. I just wanted to shed some light on this.

[sugamani-blog]

The Rise of the Internet Fan Bully

Normani Kordei, a member of the girl group on the rise Fifth Harmony, sat for a lighthearted Facebook Live interview earlier this month. Within a week, she had been chased off Twitter by a mob spewing racist insults.

“I’ve not just been cyber bullied, I’ve been racially cyber bullied with tweets and pictures so horrific and racially charged that I can’t subject myself any longer to the hate,” she wrote. Her account has been silent since.

Online harassment has become a depressingly common workplace hazard for people of color in the public eye. Last month, the “Ghostbusters” star Leslie Jones temporarily quit Twitter after weathering a deluge of racist abuse. And last year, the Brazilian actress Taís Araújo reported a series of harassers to the police after they had inundated her Facebook page with similar comments.

But the racist taunts hurled at Ms. Kordei didn’t originate from some white supremacist message board, or even from a crew of Fifth Harmony haters. It came from within the Fifth Harmony fandom itself.

The incident illuminates some strange similarities between the bands of internet trolls stalking the web and the legions of online fans seeking to stir up some drama. They both know that the most hurtful online weaponry to wield against black women include images of apes, threats of lynching and a tossed-off N-word.

Fifth Harmony is a Simon Cowell-assembled girl group that snagged its first Top 10 hit this year with the saucy single “Work From Home.” Its brand would best be described as “gyrating girl power.” But when Ms. Kordei sat down with the digital lifestyle magazine Galore for the Facebook Live interview on the subject of female friendship, one question — “Describe each girl in one word” — ripped a fault line through the group’s young, female fan base.

Of her bandmate Ally Brooke, Ms. Kordei said: “Sunshine, because she is literally the light of the group.” Of Lauren Jauregui: “My therapist, I can go to her about absolutely anything, and I feel like I can trust that she won’t judge anything that I say.” And Dinah Jane: “She’s like the turn-up queen, she just has a good time anywhere she is.” When she reached Fifth Harmony’s final member, Camila Cabello, she paused. “She is … let’s see. Camila. Very quirky. Yeah, very quirky. Um, cute. Quirky.”

That’s it. But that was enough to enrage some fans of Ms. Cabello, the 19-year-old who has been positioned as Fifth Harmony’s breakout star (and earned a spot in Taylor Swift’s squad). To this set, Ms. Kordei’s answer was apparently insufficiently effusive. “Camila is a lot more than cute and quirky she’s kind, classy, mature and hardworking,” one fan tweeted.

The backlash soon grew big enough to hit the teen gossip sites (“OMG: Did Normani Kordei Throw Shade at Camila Cabello?” the magazine “J-14” asked), before curdling into something more sinister. In fan enclaves across the web, a subset of Fifth Harmony followers called Ms. Kordei “Normonkey,” “coon,” and “nigger.” One said she “deserves to be lynched.” Another Photoshopped her face onto the body of a woman hanging from a tree.

This is the kind of rhetoric you expect to see on 4chan’s political message board, a den of white supremacist rhetoric fused with ironic memes. The trolls of 4chan have lately helped power the online presence of the alt-right, the folks who led the Twitter assault against Ms. Jones. Now the internet’s most unruly celebrity fans are cribbing their troublemaking tactics from the same playbook.

The firestorm against Ms. Jones was touched off by a nasty review of “Ghostbusters” published by Milo Yiannopoulos, a conservative provocateur. As the attacks built, comment threads unspooled inside 4chan, surfacing racist images and commentary to hurl at Ms. Jones in Twitter’s open marketplace. Abuse against Ms. Kordei was organized, too, by an anonymous Twitter account that popped up directing fans to inundate her with slurs.

Trolls thrive off provoking a response from their targets. When Ms. Jones began speaking out against the abuse on Twitter, 4chan posters traded gleeful messages. Fans, too, delight in forging some connection with the stars, even if it comes in the form of a rebuke. The abuse against Ms. Kordei escalated after she took to Twitter to deny a feud with Ms. Cabello and to denounce the fans attempting to stir up trouble. That behavior eventually scored a response from Ms. Cabello, too. “You don’t have to hate on somebody else to support me — I don’t appreciate it and it’s not what I’m about,” she tweeted. “Be kind or move on.”

Most Fifth Harmony fans, who call themselves Harmonizers, are not racists. As the abuse mounted, support for Ms. Kordei poured out under the hashtags #IStandWithNormani and #WeLoveYouNormani. Still, racially tinged remarks about Ms. Kordei have been a low-level presence amid her rise in popularity — fans have expressed surprise that she reads books and called her “ugly” and “ape”— and the abuse tends to flare at dramatic moments within the roiling fan narrative of imagined alliances and feuds (like the supposed ongoing beef between Ms. Kordei and Ms. Cabello).

A similar dynamic has played out among One Direction fans, some of whom have greeted Zayn Malik, the group’s lone Muslim member, with death threats and slurs like “terrorist.” He briefly quit Twitter in 2012, citing Islamophobia, and left the band last year. And when Robert Pattinson started dating the singer FKA Twigs in 2014, a subgroup of his fans inundated her with racist abuse on Twitter that left her “genuinely shocked and disgusted.”

Some level of infighting is embedded within pop fandom itself. Like One Direction before it, Fifth Harmony is a Cowell-engineered pop group that’s been perfectly primed to exploit differences in personality, style and ethnic background of the group’s singers. The Spice Girls played this trick most baldly, naming and dressing members after a singular trait — Baby, Scary, Sporty, Posh and Ginger. But supporting a favorite bandmate can easily degrade into trashing a least favorite. In a New York Post article from 1998, one 9-year-old Spice Girls fan said of Ginger (Geri Halliwell): “A lot of people don’t like her. I think some people hate her the most out of all of them.” She added: “I personally don’t like Scary Spice, though.”

Typically, girl group loyalism falls into the benign end of human self-sorting. But in the crucible of online fandom, demographic distinctions can coarsen into warring factions. A fan fantasy that frames the band members as hating one another — and paints one of them as rude, stupid, evil, and deserving of death because she is black — is no longer just idle fan fictions. As Ms. Kordei put it in one of her notes to fans, “For those of you who enjoy speculating creating drama that doesn’t exist, please keep in mind that myself and the other girls in the group are PEOPLE.”She added: “This is our story so let us write it our way, instead of you trying to write it for us.”

Article by The New York Times (x)

[normanisource]

Normani for Galore Magazine 

[heykordei]

Normani Kordei in Galore Magazine

[davonnekordei]

So in recent events there’s been a lot support for Normani Kordei having to deal with one of her band mates racist fans, which I am extremely happy about because Normani deserves the world. One thing that shouldn’t be taken lightly is the actions of her band mate, Camila Cabello, which lead to these attacks on Normani starting with how she attracted these racist fans.

Around the age of 14-15, Camila herself used to have a racist troll account that includes her retweeting racist jokes about Zayn Malik’s ethnicity and her using the N word multiple times despite her not being black:

Tweets of her using the N word:

This was a tweet that Camila made to her best friend who has also dropped the N word multiple times despite her not being black:

Following this Camila was hacked by fans recently who exposed her Facebook messages from her earlier X-Factor days that she sent to her best friend where she refers to Normani and her other band mates as n****rs, these were the alleged messages:

Camila confirmed that the tweets were at least real with this apology after it was exposed:

Recently when Camila put out a single without her group it caused a noticeable friction which led to her fans making very direct and racist tweets towards specifically Normani.

When Normani was asked in an interview very recently to describe her band mates she described Camila as “cute and quirky” and the media tried to paint Normani as the villain for not being as lengthy in her description about Camila as she was about her other band mates:

Before this Camila’s fans were tweeting their dislike of Normani causing her to defend herself:

When Camila’s fan became dissatisfied with Normani defending herself and describing Camila as “cute and quirky” they made a photoshopped edit of Normani’s face on a slave that was hanged from a tree (which I won’t post because I don’t want spread it around). Following this Normani decided to take a break from twitter and Camila chose to address the situation by making it all about her instead of defending Normani against her fans racist comments by A) not acknowledging Normani was the victim of the attack B) making it about what she finds acceptable C) not unfollowing the fans that she has clearly seen making racist jokes about her band mate since she made it be known that it was on her timeline:

The indirectness of Camila’s tweet caused celebrities like Gina Rodriguez to misread the situation and stand with Camila instead of the actual victim which was Normani:

This post was basically to let it be known that I won’t allow the media to vilify Normani and I won’t accept Camila’s actions in the past and the little she’s done to take responsibility for her actions and the actions of the racist fans that she attracted over the years who she chooses to follow. Normani is always painted as the villain in the situation and Camila gets off free cause the media refuses to report the full story.

[sugamani-blog]

“I would love to explain what’s going on with Normani. 

Over the last 4 years of being in the public eye, Normani Kordei has faced blatant and subtle racism from people who claim to be “fans” of the group. This has escalated over the last year as fans of one member, Camila Cabello, continue to harass Normani and attribute stereotypes to her simply based on her skin colour. Normani has been nothing but professional and courteous about her fellow band mate (something that various interviews and articles will confirm), however these “fans” of Camila insist of portraying Normani as the “angry black girl” which is a stereotype that’s very damaging and demoralizing for a young woman whose only goal is to spread love and positivity and inspire others. 

This past week, an interview was posted (link) in which Normani was asked to describe her band mates in a few words. She referred to Camila as “cute and quirky”, two words which Camila has been described as by almost everyone who knows her, including herself. However, fans of Camila (not the group as a whole) cyber bullied Normani over this answer as they weren’t “complimentary enough”. It is important to note that these same “fans” claim to defend Camila and have been doing so since Camila chose to embark on a solo career late last year. This cyber bullying and numerous articles written by media outlets led to Normani’s statement 2 days ago, captioned “Thoughts”.

However, the situation escalated to the point where graphic and horrific racially charged images were created directly aimed at Normani. These images were nothing short of traumatizing to anyone who’s seen them, let alone the person who it was aimed at (TRIGGER WARNING: 1 2 3 ) As these bullies continue to hide behind a Camila fan account, it was only fair to expect her to address the situation. Her acknowledgement that those were indeed her fans (“you don’t have to hate on someone else to support me”) fell flat when she chose not to address the situation outright and not mention Normani’s name, her fellow group member of FOUR years. Her tweets were indeed so vague that other celebrities were under the assumption those were general tweets as seen by Gina Rodriguez’ response (link). 

Normani has dealt with the racism she faces by being a member of Fifth Harmony on her own with no public support from her fellow band mates who appear to be outspoken on many social justice issues, including feminism but not something that affects their friend personally. Therefore, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Normani has chosen to take a break from Twitter where she continues to be subjected to hate and racism as seen in her statement captioned “to my fans”. Almost 24 hours after her tweet, Normani has received support from Zendaya, Becky G and Keith Powers amongst others. She has also gone viral on tumblr in a post (link) where countless of people have shown their support. The main Fifth Harmony account has continued to stay silent, but Ally Brooke Hernandez and Lauren Jauregui have both posted a tweet showing their support in the past 2 hours. 

It is disheartening and upsetting that Fifth Harmony as a whole have made statements and addressed situations far less in severity than this one and promptly too. For example, they have backed and stood by their temporary security guard whilst on tour in Brazil (link) yet continue to ignore racism faced by their own group member. Seeing how easily they’ve dismissed racism faced by a black woman is upsetting especially to their black fans. Tweeting a hashtag (#WeLoveNormani) initially started by fans, is not a good enough response to cyber bullying so severe, Normani has had to step away from Twitter for the first time in her professional career to focus on her own well being. Fifth Harmony’s camp have also not addressed how they will deal with the constant harassment of one of their members. 

Camila’s fans have continued to equate comments Camila receives about her choice to make music outside of the group to racially charged hatred Normani receives for simply being in the group and existing. They have also contributed to countless micro aggressions towards Normani in which they continue to diminish and discredit her talents. These same fans are safe in the knowledge that their favourite member, Camila, continues to follow them on Twitter, engage with them in direct messages and show them love and support. 

For a group which actively claims they stand for feminism, I’m disappointed to say that they unfortunately don’t practice what they preach, at least not in a public manner. While we may not know what happens behind the scenes, their silence speaks volumes, especially the lack of responsibility from the root of this issue namely Camila Cabello and her fans.   

Sincerely, A Concerned and Disappointed Fan” 

[cookbookkitten-deactivated20181]

Sad. I honestly don’t follow or listen to 5H very much, but I do watch and see what’s going on. It’s sad that with almost any groups, if there is a black member, they always seem to get singled out for a bunch of hate or will be the one who people like less. It’s sad because they often are doing nothing, but existing and having a different skin color. It reminds me of a friend I had when the Spice Girls were famous and my friend would go on and on about how cool they were, but how Mel B was just unnecessary in the group and she could never explain why. Over time, I realized, she just didn’t like her because she was not white, plain and simple. It will NEVER really make sense to me to treat someone different because of a skin color or think of them differently. NEVER and I hope it never does. It’s the single most stupid thing to not like someone for. Something that can’t be changed and could not be helped by the person. And for her group mates to NOT be fiercely behind her, as their band mate and “sister”, it makes me a lot less interested in ever trying to listen to these ladies or support the group. It’s like your best friend being there while someone calls you a nigger and throws a drink on you and all they do is help dry you off and goes on with their night as if nothing happened. That’s how this Camila’s response seems. Anyway, not being interested in supporting the group does hurt Normani, but I tend to stay away from supporting anyone who has/shows racist views or seems to blatantly disregard racism, especially when it’s so overt like this. Those pictures that were linked, ugh, just … only disgusting people, with ugly souls, would ever even think that’s appropriate to make and post anywhere. And her mates don’t seem interested enough to really go out there and shame these people, which is what they deserve. However, I doubt they will do anything because they don’t want to lose fans, but who the hell would want fans like that? And standing up for her might actually bring in other fans. I feel bad for her and hope she goes solo because I, myself, couldn’t fathom being in a group with girls who seem to kind of gloss over some horrible things pointed directly at me and for something as simple as a skin color. It’s the Leslie thing all over again. It’s sad being in 2016 and knowing this stuff still happens. It’s not at all surprising, just sad.

[woahcentral-deactivated20170130]

“black women were created of brown sugar and warm honey. the sweetest thing to bless the earth. be wary of anyone who tells you otherwise.” ― alexandra elle.

THE HISTORY OF THE “ANGRY BLACK WOMAN” STEREOTYPE

This was popularized by the 1930s sitcom Amos ‘n’ Andy. While this show was based around a historic black community, their use of the “angry black woman” stereotype was created by white men, as they were the only ones behind the making of the show. Unsurprisingly, this was not the only time this stereotype was used in television shows and developed by non-black writers.

THE EFFECT THIS STEREOTYPE HAS ON BLACK WOMEN

While some may see this stereotype as a laughing matter, it’s become a serious problem for black women who simply want to be able to express themselves. This stereotype removes black women’s rights to voice their opinions with the respect they deserve.

Although some people may see this stereotype as not being around, women such as Nicki Minaj, Leslie Jones, and Beyoncé would disagree, as it has effected them (and more black women) all in the latest year. The most recent (famous) victim of this is Fifth Harmony’s Normani Kordei. Because of how insane it is, this case is the perfect one to highlight on this article, as it perfectly portrays just how far people will go to paint black women as angry for their own benefit.

It should come as no surprise that Kordei has faced racism for the entire four years of the group’s existence. This discrimination however, got even more out of hand within this past year. Around the time that Kordei released two dance videos and the news of her group member’s (Camila Cabello) solo career got out, Cabello’s fans in particular began harshly criticizing Kordei by referring to her as “shady” and “a diva.” There was no valid reason behind their claims, as she hadn’t done anything that could be described by either of those words, yet one of their excuses was that she “retweeted too many compliments about herself.”

Their microaggressive behavior only progressed as Cabello started receiving criticism (for multiple reasons) and as Kordei started began receiving more praise and recognition. This behavior included body shaming and slut shaming, claiming that she had no talent, making false claims about her character, sending her death threats, and attacking her with extremely direct racism. Most recently, their anger stems from Kordei referring to her group mate, Cabello, as “cute and quirky.” How this makes sense, no one is sure, but their behavior has gone so far that Kordei is now on a break from social media.

Kordei has always spoken up about the racism she’s received, yet Cabello’s fans have always dismissed this and continued labeling her as a diva. She still faces criticism from these fans, who refer to her as “weak” and “attention seeking” for taking a social media break.

Unfortunately, these fans are not alone in painting her as the “angry black women.” Nylon Magazine had said that Kordei had “inadvertently let her true feelings about Cabello slip,” implying that she had said something negative about her group mate. Perez Hilton had referred to Kordei’s words on Cabello as a “diss.” Inquisitr had said that Kordei “shaded” and “burned” Cabello, and made it a point to depict her as a “shade queen.” J-14 wrote two articles focusing on how Kordei had thrown “shade” at Cabello and even said that they “under[stood] why Harmonizers were upset.” HollywireTV deleted a video covering the story where they misleadingly painted Kordei as the villain, to then upload a video that ended up skipping over the discrimination she gets and even managed to victimize Cabello instead (let it be known that the host of the show also once claimed that she never saw Kordei receive hate). It should also be re-stated that these headlines and quotes were all responses to Kordei calling her group mate “cute and quirky.”

While there are more articles antagonizing Kordei (many of them praising Cabello for her “defense speech”), very few have managed to properly address the situation.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO STOP THIS STEREOTYPE

A big influence on this stereotype is the media’s portrayal of black women. The writers of these articles need to re-evaluate their racial bias. Another influence is the reactions people outside of the media hold, and in that case they also need to re-evaluate their racial bias and take black women more seriously.

In the particular case concerning Normani Kordei, there are actions you can take to make her social media experience easier upon her return. You can spread this Blavity article instead of other biased ones, as it accurately depicts Kordei and the situation at hand. You can also report and block the following Twitter accounts, as they have contributed to the racism and microaggression against her for a long time (many have shown this behavior toward other members of Fifth Harmony as well):

camilaitunes, dearestmiIa, camrenincrime, favcamiIa, lmjcatchme, daehynz, vodkalaurenss, workfromshomes, thotjai, distantlooks, camiilizer, mamichulacamila, cabeyomyeggo, tidescabello, cabellontour, holyhenderson, higherbrooke, kysagb, lmjournals, camiIascunt, lawrubi9, intoallyy, holyselegend, biancajauregui5, theresaranghaja, agbtinashe, giIsgeneration, hafterslow.

We stand with you, Normani.

[sugamani-blog]

“I would love to explain what's going on with Normani. 

Over the last 4 years of being in the public eye, Normani Kordei has faced blatant and subtle racism from people who claim to be "fans" of the group. This has escalated over the last year as fans of one member, Camila Cabello, continue to harass Normani and attribute stereotypes to her simply based on her skin colour. Normani has been nothing but professional and courteous about her fellow band mate (something that various interviews and articles will confirm), however these "fans" of Camila insist of portraying Normani as the "angry black girl" which is a stereotype that's very damaging and demoralizing for a young woman whose only goal is to spread love and positivity and inspire others. 

This past week, an interview was posted (link) in which Normani was asked to describe her band mates in a few words. She referred to Camila as "cute and quirky", two words which Camila has been described as by almost everyone who knows her, including herself. However, fans of Camila (not the group as a whole) cyber bullied Normani over this answer as they weren't "complimentary enough". It is important to note that these same "fans" claim to defend Camila and have been doing so since Camila chose to embark on a solo career late last year. This cyber bullying and numerous articles written by media outlets led to Normani's statement 2 days ago, captioned "Thoughts".

However, the situation escalated to the point where graphic and horrific racially charged images were created directly aimed at Normani. These images were nothing short of traumatizing to anyone who's seen them, let alone the person who it was aimed at (TRIGGER WARNING: 1 2 3 ) As these bullies continue to hide behind a Camila fan account, it was only fair to expect her to address the situation. Her acknowledgement that those were indeed her fans ("you don't have to hate on someone else to support me") fell flat when she chose not to address the situation outright and not mention Normani's name, her fellow group member of FOUR years. Her tweets were indeed so vague that other celebrities were under the assumption those were general tweets as seen by Gina Rodriguez' response (link). 

Normani has dealt with the racism she faces by being a member of Fifth Harmony on her own with no public support from her fellow band mates who appear to be outspoken on many social justice issues, including feminism but not something that affects their friend personally. Therefore, it doesn't come as a surprise that Normani has chosen to take a break from Twitter where she continues to be subjected to hate and racism as seen in her statement captioned "to my fans". Almost 24 hours after her tweet, Normani has received support from Zendaya, Becky G and Keith Powers amongst others. She has also gone viral on tumblr in a post (link) where countless of people have shown their support. The main Fifth Harmony account has continued to stay silent, but Ally Brooke Hernandez and Lauren Jauregui have both posted a tweet showing their support in the past 2 hours. 

It is disheartening and upsetting that Fifth Harmony as a whole have made statements and addressed situations far less in severity than this one and promptly too. For example, they have backed and stood by their temporary security guard whilst on tour in Brazil (link) yet continue to ignore racism faced by their own group member. Seeing how easily they've dismissed racism faced by a black woman is upsetting especially to their black fans. Tweeting a hashtag (#WeLoveNormani) initially started by fans, is not a good enough response to cyber bullying so severe, Normani has had to step away from Twitter for the first time in her professional career to focus on her own well being. Fifth Harmony's camp have also not addressed how they will deal with the constant harassment of one of their members. 

Camila's fans have continued to equate comments Camila receives about her choice to make music outside of the group to racially charged hatred Normani receives for simply being in the group and existing. They have also contributed to countless micro aggressions towards Normani in which they continue to diminish and discredit her talents. These same fans are safe in the knowledge that their favourite member, Camila, continues to follow them on Twitter, engage with them in direct messages and show them love and support. 

For a group which actively claims they stand for feminism, I'm disappointed to say that they unfortunately don't practice what they preach, at least not in a public manner. While we may not know what happens behind the scenes, their silence speaks volumes, especially the lack of responsibility from the root of this issue namely Camila Cabello and her fans.   

Sincerely, A Concerned and Disappointed Fan”