What About Solutions Contributor Njeri Santana,is the founder and owner of Urban Playdates. Urban Playdats is a FREE social-networking site connecting parents & caregivers that are raising or involved in raising children of color www.urbanplaydates.com
By Njeri :Santana
Well, after my last post I learned a couple of valuable lessons and I needed to lick some wounds, but now I ready to get back on the horse. I’m appreciative that we sparked conversation concerning the media images and how it affects African American Women. Well below are organizations already on the front lines combating these images and one way we ALL can assist this organizations is through support:
“The Souls of Black Girls” is a documentary produced and directed by Daphne Valerius. It examines media images–how they are instituted, established and controlled. More importantly the film tries to find out whether or not women of color may be suffering from self-image disorder as a result of trying to attain the standards of beauty that are celebrated in the media.
Valerius interviews several celebrities such as Actresses Regina King and Jada Pinkett Smith, PBS Washington Week Moderator Gwen Ifill, rapper/political activist Chuck D, and cultural critic Michaela Angela Davis. These heavy hitters provide frank and sincere commentary about the effects that hip hop has had on them personally and the black community as a whole.
Ms. Valerius “aspires to influence, inspire and uplift women of color through projects created, developed and produced for and by women of color through her own production projects.” According to Ms Valerious “as women of color within our society, collectively and individually, we are all suffering internally from a self-image disorder. And it’s our responsibility to accept, define, love and promote ourselves.”
The documentary is now available on DVD for $19.99. Just a suggestion instead of buying that Sash Fierce CD for your daughter, neice, god-daughter or young women in your family purchase this DVD instead.
African American Women in Cinema “ is a non-profit organization whose mission is to support minority women filmmakers by providing resources in the film industry.
Incorporated by the Organization’s President, Terra Renee, in 2000, the objective of AAWIC is to improve cultural understanding and overall social welfare through the promotion of diversity in all filmed content in both dramatic and documentary formats. Want help? Well become a member. There are various membership levels to choose from.
DvRepublic.org “DV” stands for “digital video” and “dissident voices” and is a project of the Black Filmmaker Foundation (BFF).
“DVRepublic.org exist as a self-validating, self-supporting online community of “citizens” who monitor the intersection of media, technology, and social justice. As informed citizens, we engage in active online discussion in the “public square” of the DV Republic liberated zone. DV Republic uses the Internet and New Media technology to connect this community and host the BFF Lab which develops and promotes digital filmmaking and interactive new media that is socially concerned, entertainment driven.
We regard the Internet as the liberated zone of the 21st century and the home of our DV Republic. There are a couple of ways you can support DV Republic. First you can register and become a member for FREE! Second, you can provide a financial donation. dvRepublic.org is a project of the Black Filmmaker Foundation, a 501 (c) 3 tax-exempt non-profit organization. Your contributions of funds, goods, or services will be tax deductible to the extent provided by law.
Have you written a screenplay or interested in writing one? Then you should check out The Organization of Black Screenwriters, Inc. (OBS) was created “1986 to address the lack of black writers represented within the entertainment industry.” “As a result of our great efforts and the continued growth of the organization, we have developed a powerful network which includes the Writers Guild of America and many agents, producers, directors and studios.” “The goal of this non-profit organization is to develop great writers. We desire to empower our members with intense training, hands-on experience, expansive resources and extensive industry exposure. We encourage freedom of expression via quality writing and filmmaking, without compromising the image of people of color.” If you aren’t a screenwriter you can still provide a financial contribution. The organization of Black Screenwriters is a 501(c)3 organization.
The Media Coalition of Artists of Color was “founded by documentarian St. Clair Bourne, The Black Documentary Collective (BDC) provides people of African descent, working in the documentary film and video field with the opportunity to network professionally; promote each others’ work, exchange ideas in order to generate productions and advocate on issues impacting Black documentarians. We have participated in the IFP Market as a group and have held special sessions with public TV’s funding agencies for independent producers.”
Women Make Movies Established in 1972 to address the under representation and misrepresentation of women in the media industry, Women Make Movies is a multicultural, multiracial, non-profit media arts organization which facilitates the production, promotion, distribution and exhibition of independent films and videotapes by and about women. The organization provides services to both users and makers of film and video programs, with a special emphasis on supporting work by women of color. Women Make Movies facilitates the development of feminist media through an internationally recognized Distribution Service and a Production Assistance Program. There are three ways that you can provide support: The Women Make Movies Friends Program, Become a Friend Now, Support our Sponsored Projects
9 comments ↓
Thank you for sharing this information. I have decided to spend more time sharing positive stories of Black women, our accomplishments, inspiration for soulful living, tools on understanding ourselves and our sisterhood (good, bad, and indifferent), and information in popular culture that impacts us on my BAP Living radio show and social networking site. I am not sure what it will all do, but at least it is out there for folks to use and see. It is my way of sharing my gifts through service.
Great post.
I just wanted to caution that the OBS isn’t terribly concerned with the image of black women. I have been to some of their readings and many of their members are of the anti-bw ilk. Even some of the female writers. There is usually more business card swapping and bragging than actual collaborative work. BUT I will say that there are some members who are more progressive. They are very active and always have events and readings and I would recommend them for actors who need to gain experience. Any opportunity to work on material can be beneficial. I am not trying to discourage anyone from reaching out to them but like I said, they are not very discerning when it comes to the material they promote. They also have industry writers come and speak and its usually someone like the writer who wrote “Trois” – that sexist piece of crap about a love triangle gone bad after a threesome.
The other thing about these programs and nonprofits is that they have very little access to the media conglomerates putting out the filth. I love AAWIC but they are based in NYC, not in Los Angeles. The non profit sector cannot compete with corporations, no matter how good their intentions. We see this in other industries like healthcare and energy.
I think donating or volunteering for these organizations is a great “feel good” idea. I think a black woman’s biggest weapon is still her pocketbook. These images continue to survive because they are funded and supported. Viacom took notice when sponsors were pulling out of Hot Ghetto Mess. TBS would probably not air House of Payne 18 times a week if they were not getting decent ad revenue. If you see something that offends you, don’t just roll your eyes and suck your teeth – hit the google! You can pretty much find out exactly who is to blame with just an hour or so of investigation. Fire off those letters and make phone calls and threaten!! I have worked for NBC and Fox and let me tell you, they actually do listen when people threaten. Fox gets a ton of complaints daily about their programming and the ones that were paid attention to were the ones in which a viewer specifically mentioned the advertisers and said they were going to contact them. Those people got an email or a phone call from someone in upper management.
I also think that black women need a central location to lodge complaints, organize and get advice from people in the legal and entertainment professions. I have been working on this for about four months. I don’t want it to be a nonprofit because I don’t want to be restricted. Just a simple LLC and website where black women can go and file complaints that a team can filter through and formulate in a way that will illict a response. I realize that some women may be offended but don’t know quite how to properly verbalize their frustrations. This is where the team of “experts” can come in. Then we can have an organized system of expressing our opinions. I think it could really be a great resource for black women. This is still in the very early planning stages but I would appreciate some input.
Or maybe I ‘ll just write a solutions post of my own instead of hogging the comment box. Sorry.
Okay, I’m coming out of lurking again, the 2nd time in 24 hours. LOL I actually read the post a few times to make sure what I’m saying is relevant.
You asked:
Whose Protecting Our Image And What Are You Going To Do About It?
Well, I think that organizations are great; but there are many individual writers (such as myself) working to project a “human” image of black women. I use the word “human” and not “positive” because I think if you just go for “positive” your work will come off as flat and fake. I have been working as a writer (once belonged to OBS) for a long time and write stage plays (amongst other things) celebrating black women’s stories and lives, the good and the challenges. I also had a website called nappystories (now closed) for five years featuring short fiction celebrating black women’s natural hair. Right now I’m producing a serious of short plays about black women’s lives. That’s what I’m doing for right now.
I have seen this very subject many times before on many different sites. Instead of/or in addition to donating to these organizations why not donate/raise money to make a movie. You could take a year to raise the money (example 150K could be 1 dollar/mouth from 12,500 women in year). While raising the money have a competition for scripts. Then a competition for filmmakers. Kind of like project green light. You could have a movie about (or just starring), produced and crewed by black women.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0393567/
This guys (begged borrowed and stole) and made this movie for 15K.
@ Hollywood Blackout:
I wonder if it would be more effective if there was an organization that simply informed and gave out key effective phrases that BW ought to use when putting out a complaint?
I just saw this post, but just wanted to say thank you so much. I had no idea these organizations existed. I’m an aspiring writer, so it’s great to have this info.
Hollywood Blackout,
You are SO RIGHT! I’ve been saying this for two years now. Money, Money and more Money is all these conglomerates know. If we can’t build our own (right now), well it is about the ad revenues, because that’s the only way to get them to address the issue.
If they fear losing the moolah change will come.
As for your idea about a central place, that would be great, but what I’ve found is that some folks aren’t very motivated toward this idea … people are drawn to controversy and complaining, taking active steps to do something (especially in regards to entertainment) … hmm, not so much.
Off the negative note, I would support it!
Jaceel, great idea!
When you break it down to people in laymens terms like that, it could actually get folks interested in taking action.
But I also think that black women who are actually invested in entertainment (you know like the ones that blog on it, are in the industry, writers, dancers and so forth) are the ones that should be targeted first. They are the ones most likely to want to participate in something like that.
Hell, at that price, even I could afford to give money and its not about getting recognition it’s about accomplishing a goal and taking a stepping stone to something bigger.
It’s just like the buy black campaign that was talked about elsewhere a week or so ago, it just takes a small step to get to something bigger.
geez I sound all idealistic, but hey these are great ideas.
OBS is not terribly concerned with the image of Black females?
What a big surprise.
Sistas, we are going to have to do it OURSELVES, emphasis on the word “OUR”.