I haven’t had time to really dig my heels into the controversy over Elle magazine’s alleged lightning of Gabby Sidibe’s skin for the October cover, given the potential coup d’état in Delaware and Plenary’s mad dash efforts to get LaTonya Jones’s Southern Discomfort to print, but the following headline for Allison Samuels’s article in Newsweek caught my attention:

Gabby Sidibe: Cover Girl?

A wonderful actress—sure. But putting her on the cover of Elle magazine sends a different, and disturbing, message.

 Samuels gives Sidibe credit for her “pitch-perfect” Oscar-nominated role in Precious, before explaining her reasons why she “hates times three her cover and asking:

It’s really hard to take Elle seriously on this. In an industry that rarely celebrates the more conventional beauty of black actresses such as Gabrielle Union, Sanaa Lathan, or Kerry Washington on magazine covers, are we really supposed to believe that it’s somehow seen the light with Sidibe? Or is it really the fact that Sidibe‘s plus-size beauty is a nonthreatening beauty? It’s a beauty so completely opposite from the white world’s ideal of attractive that it feels safe to give her all the kudos in the world. Somehow, after one film, Sidibe has so beguiled the fashion and beauty industry that reportedly even mega-makeup artist Bobbi Brown is in discussions with the actress to develop her own makeup line. It’s difficult not to be cynical. Regina King (another wonderful actress who gets little press or fanfare) wrote an article about being mistaken for actress Rutina Wesley from the HBO show True Blood on the Emmys’ red carpet. Not exactly progress for women of color.

Chile…

Samuels take on this issue is provocative, and one that’s worthy of discussion. Maybe if I blogged more, we could have an interesting discussion on this, but I’d love to explore how to keep this dialogue going about the ongoing problem of how black women are covered and portrayed in the media, how we can change the perceptions and whether we, as a community, are our own worst enemies.

For the record, I agree with Samuels, and can’t help but question Elle’s selection, as well as Sidibe’s less-than-flattering styling (Clutch nailed it dead-0n). And before we pull out the hater card, the issue is not about Sidibe being on the cover. I welcome any sister who gets some well-deserved shine for her accomplishments, talents and contributions–even if if I’m not stanning for Precious (and take issue with her ‘tude and comments like ”stop googling me”). But you have to wonder, as Samuels raises, about the other actresses who’ve been grinding for a minute and have yet to move beyond the cover of Essence and Ebony. Maybe if they did, Regina and Rutina wouldn’t have been disrepected at the Emmys.

Babs just announced First Lady Michelle Obama as the most fascinating person of 2009. Of course, the list includes Glenn Beck and Kate Gosselin, but I agree 100%. Some folks say the First Lady’s gone from an Ivy-League educated lawyer to the First Lady of Fashion - arm candy that should take on more issues - but I wholeheartedly disagree. Rome wasn’t built in a day people.

It excites me that we’re being barraged with positive images of African-American men and women – images that run counter to what the world is used to seeing. Side note: can someone make Nikki Minaj go away? And will Tyler, Eddie and Martin stop dressing up in fat suits? Can BET cancel Tiny and Toya?

I love entertainment as much as the next person, but one of my ongoing gripes is that there’s no balance in how we’re portrayed and in how we portray ourselves. Having been in the corporate world for almost eight years, I, like many others, have experienced the stereotypes. It excites me that people are seeing another side of the black experience that many think don’t exist (including ourselves).

I’m veering away from the entertainment angle of this post, but this is definitely a conversation worth having. Only, it seems that we keep having it and nothing ever changes.     

But back to Babs. Do you agree with this list? Who else should be on it?

First Lady Michelle Obama

Lady Gaga (I like her music but she scares me)

Glenn Beck (I don’t have the energy)

Tyler Perry (can’t knock the hustle)

Kate Gosselin

Liza Minelli Adam Lambert (sorry, but his voice reminds me of her)

Sarah Palin (some things are better left unsaid)

Brett Favre

 Jenny Sanford (Yes!)

MJ’s kids

We’re officially on the Twitter bandwagon. Follow me, Plenary Publishing and our newly signed authors as we twit our way to our 2010 list.

Plenary Publishing

Tieffa Harper

Cheri Paris Edwards

Brian Rhinehardt

LaTonya Jones

A couple of weeks ago, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, associate professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton, commented on the crisis of the black public intellectual in the age of Obama. And she put it down.

In her piece, Harris-Lacewell takes to task what she calls the “soul patrol,” the group of black, male intellectuals (Tavis Smiley, Dr. Cornell West, Michael Eric Dyson and others) who are critical of President Obama’s approach to race  – which is to be race neutral instead of explicitly acknowledging race in his agenda.  

Harris-Lacewell’s criticisms center on the modern role of the black intellectual, and how, on the lecture circuit, they suggest that ”they, not Obama, are the authentic representatives of the political interests of African-Americans.” Says Harris-Lacewell:

African-Americans are now citizens capable of running for office, holding officials accountable through democratic elections, publicly expressing divergent political preferences and, most importantly, engaging the full spectrum of American political issues, not only narrowly racial ones. The era of racial brokerage politics, when the voices of a few men stood in for the entire race, is now over. And thank goodness it is over. Black politics is growing up.

There are several other wonderful points from her commentary, but instead of posting large blocks of quotes from her column, I suggest reading it in its entirety and giving her column the page hit attention that it deserves.

Related pieces that are worth reading:

Emerging Leaders Energized In The Black Community.

‘Post-racial’ America Isn’t Here Yet.

This weekend, I came across a great Washington Post article on Leah Ward Sears, Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court (a major accomplishment in and of itself), and her unlikely friendship with US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, after he telephoned her to offer support when she faced political attacks in the ’90s :

Many years after that phone call, the friendship that has endured makes for one of the more intriguing subplots of President Obama’s upcoming decision. In naming Souter’s replacement, Obama is likely to choose a liberal jurist. Some in the civil rights community are hoping that person will be an African American, such as Sears, to soothe the lingering bitterness over the appointment of Thomas, a conservative who is the court’s only black justice.

But if the choice does turn out to be Sears, the nation’s first black president would be nominating someone whose closest friend on the court is the very person civil rights activists have accused of failing to represent African Americans’ interests.

President Obama’s Supreme Court pick, which will essentially replace liberal-leaning Justice David Souter with a liberal (and, therefore, not tip the current balance of the Court’s 5-4 voting dynamic in any significant way) has already stirred debate and early hit pieces against potential nominees, such as Second Circuit Judge Sonia Sotamayor.

For me, what’s most interesting about this nomination, which will likely be some combination of a woman, a minority or both – is not what it will reflect abut the president’s ideology in selecting a nominee, but what we’ll hear and read about any of the potential nominees and whether they “deserve” to even be mentioned as potential nominees.

Case in point: Judge Sotamayor has been branded as a sassy, brassy, bullying Latina diva who lacks the smarts to make it to the Supreme Court.  Hmm, how many people of color in the working world have heard that refrain? If you speak your mind and offer opinion, you have too much attitude. If you set your standards too high (which I’ve been told) or want too much, you’re cocky or overly ambitious in a negative way, and not the American way. And, if you’re a woman who dares to play as hard as the big boys, it only takes seconds before you’re branded as a diva (code name: bitch) and people question your right to sit at the table.

According to the WaPo article, Justice Thomas has been known to come to the aid (behind the scenes) of judicial nominees he admires, but with Sears, his praise has been more open:

With Sears, Thomas has gone beyond the subtle — praising her kindness, calling her a wonderful person and describing her investiture as ‘a particularly special day and a day when my pride runs deep. . . . I never thought in my lifetime I would be able to witness a black woman as a chief justice of the state of Georgia Supreme Court.’

If Justice Sears becomes the nominee, or Judge Sotomayor, a gay nominee, etc., Republicans will have to attack tactfully, as they would be sure to offend any of several key voting demographics during their efforts to rebrand and reboot in time for 2010 and 2012. Look for more hit pieces to the dirty work.

E.J. Dionne also has a great piece on the upcoming nominee fight, and highlights the impact of the Supreme Court’s makeup as it tackles and sets precedent for major issues such as the Voting Rights Act (currently before the Court). As much as I’m trying to keep The Plenary Review focused on books, I won’t be able to leave this one alone.