Who is this woman? Judging from the uproar over her appointment as fashion director to Essence Magazine, one would think that she just landed on earth from another planet. Foreign, unfamiliar, oohh…maybe someone not to be trusted, maybe even *gasp* dangerous.
Ok, I get it. Cushy jobs like this are hard to come by for blacks, female or male, so why give away this rare opportunity to a white woman? someone who doesn’t look like us? If she doesn’t look like us, hasn’t lived like us, how can she represent us?
Ms. Placas freelanced for Essence for six months before landing the job. She was behind-the-scenes producing work that many women enjoyed. Now that’s she’s been outted, people are incensed. Man, Essence is in trouble now! She’s only going to feature women who are light skinned, wearing weave, frolicking in interracial relationships, passionately expressing their angst over relationships with black men, spending their money on big houses and cars, singing the praises of celebrities and living a life that is imitative of upper middle class whites,
…and somewhat removed from the average black woman’s experience.
Oh snap…mind fart! Essence has been doing that all along.
I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the argument that Ms. Placas shouldn’t have the job as fashion director because she’s white. I mean, personal political cultural feelings aside, if the woman is qualified, why not? To judge her by the color of her skin and not her character and abilities is the very thing we’ve been denouncing for, uh, what, a few hundred years?
When it happens to us, we call it racism.
I’m going to trust Essence on this move. I mean, I don’t believe they would choose someone who is culturally insensitive no more than any white establishment would. I trust that they, the powers that be, have a good handle on this woman’s beliefs and goals, and that she’s qualified for the job. I’m not going to act like the racists who hate on Obama, protest against Muslims building Mosques, and spew hatred toward illegal (Mexican) immigrants.
I’m going to hope that we can get pass this and that when one of us applies for a coveted job at a white establishment that we get it because HR is not judging us by the color of our skin, but by the skills we offer.