BUFU Film Screening Review: On Black Businesses + The Beauty Industry
On assignment, I attended a film screening of a documentary by BOBSA, the Black Owned Beauty
Supply Assciation, which spoke on the majority Korean-owned hold onto the Black
beauty realm - specifically within the sector of Beauty Supply Stores. It is true that in the Black community, our beauty is often monopolized by folks who contribute to
our marginalization. Ingrained anti-Blackness often leads to being followed and profiled by the Beauty Supply Store right in most of our "urban" Black neighborhoods.
The event was hosted by BUFU: By Us For Us - a traveling multimedia documentary installation project seeking to host community conversations about the Black-Asian cultural & political relationships. The topic of solidarity between communities of color is one that rings very true to my heart - one cannot fight oppression without acknowledging that all oppressions are ultimately linked. So, the CRWN team and I ventured into a gentrified neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY to see what the film was all about.
Short summary on my feelings regarding the documentary: Important, but problematic...and lazy.
Though the film (which you can watch HERE) did uncover a lot of unknown statistics reflecting that Blacks are extremely locked out of the industry that we fund the most - the analysis of this phenomenon was very lazy. Instead of looking into socioeconomic and racial barriers that often affect Black businesses, the film often credited the fault completely onto the Black community. Often the reasoning of "we allowed this to happen to us, so it's our fault," was used. Full of respectability politics, victim blaming and internalized racism, this reasoning only led the film to place a binary on the "good kinds" and "bad kinds" of Black people.
When a Black woman of lower socioeconomic status was asked - by the white male producer and journalist - if she would rather purchase a product from a Korean-owned beauty supply whose prices were $2 cheaper, or at a Black-owned beauty supply whose prices were $2 more expensive, it was very clear how the film wanted to paint this woman. At first, she replied that the answer wasn't easy for her to give right off the bat, but after being prodded by the journalist, she said that she would save the $2 and opt to buy at the Korean-owned beauty supply. And, immediately, this woman is painted to be the problem of the situation, while the film producer's completely ignore her economic situation and resources to be able to buy more expensive products. This is the crux of what was wrong with the film (in addition to hiring a white male journalist to go into predominantly Black and poor neighborhoods to "interview" people). And, honestly, this is the crux of what is wrong with the "buy Black" conversation today. Instead of interrogating the systems that affect Black communities...ESPECIALLY poor Black communities, we ignore the people doing the oppressing and focus on using shame tactics to get folks to buy Black.
No. That's not what this shawty here will do.
Do I think Black businesses should be supported? Yes. Would I love for the Black dollar to circulate in our community? Heck yeah. But I also realize that, like most things, this situation is not a binary. It's not as simple as "support or don't support," and it's also extremely capitalist to view support as only being monetary. Let's attack the foundations that have led for our community/ies to suffer from race-implied poverty, first.
Annnnnnnd there ya have it, folks! I usually try to reserve my blog for lighter subjects and the heavy, political stuff for other platforms, but I am also making efforts to be more transparent and so...hurr it is! BUT! Check out some of my photos from the event below!
The event was hosted by BUFU: By Us For Us - a traveling multimedia documentary installation project seeking to host community conversations about the Black-Asian cultural & political relationships. The topic of solidarity between communities of color is one that rings very true to my heart - one cannot fight oppression without acknowledging that all oppressions are ultimately linked. So, the CRWN team and I ventured into a gentrified neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY to see what the film was all about.
Short summary on my feelings regarding the documentary: Important, but problematic...and lazy.
Though the film (which you can watch HERE) did uncover a lot of unknown statistics reflecting that Blacks are extremely locked out of the industry that we fund the most - the analysis of this phenomenon was very lazy. Instead of looking into socioeconomic and racial barriers that often affect Black businesses, the film often credited the fault completely onto the Black community. Often the reasoning of "we allowed this to happen to us, so it's our fault," was used. Full of respectability politics, victim blaming and internalized racism, this reasoning only led the film to place a binary on the "good kinds" and "bad kinds" of Black people.
When a Black woman of lower socioeconomic status was asked - by the white male producer and journalist - if she would rather purchase a product from a Korean-owned beauty supply whose prices were $2 cheaper, or at a Black-owned beauty supply whose prices were $2 more expensive, it was very clear how the film wanted to paint this woman. At first, she replied that the answer wasn't easy for her to give right off the bat, but after being prodded by the journalist, she said that she would save the $2 and opt to buy at the Korean-owned beauty supply. And, immediately, this woman is painted to be the problem of the situation, while the film producer's completely ignore her economic situation and resources to be able to buy more expensive products. This is the crux of what was wrong with the film (in addition to hiring a white male journalist to go into predominantly Black and poor neighborhoods to "interview" people). And, honestly, this is the crux of what is wrong with the "buy Black" conversation today. Instead of interrogating the systems that affect Black communities...ESPECIALLY poor Black communities, we ignore the people doing the oppressing and focus on using shame tactics to get folks to buy Black.
No. That's not what this shawty here will do.
Do I think Black businesses should be supported? Yes. Would I love for the Black dollar to circulate in our community? Heck yeah. But I also realize that, like most things, this situation is not a binary. It's not as simple as "support or don't support," and it's also extremely capitalist to view support as only being monetary. Let's attack the foundations that have led for our community/ies to suffer from race-implied poverty, first.
Annnnnnnd there ya have it, folks! I usually try to reserve my blog for lighter subjects and the heavy, political stuff for other platforms, but I am also making efforts to be more transparent and so...hurr it is! BUT! Check out some of my photos from the event below!
 |
| ArtHeaux vibes |
 |
| What comes to mind? ;) |
 |
| The BUFU event is for a whole month and featured interactive structures of art such as this one! |
 |
| Follow me on Snapchat @Siez_theday and CRWN @crwnmag! |
Comments
Post a Comment