/
y
oddBu
"It' got mar maple in it!"
Thus proudly proclaims the attracti Bla k woman
in the ne Aunt Jemima mapl syrup I vi Ion
ummercial.
The si r, appearing wi h I y ung p ple, is
I dys Knight.
Yeah, THAT Glady Knight. Y u know, th
tre / ll-around "soul sista. 'I 0, th Pip ar
to b_e . n in the 30- cond spot. 0, he d n't sing
during It and I don't remember h ringing th jingl ,
but don't quote me. Ye , the kids shown r h r r al-Iife
grandchildr IT.
Yeah, THAT maple syrup-s-the one with th rehabili­
tated "mammy" on its label.
(PA EWHlLEREADINGA UIEN.lE 1" ES" AY
WHAT?," "WORD?" OR "FOR REA ?")
No, Glady is not wearing a bandanna.
As In aster musician/poet Gil Scott-Heron (make sure
to bu� his new album, " 'pirits'Y) would y it, 1 was
watching h Sp.rn.l aJTV"blues"tw w gowh n
on came a r p rtsayingour sister h d comeund r ttack
for promoting pr viously mentioned produc .
Unfortunately, there' was not a lot of detail. Little
things wer missing-you know, like WHO was upset.
nd what did Gladys hav. to say about the controversy?
WJLA-TV, th ABC affiliate here in th Distric of 0-
htn'l�iR, 'didl�'t say. (Typical TV n ws , why ·print
media are still nece ary in the electronic a ?)
. , I COULD understand' why folks would
upset about ne of our qu ns promoting th (i nlf nous
Quaker Oa product. I know I was slightly taken aback
when I first aw he comm rcial.
After all, since this image was bOrn during the pre-
20th century minstrel show days (WJLA said "Aunt
Jemima" was introduced to the world at the 1893 Chi­
cago World's Fair), it has served to help dehumanize
African Americans.
�unt Jemima "pers�nified the mammy stereotype,"
writes Howard Univer ity School of Communication Act­
ing Dean Jannette L. Dates, co-editor of the book "Split
Image: .
o gh
'di-
niv rsityPr
U m k bout 22S In i 11 i n
annually .tur (.�u,?k � ts, ac ording to th W,JLA r p rt.
Da WrI . In Split Imag , "A vertisin "chapter that
ican Americans epresented 55 percent of all Aunt
� mi.ma s�p domestic sal by the e rly 1980 . p
m mind: African Americans are still only an estimated
12 percent of the Am rican popula ion.
In 1989, Quaker Oats took untJ mima bandanna
off, repl cing it with a perm and pearls,
WJLA pointed out on th air that ak r had n-
tered into som sort of partn n hip wi h the ational
Council of Negro Women. (I didn't hav tim to find u
more about this cau e of our PA de dline.)
If a compan� whic� we support so heavily has changed
the offensive Image In question and now is reportedly
a,?out to give African Americans mor "maple" (the green
kind, I hope), do we really have a right to be mad at
pint ou , h NEVER em bar-
pJ ....
Todd Burroughs current! IS m the Journali m doctoral program
o{th UnH r uvoi Moryland at '011 ge Park.
... ... . .... #...,._-_ . ..,.,..,
,r'"
�
Urban Species
By HENRY KELLER
. Michigan Citizen
Urban Sp . i a group from ToU nham,) at in the
northern e ion of London, England. In th ir m ic, they
blend Hip-Hop, Reggae, Soul, Folk and Rock
Th group consists of four memb rs; Mintos who i th
primary compos r and lyricist, The Ren gad , who i th
group disc jockey; Dr. Slim, t h secondary lyricist; who con­
v ys hi styl in a reggae toa ing fashion; nd finally Sl w
Foot, the group' d neer.
Th .ir album, ntitled "Li ten ", is a col1 ion of ngs w hich
h v a Jot of po ential but, iittle, if any of th t pot nti 1 was
con rted into kin tic nergy'
. A far a th lyrics are con rn , Minto h good int n­
tions. He took th time to add s topics that many hip-hop
lyrici ts n gl ct today.
e Iso r lay his id in positi mann r,omittm cu
words and r placing th m with words of more su R n
• I
'.
,
By TUREKA TURK
M�chlg.n CLtizen
hI
point nurn-
n x­
nd of
you cou ld i ng the ongs
un ns iously.
0, th ir new single "5-4-3-2
(Yo TLnLe Is Up)" is 8 pleasant
m turation of a group of ong­
s. Funky nd not 0 imple,
th track d n't take its}' ten-
t; r bunch of bubblegum­
pping impl to
l . nfort unat I "J
t hI' movr-- Bu t hr
ru n't ba
ha k pt
ut of four