Lena Horne to Nikki Giovanni Lena Horne “ I didn’t have the strength to be with a black man”.

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Are we really going to allow disrespect for Lena Horne?

Did anyone take the time to read a book, watch a documentary -- or something about Mrs. Horne. shyt, at least learn about the climate and what was going on back then. Then learn what she did for ADOS and Black America in general.

And oh... both here parents were Black/ADOS.


She a real one looking at her history

She did alot for blacks and spoke up against racism

Folks may not kno her personal life tho
 

xoxodede

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xoxodede

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No excuses for wenching. I didn’t even watch the video. Based on other posters’ comments, I can only give her a morsel of credit for not directly bashing Black Men like most Wenches do.

You’re not from my state (Michigan) talking like that. Probably from the Upper Peninsula or some shyt. Can’t be from SE or SW MI.
:martin:

Sure honey :smile:
 
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invalid

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I don’t know how I feel about this.

It’s admirable in a way that she was honest about her feelings but I don’t think she was telling the whole story. Her decision to marry a white man was symbolic passing without having to physically pass herself.

She wanted a certain mainstream acceptance of which she knew she would never be able to achieve at the time while simultaneously embracing her blackness. And that bothered her and I believed she genuinely felt conflicted because deep down she wanted both stardom and to fully embrace her blackness.

Like so many people that pass, their excuses are that the burden of blackness is just too heavy and that they are ill-equipped to deal with its complexities.

And I understand that, but it also makes it no less cowardly.

Lena may have felt that she was ill-equipped to deal with the complexities of being with a black man, but also, and this is the part that she left out, she was chasing stardom and that would come easier if she was in closer affiliation with whiteness.
 

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Exactly. Her fukking with zaddy had nothing to do with black men. She is just looking to enter white society and is saying this crap for sympathy.

Quite pathetic honestly

Everybody know that I’m an avid defender of people of Lena Horne’s ilk, and as much as I don’t want to, I agree with this.

Lena was raised in an old school way where you communicate even the most distasteful of things in a way that was presented in a patina of genteel refinement. It was certainly an art and Lena masterfully delivered that she wanted to indulge in a form of “passing” by marrying a white man in the most self-effacing way possible.

And it was masterful because she brought attention to herself (I’m not good enough for black men) without bringing attention to herself (I’m after mainstream stardom and my best shot is with a white man), while simultaneously not putting down black man.

I’m conflicted because the way in which she didn’t put down black men shows her true love for blackness but she still made the decision to go after whiteness in the end.

Just shows the strange mental space, maybe double-consciousness, blacks were in at the time.
 
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ImmaGetJoeClarkArrested

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I'm not sure if you lying or what :jbhmm:
She’s written multiple poems about him...google it, and I think they even did a song together....but she actually came to my high school and talked to us for hours and when asked about Tupac she said they spent nights together in hotels just “writing” and talking about life :stopitslime:

The young me thought it was innocent but the older smarter me knows what that smile she had on her face means now:mjlit:
 

⠝⠕⠏⠑

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I got a HUGE problem with this. It’s called social conditioning.

Like who you like but please stop believing non-blk people are magical unicorns who can make ur racial insecurities fade away with passive aggression, avocado, and Arcade Fire coffeehouse mixtapes.

First off, whites be just as debt-ridden, broke and have poor spending habits just like other people do. They get more money so they got bigger debts. Ya’ll have no clue how many professors at my old school have filed bankrupcy from multiple divorces, second mortgages to pay student loans for Brad who dropped out of his mechanical engineering program b/c of his newfound love of weed and Call of Duty...I’ve seen whites damn near have a meltdown over getting a couple of hundred dollars reimbursed for a trip b/c they wouldn’t have food and gas without it.

It’s all a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig lie and illusion.

But after u account for the myth of whites making soooo much money, then u gotta deal with them aging like shyt, the culture shock and the biggest problem: their racism.

They were raised in the same society which taught us that we were inferior and they were superior. I’m not saying some can’t overcome this but it takes a hell of a lot of mental fortitude to literally check ur privilege on a micro and a macro level every day. Mentally whites become fatigued with white guilt from the shytty way they know the world is and then that shyt leads to them doubling down on the racist bullshyt.

Nothing like a “one of the good guys” trying to be a social justice warrior, getting tired of being confronted with the shyt their people have done and are still doing to people daily.

In a lot of cases, u just exchange one set of problems for a different set of problems. There are no saviors for us as a community. There is no escape. And non-blks have JUST as much shyt and more going down in their communities than we do. The only difference is their Public Relations propaganda machine hides their flaws and makes it seem like it’s always doom and gloom in our community.

And we believe the shyt.:hhh:
 

newworldafro

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Everybody know that I’m an avid defender of people of Lena Horne’s ilk, and as much as I don’t want to, I agree with this.

Lena was raised in an old school way where you communicate even the most distasteful of things in a way that was presented in a patina of genteel refinement. It was certainly an art and Lena masterfully delivered that she wanted to indulge in a form of “passing” by marrying a white man in the most self-effacing way possible.

And it was masterful because she brought attention to herself (I’m not good enough for black men) without bringing attention to herself (I’m after mainstream stardom and my best shot is with a white man).

I guarantee you the first joker on this site to use "patina" :ehh: ...:wow:...still don't know what it means.
 

Hiphoplives4eva

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Are we really going to allow disrespect for Lena Horne?

Did anyone take the time to read a book, watch a documentary -- or something about Mrs. Horne. shyt, at least learn about the climate and what was going on back then. Then learn what she did for ADOS and Black America in general.

And oh... both here parents were Black/ADOS.
And she became a bed wench. Big whoop
 

Cadillac

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some black people married white out of benefits and escapism. This is like a female version of Harry belafonte's statement to eartha kitt:yeshrug:

Plus The black entertainment world was much smaller back then compared to what it is now. So you had alot of black celebs around, and dealing with cacs, dating options were alot Whiter etc.

Being a Black celeb today the women/men you see at the upper class/rich parties and events and come across. I imagine are more varied compared to back then. You espescially see more black people as opposed to the 50s-70s
 
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