You dismissed the accomplishments of people like Beyonce because she’s pretty, her skin is light, and at times chooses to dye her hair a color that usually only white women have. The comment below yours, by AshleyYakeley, asserts that Obama is President, and Jesse Jackson is not, is because Obama doesn’t act black. The less said about that, the better, IMHO.
That’s rich. You pooh-poohed the success of those women because they’re attractive by white standards, at least according to you. When I hear Beyonce or Rihanna on the radio, I can’t hear what they look like. Hell, the first time I heard Amy Winehouse, my mental picture was more of someone who looked like Precious than a white English girl, and I didn’t care. I don’t think a significant percentage of people saw a picture of Winehouse and said, “Wait, she’s a white girl? Well, now I can totally listen to her!”
And Hallie Berry…if anything, I think she’s been held back. I’ve seen her in things where she shows some decent acting chops, and she’s known as the pretty black girl. I don’t remember who did it, but I remember the ugly comments when she got an Oscar for Monster’s Ball, relating to her being pretty by white standards.
You’re right, pretty people have it easier in life, and people still judge each other on looks and how they act. Source: redheaded guys don’t tend to be seen as ruggedly handsome, and a lifetime of trying to convince people that I’m not about to fly off the handle just because I have red hair…only to validate their prejudice if I let myself get annoyed. And of course, being at the ass-end of Illinois, having northern Illinois people move down here to straighten us yokels out, and to have to work three times as hard to prove myself because I have a drawl…and I know how BB readers tend to feel about people with drawls… I am so not looking forward to the pervs who will be lining up to date my daughters, either. You can frame it as how patently unfair it is to ugly or black people with heavy African features, or on people who ac but you end up saying some pretty awful shit in the end IMHO.
