thegoodfellas/blogset-br huggingface dataset:
e o clareamento com limoes. As reacoes foram diversas, passando por risos, indignacao, questionamentos e explicacoes, mas nenhum deles ouviu ou leu nenhuma declaracao de Beyonce sobre limoes, ancestralidade e clareamento e tambem nao era do senso comum o uso de limonada como branqueador mesmo no periodo da escravidao. Apenas uma pessoa comentou esse fato e ainda assim mencionou que nao era algo corriqueiro e muito menos do conhecimento geral da populacao negra.Em unissono eles respondiam que a referencia a Lemonade feita por Beyonce nada mais era do que uma referencia a frase se a vida te der limoes faca uma limonada, ou em outras palavras enfrente suas adversidades e transforme em coisas positivas, conceito que se pararmos pra pensar e transmitido por ela mais de uma vez no video.Nesse momento, eu ja sabia entao que a tal frase sobre ancestrais e clareamento de pele nao passava de um hoax, um boato de internet. Mas o que comecou a me intrigar foi: Por que esse boato de internet parecia so existir no Brasil? De onde surgiu a tal frase e onde buscaram a explicacao? Quem foi o primeiro a traduzir esse texto?Essas questoes, me intrigaram principalmente por conhecer as facetas do racismo a brasileira.O filme de Beyonce, nao e um video simples, nao e uma baladinha romantica para gritar um novo amor ou chorar um amor perdido, tambem nao e uma musica pra dancar batendo cabelo na balada com as amigas. O video de Beyonce e um video reflexivo, introspectivo onde ela fala de um processo longo e denso de reconstrucao emocional e espiritual. O video de Beyonce envolve elementos profundos da cosmologia africana que perpassam a propria existencia de Beyonce e o que ela demonstrava ser ate entao, o video de Beyonce questiona relacoes interpessoais e traz conceitos do feminismo negro aplicados na pratica a sua propria vida e trajetoria. O video de Beyonce e uma conexao entre ela e outras mulheres negras. (acompanhe o post que eu criei para o FB com a analise critica do video em um p.s. abaixo texto).Entao, ao fazer uma traducao erronea e dizer que o Beyonce fala sobre ancestrais que clareavam a pele com limonada e dizer que essa e a razao do nome do album, mais do que simplesmente demonstrar uma dificuldade na compreensao do ingles (que com certeza os jornalistas que originaram as publicacoes nao possuem), demonstram sim uma ma fe em transformar um trabalho simbolico de louvor a ancestralidade e tradicao africanas em algo que lembra exatamente a posicao de subserviencia. Para Beyonce, suas ancestrais sao demonstradas como rainhas que cultuam a deusas, mas na traducao, Beyonce descende apenas de pessoas negras que queriam ser brancas. Quando lembro por exemplo, dos rumores na midia americana de que Beyonce clareou sua pele ao longo da carreira, reafirmo ainda mais que de inocente essa traducao nao tem nada. Afinal, e uma forma de dizer voce esta ai gritando amor a raca, mas no fundo no fundo quer ser branca.A midia internacional em geral ao redor do mundo fez diversas leituras que podem ser
consideradas no minimo complicadas sobre Lemonade, entre elas a enfase a traicao de Jay-Z, ou suposicoes sobre quem seria a tal mulher, quando na verdade esse nao e o foco do video, tentando assim silenciar seu conteudo de resistencia, mas ainda assim me pergunto:Como esse boato surge apenas no Brasil?Dentre muitas possibilidades acredito que surge exatamente pelo carater de negacao do racismo brasileiro. Em um pais que nega o racismo e faz questao de apagar a negritude de pessoas que se destacam de alguma forma, seria impossivel fazer o mesmo com uma cantora internacional do porte de Beyonce. Nao seria possivel negar o carater de resistencia negra que ela atribuiu a Lemonade, mesmo reproduzindo o conteudo machista publicado na midia internacional. Sendo assim, a unica forma de amenizar o impacto que o video poderia causar na sociedade brasileira seria lembrando a populacao afro-brasileira o quanto a escravidao americana foi cruel e o quanto os negros americanos nao sao tao politizados assim, ja que esses sao velhos temas das discussoes raciais comparativas seja na academia brasileira, seja na nossa midia.A certeza de que a ma traducao, foi na verdade uma ma intencao, se complementou quando vi ainda uma comparacao entre o video de Beyonce e a capa da revista Veja publicada no portal G1 onde ao inves de Bela, Recatada e do Lar, como a mulher de Michel Temer, Beyonce e descrita como Bela, Revoltada e do Mal, onde ainda que em uma tentativa de elogios a performance, o autor coloca Beyonce como uma preta raivosa que saiu quebrando tudo feito louca com um bastao na mao. Acabou-se assim a poetica, a mistica, a espiritualidade da cena. Beyonce ali e so mais uma negra louca e revoltada como tantas outras de nos. Nao me fugiu tambem, a possivel leitura das religioes de matriz africana expostas por Beyonce, como religioes do mal.Ate o momento da escrita desse texto, nao descobri como esse boato se iniciou, duvido muito que meu texto consiga se espalhar de modo tao rapido e eficaz como esse hoax, mas encerro com a certeza de que nem toda falta de compreensao da lingua do mundo, faria jornalistas experientes enxergarem frases, posturas e atos de forma tao erronea se nao fosse proposital.P.S. Analise Critica de Lemonade.Assistindo Lemonade com muito cuidado. Beyonce esta falando sobre sua familia, sobre como ela ve a ela mesma como amaldicoada porque as mulheres de sua familia tem sido oprimidas por seus homens e que ela sente que precisa ser curada. Ela fala sobre espiritualidade africana, e eu entendo (ainda que eu nao pratique as religioes de matriz) que ela esta falando sobre os rituais dos Orixas, entendo que ela da detalhes sobre sua fe, que so alguem que pratica o culto poderia explicar e sentir. Eu entendo que ela sai da morte como Oxum (o que me lembra as aulas da minha professora Dr. Omise'eke Tinsley e a analise que ela tem feito ha algum tempo sobre o trabalho da Beyonce e como ela fala da Beyonce como uma devota das religioes de matriz), vestida de dourado
como uma nova mulher, que e capaz de exigir o que precisa. (Isso me lembra tambem os textos de Jurema Werneck sobre Yalodes e o feminismo negro). Mas Beyonce tambem inclui mencoes a outros orixas em seu video. Ela fala sobre as dores de mulheres negras, sobre solidao da mulher negra e sobre as lutas das mulheres negras. Ela fala sobre ela mesma, mas tambem sobre seus ancestrais femininos, que vieram antes dela e que sao parte de sua alma, que partilharam experiencias de vida parecidas. Esses elementos podem ser facilmente detectados nos simbolos, nas roupas, nos penteados e na maquiagem tradicionais de Africa e tambem nas letras e na poesia. Ela tambem fala para as mulheres do presente e e possivel ver isso atraves das mulheres que ela convida para participar no filme e fala sobre aquelas que virao no futuro. Quando ela fala sobre ser ou nao como nossas maes, ela fala sobre maes, mas tambem fala sobre a Mae Africa e aquilo que nos carregamos conosco no Atlantico. Eu entendo que ela tambem fala da possibilidade de retorno, ainda que seja uma possibilidade espiritual de retorno, para mulheres negras que podem dar passos de volta em direcao a um caminho ancestral. Ela foi capaz de se abrir sobre ter ficado magoada com as atitudes do pai e como a garotinha dentro dela ficou puta com ele. Ela tambem fala de medo, medo do amor, medo da morte, medo de ser negra em uma Diaspora Genocida. Mas ela tambem fala sobre um novo comeco, sobre se permitir ser amada, sobre lacos de familia e como isso e capaz de curar uma alma ferida e liberar perdao.Lemonade pode ser ouvido por qualquer um, mas o album tem um alvo, e ainda que as pessoas digam que ele e sobre o Jay-Z, eu acho que o album tambem e sobre ele, mas nao e para ele. Ele foi feito por Beyonce para as mulheres negras, principalmente para ela mesma, mas tambem para todas as mulheres negras que podem se identificar com ela.Last weekend, I decided to take some time off during the holidays and to travel without internet access. When I came back to the scene, my cellphone was full of messages and the main subject was: Beyonce release of LemonadeAmong all those comments, several things that were mentioned called my attention: the album quality, a Black Feminist context portrayed by Beyonce, revelations about Jay-Z infidelity and other things. But I confess that what called my attention most was a supposed revelation about enslaved people in the U.S that used to whiten their skin with lemons and that nobody on my group knew if it was true or not.That intrigued me, first because Im a mystery fan, second because Ive been studying African American culture for some years now and I had never heard about this fact before.At the same moment, before to watch the movie, I started to research everything that I could to find any reference that could be mentioned by Beyonce about ancestors who used to use the called
whitener lemonade. I found several sites, blogs, FB pages reproducing exactly the same sentence attributed to Beyonce:my enslaved ancestors used to drink lemonade thinking that it would whiten them. Media gave me lemonade, but it didnt work. Beyonce.After this sentence most of the articles were explaining that Beyonces choice in name the album as Lemonade, was made as a reference to the fact that African Americans traditionally used to use Lemon Juice to whiten their skin.Although the happiness of several Black cyber activists who thought it was a positive sentence, I thought this affirmation was too strong, and the fact that it was mentioned as something known in the African American culture, made me wonder about how I had never heard about this tradition after years studying African American culture, having African Americans as personal friends and professional colleagues and especially after two years taking my PhD in an Black Studies department in the U.S. I know, of course that I cant be pretentious and that none of these experiences have made me an expert in U.S Blackness, but what really intrigued me was the fact that I have never even crossed with this information, when I already had contact with so many other typical aspects of the African American community (I could for example, understand easily the joke about Becky with the long hair, because I already knew the context).Then, I started to search for the same sentence in English, first as a simple search, on blogs and sites and after I visited the official Beyonces profiles on social networks and I couldnt find anything.Of course I still could be looking for the wrong thing, so I decided to watch the video itself and in more than one hour I never heard one sentence about skin whitening. I heard she talking about ancestors, I heard Jay Zs grandma talking that when life give you lemons you need to make a lemonade, but nothing, I mean nothing about skin whitening.So, I decided to create a call on my FB where I invited some African American friends, including some Black Studies Scholars to observe the relationship between lemons, whiten and the African American community, if it was true and if they read or heard any Beyonces declaration about their ancestors and skin whitening with lemons.I received really diverse reactions: some of them laugh, some of them felt wroth, some of them started to question or to explain, but none of them in any moment heard or read any declaration made by Beyonce about lemons, ancestry and whitening. It wasnt common sense the use of lemonade as a whiten process, even during the slavery. Only one person mentioned this fact and according to her it wasnt neither perceived as common place and wasnt something that everyone in the Black community knew.In unison they answered that the reference to Lemonade that was done by Beyonce was only related to the sentence when life gives you lemons make it lemonade or in other words face your adversities and turn it in positive things, a concept that
if we think about is explicit by the artist in the video more than one time.At this moment, I already knew that this supposed allegation about ancestors and skin whitening was just a hoax, an internet rumor. But what I was really wondering was how could this hoax, only exist in Brazil? Where does that sentence come from? Where did they find the explanation? Who was the first person to translate the text?These questions bothered me mainly because I know the characteristics of Brazilian racism.Beyonces movie isnt a simple video, isnt a romantic song to express a new love or cry for a lost one, or either it is a song to whip your hair twerking in the club with your friends. Beyonces video is a reflex, introspective video where she talks about a long and dense process of emotional and spiritual reconstruction. Beyonces video involves deep elements of African cosmology that runs through her existence itself and what she showed being until now. Beyonces video questions interpersonal relations and bring Black feminist concepts in practice in her own life and trajectory. Beyonces video is a connection between her and other Black women. (See my FB post with an analytical critique in a P.S. right below this text).So, when poorly translating the video saying that Beyonce is talking about ancestors who whiten their skin with lemonade and say that it is the reason for the name of the album, more than just show a difficulty with the comprehension of the language (a difficult that the journalists who wrote it certainly dont have), it demonstrates that they act in bad faith changing a symbolic work of praise to ancestry and African traditions in something that shows exactly the opposite position, it shows subservience. To Beyonce, her ancestors are showed as queens that worship Goddesses, but in the translation, Beyonce descends only from Black people who wanted to be white. When I remember, for example, the rumors that American media released about Beyonce herself bleaching her skin over the years, I reaffirm that this isnt an innocent translation. Because in the end, it is a way to say you are there yelling your love by your race, but inside your wish is to be white.Around the world, media made several readings of Lemonade that can be perceived as complicate, among these perceptions, we have the fact that they emphasized Jay-Z infidelity, or the fact that the people were wondering who would be this woman, when actually this isnt the focus of the video, what demonstrates on my opinion a way to silence the resistance content. However, I still wonder:How could this rumor only exist in Brazil?Among several possibilities, I believe that it appeared exactly because of the characteristics of denial present in Brazilian racism. In a country that denies racism and insists in to erase Blackness of people who are highlighted in any kind of way, it would be impossible to do the same with an international Black singer such as Beyonce. It wouldnt be possible deny the Black resistance characteristic that she attributed
to Lemonade, even if they reproduced the sexist content published by the international media. In this sense, the only way to soften the impact that the video could cause on Brazilian society, would be to remind the Afro Brazilian population how U.S slavery was cruelest than ours and that African Americans arent that politicized; Affirmations that are actually old subjects in the comparative discussions about racism in both countries not only in Brazilian academic environment but also in the media.This certainty that the poorly translation was actually a bad intention was confirmed when I saw a comparison between Beyonces video and the Vejas magazine cover (one of the main magazines in the country who is orchestrating the coup against the government) that was published in the G1 website. In this cover instead of Beautiful, Maidenlike and housewife (sexist affirmation used to describe the wife of the vice-president in comparison with the president), Beyonce is described as Beautiful, revolted and evil, where although the author tries to praise the artist, he put Beyonce as a mad Black woman, that started break down with a bat on her hand. In this sense, he finished with the poetics, the mystic and the spirituality of this scene. Beyonce is portrayed as a crazy and revolted Black woman as any other of us. It didnt escape me also, a possible reading of the traditional African religions exposed by Beyonce as evil practices.Until the moment when Im writing this text, I didnt figure out how this rumor started and I doubt that my article will spread out so fast and efficiently as this hoax, but I close it with the certainty that there isnt any kind of miscomprehension of the language that would made experienced journalists see phrases, postures and acts in a so wrong way if it wasnt in purpose.P.S Critical Analysis of LemonadeWatching Lemonade very carefully, Beyonce is talking about her family, about how she sees herself as cursed because the way women in her family have been oppressed by their men and the necessity of being healed. She talks about African spirituality, and I understand (although I don't belong to any African traditional practice) that she is talking about Orishas rituals, she gives what I see as details about her practice, some facts that in my opinion only someone who is initiated would explain and feel, I understand that she rises from death as Oshun (it reminded me my professor Dr. Omise'eke Tinsley and her analysis of Beyonce's work, has been while she is talking about Beyonce as an Orisha worshiper) dressed in gold as a new woman who is able to demand her needs. (It also reminded me Jurema Werneck's texts about yalodes and feminism), but she also included other Orishas in the video. She also talks about Black women pain, loneliness and struggle. She talks about her, but also about her female ancestors, women who came before her, who are part of her soul, who shared a similar life. These elements are easily detected in the symbols, the clothes, the traditional African hairdos
and make up, the lyrics, the spoken words. She also talks to Black women in the present, and that is possible to realize through the women that she invited to participate in the movie, and those who are coming in the future. When she talks about being or not like our mothers, she is talking about mothers, but also about the motherland and what we carry with us from the middle passage. I understand she also talks about the possibility of return, even a spiritual possibility for Black women to return, to take steps back in the direction of an ancestral path. She was able to open herself about having her feelings hurt by her dads actions and how the little girl inside her was really pissed off with him. She also talks about fear, the fear of love, the fear of death, the fear of being Black in a Genocidal Diaspora. But she also talks about a new beginning, about allows herself being loved, about family ties and how that is able to heal a hurt interior and liberate forgiveness.Lemonade can be listened by anyone but it has a target, and although people say it is about Jay-Z, I think it is also about him, but it is not for him. It was made by her to Black women, to herself mainly, but also to all Black women who can identify with it.
Como voces sabem eu amo ler, gosto mesmo, sou do tipo que desde que comecei a ler de verdade, sempre me fechei no quarto por horas com um livro na mao e so saia quando acabava, de preferencia queria terminar as historias no mesmo dia. Um dos meus hobbies de leitura sao (pasmem) os livros de banca! Eles mesmos, aqueles romancizinhos melosos que vendem nas bancas de jornal. Eu sei o quanto isso nao combina com a ativista pe na porta que faz doutorado e tem opiniao sobre tudo, mas eu comecei a ler quando era adolescente e viciei nas historinhas de mocinhas e mocinhos que se encontram e vivem felizes para sempre. Ah gente pera la ne, dentro de mim bate um coracao, eu sou romantica, do tipo que chora com musica romantica pensando no crush eeheheheh.Desde aquela epoca ate hoje, eu ja colecionei, ja vendi varios, ja troquei, ja comprei e continuo lendo os romancezinhos, em qualquer hora vaga que tenho, seja em viagens longas de aviao ou de onibus ou ate mesmo pra distrair a cabeca de alguns temas pesados.Ate que... A gente nao consegue se distrair porque os temas pesados nos perseguem ate nos momentos de distracao.Em outro post eu ja falei sobre o problema racial dessas publicacoes no Brasil, comentei que enquanto aqui nos EUA tem varias publicacoes dessas com personagens negras, no Brasil os romances so trazem personagens brancos em suas historias. Quando entrevistei a editora no Brasil ela disse que nao tinha livros com negros porque nao tinha publico, enfim, mesma pataquada de sempre.Mas hoje eu queria abordar outro tema, quero falar de machismo.Eu lembro que quando era adolescente e comecei a ler esses livros, minha professora de portugues da 8a serie mencionou que uma pesquisa feita com leitoras desse tipo de literatura mostrava que as mulheres que liam esses livros pensavam exatamente igual. Na epoca eu sabia que era uma critica aos livros, mas achei que era uma referencia a pessima qualidade, mas nao entendi muito bem o porque do pensamento igual e etc.Depois que eu comecei a aprender mais sobre questoes de genero e sobre o Feminismo Negro, eu comecei a perceber o quanto o conteudo desses livros e machista.Pra quem nunca leu um livro desse e ate pra quem ja leu, as historias sempre envolvem um romance entre um homem e uma mulher que lutam bastante para ficar juntos e no final tudo acaba bem e eles vivem felizes para sempre. Ate ai normal um enredo cliche como de qualquer comedia romantica ou novela mexicana.Mas quando eu paro pra analisar as personagens desses livros, eu percebo que na grande maioria dos casos existe uma relacao abusiva acontecendo.E sempre um homem, geralmente alguns anos mais velho, rico, se relacionando com alguma moca que atende ao padrao virginal da mocinha.Onde e que esta o problema?Na maneira como essa mulher e apresentada.Lendo esses livros eu percebo que:-A grande maioria das heroinas e virgem, so perdem a virgindade com a personagem principal. As mulheres nao virgens da trama sao retratadas como vagabundas. Muitas vezes a mocinha