Hmmm, let’s see Halle Berry is the first Black woman to appear on Vogue’s September Issue since the 1989 cover with Naomi Campbell -YAWN!  Frankly I don’t  give a damn. Sorry, but I just can’t get excited about these small steps in so called ground breaking history in publication & American race relations in this day & age in a new decade of a new millennium. I am so tired of how Black people are supposed to get so excited about getting thrown these little nuggets particularly by Vogue & their constant stunts at the expense of many Black people’s desperation to be included in their pages as some sort of validation toward  progress & breaking down racial barriers. Somehow we have bought into the power of marketing to really believe the hype that Vogue is the holy grail fashion bible. For who? Phuleeze! There are countless magazines all over the world that celebrate Black women on their covers monthly, but being in America you would never know because just like Americans are the least likely in most of the world to have passports , to travel outside of their borders &  to speak a second  language- Black America also seems stuck in the small minority box carved  in America that doesn’t let them seek & explore the global celebration of  blackness that exists beyond America’s borders.

I recently read an article speaking on the importance of Black Americans in particular to attain passports. This to me should be taken figuratively & literally because the American passport is by far the holy grail of passports because it allows you more free range without visas or the possibility of being rejected for a visa to many parts of the world  that many others in the world do not have free range & such easy access to & America itself is by far one of the most diverse nations on earth if one wants to have a global experience within their own borders outside of looking for it on the pages of Vogue & many other magazines that do not reflect that diversity. We often overlook all this in the limitations we put on ourselves, our  imaginations, our dreams, our abilities & our self worth.

“My point is not to say that African Americans don’t have significant hurdles. It is to say that by giving your kids a global perspective and exposing them to a variety of cultures, you are giving them a tremendous advantage in their professional and personal lives. Every black child should get a passport, and you should demand that your children use it. The more you see of the world, the larger your world seems to be…” READ MORE

It is sad that when you look at the comment thread in the NY magazine article covering Halle Berry’s Vogue cover, we have Black people fighting with one another about how Halle Berry is not fully Black but half White, how they would have preferred  a model instead of an actress & other endless foolish distractions from the real issues of racial divisions in & outside our race that has kept our progress stagnant for far too long locally & globally. Stop jumping up & down in celebration & shucking & jiving every time Vogue decides to throw you a bone or  being outraged  & in shock when your go to Black magazine stops representing what they promised you & recognize that this era is the era of the information super highway, an era of Global Fusion, a time when the world is literally at your fingertips where money still talks & your individual & collective spending power is worth something somewhere- so reach out to your sisters in Lagos, San Juan, Port au Prince, London, Bahia, Kingston, Marseille, Accra, Paris, Amsterdam, Dakar, Harlem, Belmopan, Georgetown,Roseau, Port of Spain, Brooklyn, Nairobi, Jo’Burg etc. & see what magazines they have to celebrate Black women & get yourself a subscription online or print. When you support these magazines & the advertisers who advertise with them with the full force  of your spending power then eventually Vogue & others will take note & if they don’t who cares because you will be too busy happily being celebrated & catered to to worry about what they are & are not doing.

Vogue’s Black issue sold more copies in Vogue’s entire global history, to a point where it kept selling out & had to be re-issued about 2-3 different times to meet the demand for the very first time, but that wasn’t enough to show the relevance of the buying power  & support of  Black people enough to even have maybe 3 covers out of the 12 months in a year or to be included in editorial pages every other issue . Yes it got us a nice little website linked to Vogue Italia to make us  feel included & appeased for the moment, but not worthy enough to have a print magazine dedicated to global blackness in the form of Vogue Africa even though multiple European & Asian editions were quick to be introduced without any proven history of  audience buying power. The usual excuse used by Vogue & others is that Black covers & Black models don’t sell, but even when that myth is debunked they refuse to  accept the facts, so why keep throwing these celebratory parties as if there is progress being made instead of just patronizing gestures of inclusion? We’ve shown our buying power & debunked the usual excuses for exclusion, so what more is there to be done than to take our dollars & celebration to those who truly appreciate & respect it beyond patronizing gestures?

Black consumers keep falling for the cattle call to run & buy it each & every time to show their buying power as Vogue with ad sales down 36% without any Black inclusion laughs all the way to the bank using Black consumers to get in the BLACK literally & figuratively, while leaving our feelings hurt as they enjoy the spoils & go back to business as usual until the next time they need to get back in the Black. The deepest irony is that with all the current uproar & protest over Essence hiring a white fashion director many will refuse to buy their 40th Anniversary September issue, but will give their dollars to Vogue for having a Black woman on its coveted September cover without even thinking twice that Vogue has done more of a disservice to Black women in how they have thumbed their nose at Black inclusion more than Essence has ever done. No matter how insensitive & deplorable Essence’s decision maybe, they still employ more Black people than Vogue ever will, so think about that before you spend your hard earned dollars on Vogue’s September cattle call for the Black $. Wake Up Black People! There is a difference between being exploited & being celebrated! Vogue is not your Master Black Fashionistas -get over it , move on, explore & start your own liberation & celebration in Haute Couture! The Place is now the Time Is Here!

“Instead of the issue not selling, it became the highest selling issues of Italian Vogue ever, and had run out of print twice, which marked the first time in Condé Nast history that the magazine reprinted an issue to satisfy demand. The reprinted copies had the tag lines: “Most Wanted Issue Ever” and “First Reprint” banded across the front. However, even though the advertising pages went up 30 percent. There was a “glaring lack of black models” in them. The photographer for the issue Steven Meisel, said: “I’ve asked my advertising clients so many times, ‘Can we use a black girl?’ They say no. Advertisers say black models don’t sell.” With the immense success of this issue, the question isn’t is America ready for a black model, it is now are magazines and advertisers ready for one?” read more

These are some of  my favorite global magazines celebrating Black women from Europe to Africa & points in between -Tell me what are yours?

My Global Fusion, My America, MY Africa:See U, See Me. What Part R U Most Proud Of?
“I Define My Own Dream It’s A Beautiful Thing”!