Natural: Dante' de Blasio

Have you guys been following the run for New York City Mayor? If you don't live in New York, you've probably been following it as closely as I have - which is not much more than hearing where Anthony Weiner stood in the polls.

Well I knew that Weiner lost the primary, but I didn't pay attention to who won. Earlier this week I saw a photo of President Obama shaking hands with a young man with a HUGE Afro, but it wasn't until I read the story that I really stopped and thought about the implications of that Afro.

The young man, Dante' de Blasio, is the 15-year-old son of Bill de Blasio, the winner of the Democratic primary and the Democrat's candidate for New York City Mayor. Apparently Dante's August advertisement for de Blasio served as a boon for his father's campaign. I've attached one of the videos here:

and a second video here (this one dealing more directly with NYC's controversial and questionable stop-and-frisk policy):

and here he is shaking hands with the President:

Dante', his dad Bill, and the President. via @hyersBill on Twitter

Dante's parents are telling the world that it is ok for him to wear his hair any and everywhere. Apparently the President appreciated his hair also, and purportedly even said that he had the same hairstyle back in 1978 - but that his wasn't as good because it was lopsided. With New York City being one of the influential cities in the US and in the world, the de Blasio's have put their son's Afro and Mrs. de Blasio's (Ms. Chirlane McCray) locks on the world stage - and told everyone that their natural hair is good enough as is.

Dante' said he has been wearing his Afro since the third grade, when he first fell in love with the style. His maintenance routine is pretty simple, 'I have to pick it out every day and I wash it every week and I get trimmed about once a month'.

What do you think? Would you have made Dante' cut his hair? Or did his parents allow it because he's only 15, or because it is a style that he's now worn for half of his life?

Image via Twitter

Source, Source 2

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Unknown locks, locs, natural, natural hair, politics

Michelle Obama - Slave? Inspirational, Racist, or in Bad Taste?

'Michelle Granddaughter of a Slave, Lady of America'

As you can see, this is an image of our First Lady, Michelle Obama. Her face has been superimposed on a 19th century painting entitled, Portait D'Une Negresse, by Spanish magazine Magazine de Fuera de Serie (Outside Magazine) with the addition of an American flag.  According to their text, my high school Spanish, and Google translate the accompanying blurb states that Michelle is the very popular woman behind the man, who has won the hearts of the American people and may be a key to his re-election. They haven't released the article, and instead used this image along with accompanying text as a preview for their next issue. Source 1, Source 2. 

Original painting. 

Apparently the original painting was created in France six years after the abolition of slavery, and was seen there as a symbol women's emancipation and black people's rights. Source 3. 

But why this image? I don't understand the choice. Is it a reflection of the history of race and slavery in America? Does this choice simply show the lack of diversity of images of the black woman (here and abroad)? Truly if there were more portraits of black women maybe they would have had more images to choose from. But who is to say that the painting used even had to be of a black woman? 

Is it disrespectful to have an image of the First Lady partially nude? Is this simply a matter of cultural differences? As in, do our Puritanical roots make the nudity an issue where other cultures would not? What is the correct cultural perspective? Or is it just that it is racist to portray Mrs. Obama as a slave? 

Or are they saying in one image - look how far black people have come - from slavery to the White House in a few short generations. 

I really don't know, but I can say I like it better than this:

Afro as political statement... 

What are your thoughts? 

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Unknown First Lady, images, politics, race, random