illimack said:

The whole thing was worth Smokey gettin his groove on with Diana
And Mariah chatting on the bridge with Janet

Oh and yes...Mariah came from an African American sperm cell yes.... And she makes naturally R&B Music...so...

As much as people talk about Oprah "attending" to her 'white audience' as people say..I was surprised to see her say, "all the white people are looking all around like 'what is going on here'!!!" When they were having their "chuch" gathering.
Patti put on some vocals that made my neck shiver with delight...that voice..unbelieveable

Hmmm, did anyone else find the show a bit racist/sexist?

I mean, I get it, I do. Black chics had a hard time makin' it back in the day. We know ALLLLL about it. But WTF already. Okay Oprah appreciates them making the way a bit easier for her and other black women. GREAT.....send them a thank you card. Or even go ahead.....Have a "Legends Ball". But WTF, DON'T TELEVISE IT!!!!!

I'm sure Fat Italian Men, Jewish Men w/big noses, Skinny white girls w/no titts, Latinos w/big asses, had a hard time makin' it in show bussiness too. I don't see any tributes to J LO for makin' fat asses cool.

But can you imagine what OPRAH or others would do if there was a televised PRIME TIME special called SKINNY WHITE GIRLS BALL?!?!?!?!
People would be ALLLL over it.

luv4all7 said:

butterfli25 said:

that is too funny! hey if hispanics with big asses want to do a show about it then more power to them but don't put oprah down because she thought of doing this honor thing for black women first.

luv4all7 said:

Here we go again....there is always one person that has some negative shit to say. It's always "racist" when black folk want to celebrate black accomplishments.

Oprah is a black woman who wanted to thank the black women who went before her for making a way. She wanted to do it and she fucking paid for it. She did not initially plan to televise it, but a couple of young'uns begged her to.

Bottom line,if you think that a Black woman telling her ancestors "thank you"is racist, you better go find a better definition of racism.

dancerella said:

If I had the money I would throw a ball to honor all fat Hispanics who are unfuckable beasts but have a heart of gold!

luv4all7 said:

They did...for decades and decades..it was called Ms. America Pagent...

illimack said:

I totally DON'T think that at all. And I'm NOT negative, so if I came across that way, oops! My point is that IF a (I won't even INVOLVE race) party for famous skinny people was thrown.....Oprah would be pissed!

And I also thought the ending w/the passing of the mike and all was Beautiful, and how they said they could feel the Lords presence and all.....I'm not negging the event out, just irked me a bit is all.

luv4all7 said:

WTF are u talking about???? You are not making any sense at all....first you call the show racist, then you say you didn't mean it like that...then you compare it to a ball for skinny people???? Whateva!
It was a spirtually moving, beautiful show, that celebrated people that are not often celebrated. You go Oprah! Thank you for not forgetting where you came from, and thank you for reminding the young'uns of the hard work of our ancestors.

illimack said:

I found the end quite beautiful too

I also found the fact that it was telivised a tad racist. Just the same as if a show was aired called legends ball and Brittney Spears was the host and was honoring white pop stars FEMALE and WHITE only, that would also be called racist and THERE WOULD be a big deal made out of it on GMA the next morning and tabloids/newspaper and talkshows for months to come.
Peace.

luv4all7 said:

but they did...for many many years...it was called The Oscars.

sosgemini said:

touche

sosgemini said:

Dude, you could be rite, I dunno. I don't watch the Oscars or Ms. America. Just happened to catch the ball, and it hit a nerve.....maybe I'm jealous 'bout the earrings, I dunno.

luv4all7 said:

And Oprah is supposed to celebrate Italians and Latino's before doin it 4 her own race?


Celebrating Women is Sexist...for Oprah as a WOMAN?



Someone sounds jelous of the black community. Hey, we were stolen from Africa...we can appreciate our won race all the hell we want to, we been here the 3rd longest...every other race jus have to wait their turn. White people celebrate themselves (but not their culture if they have one) all the time

paisleypark4 said:

What makes you think I'm white or jealous for that matter. I don't care, I thought the ball was cute. Just stating that if it woulda been any other race, there woulda been protests and rioters gathered outside like it was an abortion clinic.
[Edited 5/23/06 11:44am]

luv4all7 said:

Na ah. Somalis and Africans do it all the time on Public access...Latinos do it all the time on Univision...what's the point?

U really also sound dumb when a woman is celebrating womanhood..as being sexist.
Maybe u dont understand what Sexist means?
it means when U purposely mistreat the other sex (male) as a non void. WHERE..Usher was there, John Travolta Tyler Perry Shamar Moore and even Tom Cruise amongst other male celeb's.

REALLY sexist? Really?

Again, dont get mad cuz Oprah wanna celebrate black women..dont hate..participate.
[Edited 5/23/06 11:58am]

paisleypark4 said:

Whatever. Maybe ur right. Racist and Sexist were the wrong words to use. I just think it was STUPID on her part to televise it. Kind of a double standard IMO.

i get your point.

luv4all7 said:

Why did you think it was stupid for her to televise it? What kind of double standard was implied on Oprah's part?

You are really reachin' for something you don't quite understand. If Oprah did not televise this Ball, many people would not have know that Diahann Carroll was the first black actress to have her own TV show. Or the accomplishments of Dorothy height during the Civil Rights movement. I never knew anything about her until I saw the Legends Ball on TV. Did you know anything about these women before yesterday? Their accomplishments? Their hardships and struggles?

JackieBlue said:

OMG, really?? I haven't heard a thing about it

luv4all7 said:

With all the people on this board talking about how touched they were to see it... with the way all the women in attendance felt to be honored that way... with ABC obviously feeling like the show would draw enough of an audience... HOW THE FUCK was it "stupid" to air it??? Just b/c YOU didn't appreciate it? You have got to be kidding me. How disrespectful of every one of those women, their talent, & what they're accomplishments mean to others. Young Black girls don't have tons of positive role models - if just ONE saw this & through it learned something about herself/her goals/what she can accomplish, it is worth airing.

And you are full of contradictions. Maybe you need to spend more time figuring out what you're trying to say & choosing your words than being flippant about an event that was nothing but wonderful & positive. Apparently in your world, Black women aren't worth celebrating - how very "conditioned" of you

And by the way, skinny White women are celebrated 24 hours a day for years & years now - fuck Miss America, it's called "your television"

I hate I missed it, but I did see the pics in O Magazine awhile back.

I'm glad that Oprah decided to air it. It's about damn time POSITIVE images of black women are being shown on TV instead of the stereotypical nonsense.

If it was so "stupid" then why did you watch it? There's a little thing called a remote control ya know.....

Look Y'all totally r not reading into what I was saying the way I wanted you to. If you want to pick apart every word I said and turn it into luv4all7 is racist or luv4all7 is Rush Limbaugh (I DON'T even no who that is, btw) go ahead. Whatever you gotta do.

I actually felt bad about my initial statements and talked to 2 different black friends of mine and they both said they saw where I was comin' from with the fact that YES if some other race (mainly white) had the same type of event in this day in age, it WOULD be bitched about. But they also said it's a sensitive subject and I shoulda kept my mouth shut.

I believe it was CalhounSq who made a statement about if the show touched 1 black girl it was worth it and I DO agree w/that, and that WAS a good point.

Sorry if I made anyone think I was any bit racist becuz I'm not, and that is not my character at all. I said numerous times the ball was great, I DO think that it is true though what I said about it being televised. I think if the tables were reversed this would have been an "issue" is all I'm saying.

And call me ignorant but I didn't know there was such a thing as Black Entertainment Television and I DON'T know who Rush Limbaugh is. Or Telemundo or any of that.

I'm just a poor skinny white girl.

luv4all7 said:

Du u live on a farm with no television? How can you be on prince.org and not know about the black channel, or even the latino channel.

Well, who the heck would wanna televise "strong white women" They are all over the place being "celebrated" in a good or bad way every single day.
not often do our race see our black women in front of TV in a positive light unless they on "grilfriends" or some other television show.

By the way I wish Queen latifah was there too.

My little sister is mixed and she is going though her "I wanna be white" and "I wanna be hmong" stage...why do u think she's like that? Because there isnt enough positive female models out there to grasp. Its something U just don't understand, and should stay away from if u dont.

Thank God for that hour special.

Well maybe I don't understand to your sisters extent. I understand wanting to be something your not, all females go through that in out culture, I think. Sorry if I came across as an asshole, cuz I'm really not.

I didn't realize the special meant so much to people and I really didn't mean to diss it. If it came across that way I'm sorry.

And NO, i don't live ON a farm, but by them. And I do have TV, and but it only has 60 channels, and none of them are black or hispanic, and that's NOT MY doing.

luv4all7 said:

The fact that something like the special means nothing to you but means so much to some other people that you haven't considered (Black women) is exactly why Oprah took such care to honor these women in the first place - b/c they're too often dismissed, overlooked, unappreciated. That's exactly why things like this SHOULD be on the air...

It was a mere hour of television - "skinny White girls" are worshipped day & night on this planet but Black women can't get one hour on a Monday night???? Let's rethink that one...

Angela Bassett looked pretty Her speech was so emotional too....I thought she was auditioning for a role

illimack said:

oh my god...that's what she kept going on about? the gift that was soooo shocking?
"What's so impressive about a diamond. Except the mining" Fiona Apple

luv4all, pardon the vitriol sent your way on this thread. So often, your comments -- especially when delivered with sarcasm or, to be fair, glibness -- can smack a bit of the kind of insensitivity that, for many blacks, has been symptomatic of empowered whites' prejudicial, racist and harmful sentiments.

So, pardon us, if we've met your passionate expressions with outrage. Just wanted the context of our reactions -- or, at least, mine -- to be clear. Nothing personal against you.

As always, at the core of this thread's disagreement is historical context. Generally, when blacks have had to protest being excluded from something, it hasn't been something as trivial as a TV special about beautiful luminaries and pioneers. The protests have been against a lack of access to fundamental, basic liberties enjoyed by whites: such as housing, institutions of higher learning, good jobs, etc. And, I won't insult your intelligence by detailing the enslavement that gave way to Jim Crow laws and even later, more covert discrimination.

But these struggles of ours have not occurred within a vacuum. Racism isn't some figment of imagine, isn't some bogey man of black paranoid invention.

White supremacist thought has informed everything from the Trail of Tears and slavery, to Japanese interment camps and the U.S. government-sponsored Tuskegee syphillis experiments and the Ku Klux Klan's terrorism. Again, I say much of the thought driving these phenomena was whites feeling entitled to subject their nonwhite fellow citizens to such atrocities simply because they looked different.

So, when a Jamie Foxx, a Denzel Washington or a Halle Berry wins an Oscar for best actor or actress, understand that it's still a rarity in America. This country still has a long way to go, in terms of honoring the works and achievements of talented nonwhite people as highly as it does whites.

And, it goes back to what traits are valued and which aren't. Consider, if you will, how the phrase "All-American Girl" is still tied to blue-eyed blondes -- as opposed to dark, brown-eyed girls of varying ethnicities.

Progress is being made, without doubt. But, I think real progress will encompass whites not feeling threatened when nonwhites take a well-earned moment to celebrate all that makes us beautiful. You -- and others who share your values or background -- might not feel the same about us.

But, we don't need you to.

And maybe this adolescent-but-rapidly-maturing liberty from white approval -- which, I dare say, was at the core of the Oprah event -- is what offended some white people.

It's something, I say respectfully, our white brothers and sisters had better get used to.