Racist or not?

[claw3]

At our local train station at the weekend with ds 12, he was looking at news stand, while i was getting train tickets.

Anyhow at news stand there was a section which had black magazines ie black hair, black beauty, black music etc, etc. Ds asked me why do black people have their own mags and would it be racist if white people had their own magazines ie white hair, white beauty etc etc.

Your thoughts, would it??

i can understand things like ahir and make=up as this would be a specialised area, and not one often incolued in mainstream.

however i have my reservations about black music and black beauty.

does music have a colour?

For the same reason as a mag shouldnt be called whitehair, its pointless.

Historically black/white = them/us. Why do we need to label things as black and white.

Black music isn't called black music

I am sure if the mag was aimed at just people with white hair it wouldn't be an issue to call it that but Hair mags themselves are not aimed at just white people My goddaughter is mixed race and has thin 'white' Peoples hair so would read any hair mag her sister on the other hand has Afro hair.

The blackhair is aimed at a specific group of people them being black people so I see no problem in the title being called blackhair

Black music is music of black origin, isn't it? It doesn't come with a label saying 'only for black people to buy/listen to'. The majority of people who buy hip hop worldwide, for instance, are white. It's not really rocket science. I don't know why anyone would have a problem with acknowledging black music as...urm...black music.

Would 'White Hair' be aimed at albinos or older people?
[wonder walks away as this is just getting silly]

lol@wonder

Claw3 - when your son asked you what you thought you must have answered him before consulting MN. What did you say?

How about the MOBO's, shouldnt music be universal?

you really seem to have a gripe with black people having any sort of cultural ownership.

Norma - I told him i didnt think it was racist to have black mags. But i didnt think it was fair to segregate people into catergories based on their skin colour.

MOBOs give award to urban artists and yes white people have recieved awards Amy Whinehouse being one of them so that arguement does not fit Claw3 give it up.

Sorry, claw3, but you have issues...

Saadia - Thats the whole point no one owns anything.

Your right Claw3 more mags should have more products suitable for all races in them but they don't and I am sure if they did the mags would cost alot of money as they would have to cover every race

claw3 read up about black history and learn a thing or too you doughnut!

Claw3 - what IS your stance on the Irish Times and the Jewish Chronicle?

Ping - Exactly, she has been recognised for singing 'black' music. Music should be universal, not segregated into white and black.

RE mags etc I agree stuff like black hair care etc is naturally different to white so makes sense to get straight to the point. Successful mags spot a gap in the market and fill it - if they get it right they'll survive. Don't think it's racist.

My DP runs a chain of shops that sells cosmetics and health and beauty products.

There is a "black beauty" category that is sold in a small percentage of the shops, in areas where there is a high concentration of black people. This is because black customers want and need products that are specific to their hair and skin types. It is nothing to do with racism.

But do you get that black/Asian people are a minority in this country? They do not see themselves represented much in mainstream media. If a group does not have access to information and debate about things they are interested in then they become disenfranchised. I don't know much about the MOBO awards but my guess is that black music, like classical music and folk music ought to be celebrated as a distinct category. I don't understand why this is a problem for you.

Urban music

I am white I go to Bashment and Dancehall raves I listen to RnB Hip-hop Soul Slow jamz where the large percentage of artists happen to be black. Eminem is one of the biggest Hip-hop artists in the world he is white the music is urban music it has never specified that its for only black people with songs from just black artists.

Music is not segregated your being beyond stupid now

of course music has a "colour" or at least a cultural identity, you only need to look back at "old" music, it's all evolved from different things.

Even in "traditional" music there are obviously differences, especially in the use of harmonies and the uses of different keys/scales being used.

There of course more obvious differences between Asian, Far Eastern and European music than between, say African annd European harmonies/ryhmns, but they're still very noticeable.

I hope no one here finds out I used to read the Kentish Gazette.

They'll put me in a black shirt and lynch me.