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"Throwback" Event Bead Necklace
isabeau
Registered Users 1,968 Posts
Not sure if this was an attempt to fly in under the radar, but I did notice although I refused to participate and wasn't feeling inclined to get into it until now. And at least not until I did a little research.
The red, green, and gold/yellow bead necklace represents the colors of many Pan-African nations, something I immediately recognized as having seen them so often worn by Rastas predominantly of/from Jamaica--and adopted by other cultures too, as well as some of the flags used by the Black Panthers, and are also used in celebrating Kwanza.
So I looked into it and found the flag was inspired by a song of a very fkd up, shameful nature; involved the esteemed Marcus Garvey, about whom I read some time ago, editing books on everything from Aretha Franklin, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Harlem Renaissance, Nikki Giovanni, whom I was lucky enough to meet, and more. There's a link at one of the sites where I read about this, to a YouTube vid of the song, but I will flat out never listen to it.
That said, I'm wondering that the necklace shouldn't have been an earned prize, but offered for sale in the wardrobe/kloset/store instead. Similar to the necklace with the crucifix that can be found there, which I wouldn't like to receive as a prize since I'm Jewish and so...not the best thing for me. Also, I'm wondering if we can see something in the colors representing Israel, The Hague, Brazil--we have so many players of so many nations and cultures it doesn't seem fair to leave them out. Things like the necklace can be inspiring--to those who notice; kind of thinking maybe no one did because no one mentioned it other than having styling problems or just not being into it--but maybe those who do recognize something for what it is will be inspired to "find out more." Obviously it did that for me.
The red, green, and gold/yellow bead necklace represents the colors of many Pan-African nations, something I immediately recognized as having seen them so often worn by Rastas predominantly of/from Jamaica--and adopted by other cultures too, as well as some of the flags used by the Black Panthers, and are also used in celebrating Kwanza.
So I looked into it and found the flag was inspired by a song of a very fkd up, shameful nature; involved the esteemed Marcus Garvey, about whom I read some time ago, editing books on everything from Aretha Franklin, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Harlem Renaissance, Nikki Giovanni, whom I was lucky enough to meet, and more. There's a link at one of the sites where I read about this, to a YouTube vid of the song, but I will flat out never listen to it.
That said, I'm wondering that the necklace shouldn't have been an earned prize, but offered for sale in the wardrobe/kloset/store instead. Similar to the necklace with the crucifix that can be found there, which I wouldn't like to receive as a prize since I'm Jewish and so...not the best thing for me. Also, I'm wondering if we can see something in the colors representing Israel, The Hague, Brazil--we have so many players of so many nations and cultures it doesn't seem fair to leave them out. Things like the necklace can be inspiring--to those who notice; kind of thinking maybe no one did because no one mentioned it other than having styling problems or just not being into it--but maybe those who do recognize something for what it is will be inspired to "find out more." Obviously it did that for me.
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Regarding the 4th of July themed events, I did notice that this year it seemed toned down in regards to the themed clothing, less star spangled. I'm okay with that. and I do agree that maybe having events that center around other global celebrations would be great too, especially since we have players from all over the world. thought I'm not sure how on board everyone is with having multiculturalism here... just saying.
my only point of concern, without getting too political, is that when coming to cultural inspiration, I hope that it would not cross any line towards appropriation. I do not ever want to see an appropriated version of a kimono or warbonnet.