The Problem With 'the Black Whatever': Are We Not Satisfied With Ourselves?

The Problem With 'the Black Whatever': Are We Not Satisfied With Ourselves?

John Butts@JBMedia:

A couple of weeks ago, I came across a story about Joyce Bryant, a curvaceous entertainer in the 1950s and 60s who was known as “the Black Marilyn Monroe.” I researched her further, and Bryant was beautiful and talented in her own right, oozing sex appeal and class simultaneously, but instead she was compared to the Blond Bombshell ...
I thought about how many times I've heard someone or something referred to as "the black whatever" and why that is. Understandably, for so long, we've only had whites to look to as the standard of beauty, intellect and talent. We looked to those figures when our heroes were few, far and in between. Honestly, even when there were counterparts of African descent who were comparable or even better -- Lena Horne or Jackie Robinson -- the Frank Sinatras and Marilyn Monroes were still the mold.http://www.theroot.com/buzz/problem-black-whatever