Not really putting their relationship on a pedestal; I qualified where I could. I don’t know about their inner workings.

But nice Seahawks reference, so I’ll pretend like you’re with us in spirit :)

THIS

I think my point was more about her political operation than where she’s making appearances. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s getting some of the same sorts of organizers from Obama’s, Bernie’s, and ACO’s campaigns to work on hers. There is a lowkey, INCREDIBLE grassroots operation (the small donor + tech proficiency…

I’m not sure how/where Cynthia is campaigning, but if it’s anything like the tenor of Alexandria’s campaign, then I think she has a good shot. Although Alexandria won with a low voter turnout, she got A LOT of grassroots volunteering, fundraising, and progressive machinery behind her from people who aren’t necessarily…

I should clarify the first quote you posted. I meant in terms of media representations, not in the full scope of colorism that we endure. I nixed a trip to the DR, and have continued to boycott it, when they began their campaign against Haitians. Trust, as a brown-skinned black woman raised in the South by a…

This is a touchy subject, so I get it. But I don’t think “equivocation” and “contemplation,” are the same thing. I think it’s the latter that a lot of people are doing here.

Lol, ok not ALL sober debate, true.

By saying there are different interpretations, I don’t mean to say one other interpretation should replace another. Who’s actually denying that colorism is a problem? This pic has implications that make me uncomfortable, for sure. But my discomfort doesn’t have primacy over the other contextual things about this photo…

Good to know!

Buuuut I never implied that I wanted to apply that argument to “everything.” I think you can consider each situation individually. That’s why this is causing so much debate. There were a lot of other declarations that I’d prefer not to address immediately, since that could go all day and I’m still at work. But please…

Yyeah, that logical ends to that assertion are problematic for me. It hinges on respectability politics, and I think our dark-skinned brothers and sisters deserve better than that.

So much about great photos is spontaneity. A brief flicker of something that you see worthy of capturing. There was at least one other photo they captured that was random like that in this shoot (the flick of Minaj approaching Karl as he’s sleeping), as the original Elle article discussed. Making this overwrought and…

I like this take. I think it’s a good discussion to have. But the impetus of the discussion started with such an extreme assertion that it immediately shut down the potential for sober debate.

It wasn’t a pose. She was doing her job. The photographer asked her to stay in the frame. There could be many reasons why. The argument is whether we should assume there is only one “why” and how much it matters, in this case, if the subject has made it clear that she is thrilled with it.

I think it’s okay to realize, too, that one’s own feelings about how they engage with something don’t exist in a vacuum. Commenting on that critically doesn’t always demand that we defer to the subject. I’m sure, for instance, actresses who played mammies in the 50s felt empowered by being on screen and realizing…

There are so many reasons why Karl (or whichever assistant may have photographed this) could have wanted Kim to stay in the shot. It could be him assigning his own stereotypes about black (i.e. dark) subservience to Kim. He could have just thought in that split second that the contrast of their clothing on the pink…

The type of nuance sorrrellly missing in media today. Thank you Maiysha!!

Has anyone said they don’t get the historical stereotype though? I think the argument is that this is one, albeit important, lens through which to examine this photo, and that there is room for other interpretations of the photo that do not make this the ONLY or even primary lens.

You’re assuming that the purpose of her article is to resolve racism. The purpose of the article is to talk about white people who get indignant over black people doing regular things and who put us in compromising positions that can get us killed.