"What strikes you, your racism or me?" one of the female demonstrators wrote on her chest during the protest timed to coincide with Rio Fashion Week. "If we are buying clothes, why can't we parade in the (fashion) shows," asked a 15-year-old model taking part in the protest. "Does that mean that only white women can sell and the rest of us can only buy?" "Claiming to showcase Brazilian fashion without the real Brazilians amounts to showing Brazilian fashion (only) with white models," said Jose Flores, a 25-yearold former model who now works in advertising.
While Blacks fight for their survival, Colombia's wealthy have other preoccupations. In the highbrow, rarified and polluted air of Santafe de Bogota, the Miss Columbia contest parades its select young women before an expectant nation. The announcers painstakingly describe each aspirant, even to the color of her skin. Save for a few Euro-Indians and a couple of light-skinned Black contestants, all are "white." Miss Santefe de Bogota, the long-legged, white-skinned audience favorite emerges the winner. Barely two hours later and the new Miss Columbia launches her reign by visiting the Black beaches of Cartagena, the port-city through which all enslaved Africans entered Columbia. There, to the delight of the world's photographers, Miss Columbia contrasts her white beauty with the Black skins of heavy-set women from maroon (escaped slaves) communities. The headlines and photos run, front page and center: "Carolina between Maroons," an unabashed reference to the old maxim, "a rise between two thorns." Three years ago the wealthy matron who organizes the Miss Columbia pageant claimed the country was not ready for a Black Miss Columbia.
The National Black McDonald's Operators Association (NBMOA) has announced a donation of $100,000 to the Red Cross for its ongoing Haiti relief efforts. The NBMOA consists of McDonald's African American franchise owners, who together raised the funds independent of corporate contributions. The group hopes that its contribution will help keep the focus on the ongoing needs to rebuild Haiti.
The donation comes as the Red Cross and other groups continue to work on immediate relief needs in Haiti as well as plan for and implement years of rebuilding efforts following the massive earthquake that struck the country Jan. 12. Members of the NBMOA own more than 1,400 McDonald's restaurants throughout the United States with annual sales collectively exceeding $3.2 billion. The NBMOA also is one of the largest and most influential African American organizations in the United States.
