Recently, Fuerza Dulce buzzed me on IM to ask me if I was going to the conference on “Blogging while Brown.” A BwB conference? I’d not heard of such a thing, but website masthead was promising, claiming that this was a conference “for, by and about bloggers of color.”
I eagerly looked to see who they had invited as panelists, expecting to see some of my favorite desi bloggers mentioned, and perhaps some new ones I had not yet encountered. But there was not a single desi name listed of any sort, neither ABD, DBD, IBD, PBD, BBD, SLBD, NBD nor BVD.
Nor were there any Arab or Latino bloggers, another possibility for a conference on “brown bloggers.”
In fact, every single blogger listed
was African-American. Blogging while brown may well have been true in terms of skin color, since “black” is a misnomer when describing the hue of African-Americans, but in all colloquial meanings of the word, the conference would better have been described as “Blogging while Black.” And while the bloggers on the panel were all bloggers of color, they represented only one slice of the “of color” spectrum.
What puzzles me is why the promoters of the conference aren’t be honest about what they’re doing. Why not just call themselves Blogging While Black? Are we so cool now that even black folks want to be brown?
Given that I didn’t see any of the major African American bloggers on their list (A or B list), I don’t know if they had a systematic outreach criteria.
The best part of SM is the tangents it often sends me on… 🙂
I also didn’t realize that Steven Biko coined “Black is Beautiful” (according to Wikipedia).
47 · A N N A said
Well clearly they do, because they called their conference “Blogging While Brown” and as Ennis has so clearly pointed out, there aren’t any REAL brown people involved.
Sarcasm noted…but trying to please someone with your attitude is probably very tough…for the record I agree with Ennis.
51 · Ennis said
That’s just not cricket.
54 · Amitabh said
That doesn’t mean you should stop trying! 🙂
Why’s everyone getting so touchy? I didn’t see anything offensive in Ennis’ post; there is no need to get more-PC-than-thou here.
To infer based upon an list of public speakers? Why not?
As for emailing people directly – we blog on lots of issues without contacting the people involved. We blogged about Robert Putnam, for example, and he found the story and showed up to give his point of view. We didn’t email him at Harvard and ask him for his reaction before we “went to press.” I’ve simply put some questions out there. I expect a conference on blogging to monitor their coverage in the blogs.
I think the point of this thread is not supposed to be whether black people own, or can, or ever have, refer to themselves as brown, or just whether the conference at issue took a topic that should apply to any blog that addresses issues important to minorities and, either by intent or gross negligence, restricted it to African-American blogs, am I right? Assuming that this was the point, the only topic on the panel that seemed specifically targeted to African-American issues was the one entitled “‘Umoja’ from a black blogger’s perspective” – every other topic seemed to address a subject that would be inclusive to any minority of color (yellow, red, brown, black, blue…), so why shouldn’t mutineers feel as welcome to participate as any other blog? As far as the unfortunate title of the conference is concerned (and the unusual assertion here that blacks are trying to own all of darker shades in the Crayola box), I’ll just say, yes, black people do sometimes refer to themselves as brown, have the same intra-racial divisions as so many other minority groups over whether lighter or darker shades of their race are more attractive or otherwise better as any other minority group, and yes, even debate whether “Black” can be owned by African-Americans and can be used interchangeably, or whether that excludes blacks from other parts of the world. I know, this isn’t news to anyone, but I just wanted to add that bit of perspective to the thread here. (p.s. – Anna, I think the phrase was coined by John Rock, an abolitionist, in the mid-1800’s. Just sharin’!)
58 · Ennis said
That’s not the reference; I had no problem with your previous explanation regarding trackbacks (else i would have said so)–i was saying that having no systemic search criteria seems impolite in a context where the choice of color-as-group-identifier can be controversial/confusing. Where language matters, is it not of paramount importance to carefully explain how bloggers came to be participants?
I refer you all to the song by D’Angelo called “Brown Sugar”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Iq_EfpGAH4o
Although I always thought it was about a black woman, it appears that it could also be about heroine.
I always thought it was about a black woman
Next you will reveal that you also thought ‘No Sugar Tonight’ is for diabetics.
here’s more context for “blogging while brown†in the black blogosphere
Terrance at the republic of t, wrote about what it means to be blogging while brown as a black political blogger. he’s talking about under representation on mainstream political blogs like daily kos.
also, i believe the woman who runs What about our Daughters is organizing the bwb conference. she also runs michelle obama watch
sorry bout the lack of link at terrance’s citation, rusty html skills
republic of t
Game theory (social psychology, etc.). African American cultural/intellectual elites are Kaizer Soze smart about the representational power that comes with being half of a white/black American racial dialectic. I don’t think this particular tack your taking (transparency about things that there’s a performed mutual non-acknowledgment of) is a winning strategy. Instead I recommend alternate “blogging while brown” conferences where desis just happen to have hegemonic power (but some african americans, etc. are represented, too).
To clarify: 1. Yes, there’s a deliberate appropriation of “brown” that the black community (well an intellectual elite segment) is experimenting with. 2. They’re doing it with in-built plausible deniability of motive for enhanced effectiveness. 3. Trying to point that out isn’t a winning strategy for non-white, non-black, (non-east asian) people of color, at least in the kabukified way racial discussion and representational heirarchical construction seems to work in the USA. 4. It’s a compliment to recent successes of desis and others in securing enhanced visibility, cultural influence, and non-pigeonholedness in the USA. 5. The best response is the type the most socially deft members of our community tends to come up with. Which is generally something more subtle than “Hey, why are black people calling themselves brown all the sudden?!”
Sorry guys, but I’ve heard many a black person refers to themselves as brown. And not just in R&B songs. Honestly, there are some South Asians that have darker hues than some blacks, if we’re going to get technical about the terms brown and black. And as one of my girlfriends said to me in college, “Black? Does my face look black to you? It’s much more accurate to call me brown-skinned.”
And why not send a letter to the group, asking if other minorities could join? Maybe no one ever asked….
Ultimately, we can’t raise the station of our people if other minorities stay behind. It might be helpful to venture out there….I doubt it would come off as an attack if worded properly.
My confusion didn’t even lie so much with the usage of the word “brown”, but rather in the conference’s advertising saying that it is a conference for “bloggers of color”. When I read that I figured there would be some representation from desis/latinos/east asians/etc.
Let’s stretch our arms out to our black/brown brothers and sisters and let them know that as people of color we’re here for them too.
67 · Sona said
Yes, that’s why Intelligent Hoodlum once spat that he’s “Brown and proud”. Bill Clinton was our first, faux “Brown” president. Stokely Carmichael exclaimed, “What we gonna start sayin’ now is Brown Power!” Nikki Giovanni (oh honey) and Maya Angelou? Brown Arts Movement. James Brown’s my favorite though– “Say it loud, I’m brown and proud”.
This isn’t about literal interpretations of hue, this is about common sense. I live in DC. It’s got a non-trivial number of African-American residents, none of whom, within my earshot, have ever referred to themselves, their culture, or anything else black as “brown”.
I think (after a bit more reading, more like I know) you are right and I’m so glad you shared. 🙂
47 · A N N A said
African Americans have a number of hues “they” use when referring to themselves. A light-skinned person might be referred to as “yellow” or “high-yellow,” like DJ Yellow from N.W.A. and reggae artist Yellowman. Someone night quite “yellow” but not dark, dark might be called “red,” as Malcolm X was called “Detroit Red” when he was a young man, or Redd Foxx or rapper Redman. And then there’s ashy or ashen.
What bothers me about the way this conference is marketed is not that the organizers are referring to themselves as brown–many “races” claim the brown label (as many others have pointed out)–but that they are claiming the whole “people of color” umbrella without a nod to other “types” of browns.
The Rolling Stones have a song Brown Sugar as well, lyrics go: “brown sugar, just like a black girl should”….
The way the anglosphere uses the words “black” and “asian” results in plenty confusion for desis. There are more black-skinned people in South Asia than the total number of people of african descent in the entire American Continent.
48 · ptr_vivek said
Krs-one made that statement on one of his cds back in the day. I am wondering as a black person oh lawd I said it did it offend you when the people of that conference called themselves brown? I know of a lot of Desi folks that are ten shades darker most African American.
70 · Harbeer said
Come on… 🙂 So these invited bloggers are all the same shade? Not yellow, not red, not a blue-black southerner…ditch digger or a governor?
Thank you for getting back to the real issue, which was getting lost among the hair-splitting (I was guilty of it, too). It’s problematic that “people of color” don’t include other…colors.
61 · ShallowThinker said
He is talking about weed. Diana Ross was in a movie called mahogony back in the day.
72 · Doug said
No, it didn’t offend me at all for the reason you are insinuating. It offended me for the reasons I have laid out, in my comments above.
How amusing, that it always comes back to this…that some of us are darker than African-Americans. So fucking what? Some of us are lighter, too. Some of us are in the middle. Let’s let go of the paper bag, shall we? This isn’t about being in denial about how “a lot” of desis are “ten shades” darker and it’s insulting that anyone would attribute that to me of all people, when I regularly get pilloried across the pond for being too militant about the bullshit that is colorism.
To me, this isn’t and was never about anything as useless or literal as the actual hue of one’s skin. But if it makes some of you feel better, yes, there are South Asians who are darker than some black people. There are plenty of Scythian douchebag trolls who happily chime in and remind us of that, on ancient posts.
Here’s the parting shot of his post that can be considered offensive: “Why not just call themselves Blogging While Black? Are we so cool now that even black folks want to be brown?”
Besides being potentially offensive it is laughably out of touch with reality to boast that desi-americans are considered “cooler” than african-americans.
47 · A N N A said
Anna, it’s great to see you back, and in your element! 🙂
I’m on the fence on the big question here, but it’s a discussion well worth having, and it’s really interesting to see all the back-and-forth.
76 · colorizer said
Why is it so awful that his parting shot was so silly? It’s not his finest writing but does it really merit such disdain? I see how it is; I have to acknowledge that desi people are the REAL black people because we’re so dark-skinned compared to African Americans but he can’t make a joke about desis being cool? Yes, we are utterly uncool, aren’t we? Dark, in denial/”out of touch with reality” and uncool.
These comments have been…fascinating. Sad and fascinating.
And what about us East Asians/North Asians? We tend to only look brown if we’re out in the sun for a long time… 😉
Seriously though, I think a lot of people are making a fuss out of Ennis’ post, which highlights an important issue: a “bloggers of color” conference only seems to include one “color”, whether on purpose or accidentally. And in the highly diverse America that we’re living in, that is a big deal. While I’m not trying to downplay the amount of difficulty black Americans have to deal with—-quite frankly, it’s not covered enough in my opinion—it’s even rarer that there’s any adequate coverage of non-black minorities. The point is that whether this particular exclusion was intentional or not, it’s symptomatic of a larger problem in our discourse about race, namely that it’s implicit even at this date that Americans come in two colors: “black” and “white”.
75 · A N N A said
<
blockquote>72 · Doug said
Well from I am just stating facts it seems that folks are all uptight about a blogger group saying they are brown,I was just pointing out a fact that some Indians are darker than African Americans,yes I also know that we have black folks that are damn near white. It just strikes me as strange that the majority of these posts here even if it is not talking about blacks always come back to black people. I personally could careless about calling myself brown or whatever. I remember you stating once in on one of your blog that you used the phrase referring to yourself “That black don’t crack”. Should I get upset no because I could careless.
I am reading what the author of the blog wrote about blacks trying to be like Indians and that come off a bit smug. Was it sarcasm I don’t know.
Doug – if you look at the post, I concede up front that African-Americans come in all hues. And you’re right, there are some desis who are a good deal darker than many “blacks”, I myself fall in that category with some of my black friends.
The last line was snark. It’s a mark of the cultural role that African-Americans play that whites, asians, desis and others try to “act black” (whatever that means, as problematic as it is). I’ve never met anybody who tried to “act brown” in America though, and so it was amusing to point out that perhaps we had become so cool, so very cool, that now black folks were trying to pass as us. If this still isn’t making sense, just understand that no offense was meant, because it’s not worth belaboring the point.
Lastly, I think that the phrases “while black” and “while brown” have pretty narrow meanings. No matter how dark I am, I wont get pulled over by the popo for “driving while black.” And even if you are far lighter skinned than I am, you are unlikely to get the treatment I get when I “fly while brown.”
Okay Man I understand what you saying. I will admit I have seen Desis catching hell trying to get on a plane. I think that is a shame and a scandal.
81 · Ennis said
You’re obviously not looking hard enough.
someone has commented on the bwb blog asking about their marketing techniques. their response was that they used online press release sevices and got publicity through news articles in mainstream papers. they also expressed an interest in suggestions on where to publicize the conference in the future.
so, you might make suggestions about using a search committee at the blog.
wow. what a mess.
85 · tracey said
Hate begots hate.
Here is the back-story behind the conference, from AlterNet.
Who’s hating? I pointed out that this conference positioned itself as broad but seemed narrow. Here’s more evidence, from one of the founding figures, in terms of what the conference is concerned with:
Important issues to be sure, and ones we should all care about. But it seems more and more clear that the focus of this conference is by, for, and of African-American bloggers.
I think this is valid and I’m sure Ennis was not hating….In his last statement “Why not just call themselves Blogging While Black? Are we so cool now that even black folks want to be brown?” I just took it as a joke. There’s nothing hateful about that and his previous posts don’t really show any attitude like that — at least from what I’ve read.
I also agree that if you are trying to promote a persons of color blogging event, there should have been more outreach to other persons of color. And using the term “brown” was confusing at least to a desi; maybe many black americans don’t know that desis use “brown” or latinos too (though I didn’t know lations used it until recently). And I, as an indian american, didn’t know that black americans used “brown” often.
I’ve come across the same issue in other events – the issue, that is, that “persons of color” is inclusive only to the interests of blacks (that is African Americans or Africa diaspora)
Not in the Hate hate sense. Sarcasm man sarcasm.
Not in the Hate hate sense. Sarcasm man sarcasm.
hmm….I just don’t know how else to take what you said as literally meaning that the writer of this entry expressed “hate”….; What is there to be sarcastic about — you are sarcastic that Ennis is hateful, when you know actually he’s not. I guess I just don’t get your “sarcasm” or irony in your statement, but maybe it’s just me.
well, brown sugar refers to black women. hope that helps.
oh, colorizer went there first. just noticed.
but i’ve met browns who literally do try to pass for blacks (though they stand out like mitt on mlk day). But never vice versa. so blacks win this one, imo. once bollywood hits the US though, we may start benefiting from the flattery of imitation.
Well, sometime we can use word “blogging White Black”. But I think, they are fine with brown rather than Black. I am not sure what Asian do.
…………. Sithara
Addiction Recovery North Dakota
ennis,
Get a grip. It’s not that big of a deal.
*