Yaa-Hemaa Obiri-Yeboah2013-06-19T11:50:54-04:00Yaa-Hemaa Obiri-Yeboahhttp://www.huffingtonpost.ca/author/index.php?author=yaahemaa-obiriyeboahCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Yaa-Hemaa Obiri-YeboahGood old fashioned elbow grease.A Woman's Work is Never Donetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.30475002013-04-12T12:29:45-04:002013-06-12T05:12:01-04:00Yaa-Hemaa Obiri-Yeboahhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/yaahemaa-obiriyeboah/Lean In. While it is an inspiring read -- she is a woman of many accomplishments and who seems genuinely interested in improving the lot of the professional woman -- I couldn't help but think as well that as women, our work is never really done.
Each day, we have to maneuver through a tricky dance and at times, for me anyway, it feels as though the 'to do list,' or the boxes that need to be ticked off, are never-ending. On the one hand, we're expected to fulfill the destinies won for us -- and desired -- by women of previous generations. The suffragettes and second wave feminists fought hard and endured extreme prejudice to ensure that women would have a place at the table, the executive table in particular. On the other hand, some of us want to 'lean back' from our careers and 'lean in' to family -- but we worry that if we do, we'll be called traitors to the cause.
Today's woman has to be strong and smart, ready and alert at all times because, in many circumstances, her work needs to be as good, if not better than her male counterparts in order to receive the same recognition -- or to justify that recognition. And, as in Condoleezza Rice's words on the jacket of Sandberg's book say, while we have to "[manage and overcome] the challenges that arise on the 'jungle gym' of career advancement," there is also an expectation that we act as wonder women of sorts: simultaneously hot-shot career women in power suits and "Sex and the City" heels; yummy mummies; nice and amiable, but not too nice, of course; ladies in the street but freaks in the bed. Oh, and we also need to "lean in," tap into our greatness, and be the leaders we need to be at work and in life. And, I should add, find a good partner in the home who will share domestic duties 50/50 and support our career aspirations. I don't know about you, but it can all feel heavy and makes me go slightly out of breathe.
Don't get me wrong, the hard work is worth it and our loads are lighter because we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. And if we carry on the work for parity and equality, it will be even easier for the generations to come.
The reality is that our lot is different -- our lives come with specific 'accoutrements,' if you will, whether we like it or not. We're the Ginger Rogers to the Fred Astaires, doing everything the male counterpart is doing, but our dance is complicated and weighed down as we sashay, somewhat burdened, in our metaphorical high heels.]]>"Scandal": Talking and Not Talking About Race on TVtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.29682282013-04-01T12:16:22-04:002013-06-01T05:12:01-04:00Yaa-Hemaa Obiri-Yeboahhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/yaahemaa-obiriyeboah/Scandal. For those who have not been watching the drama, Scandal features, as its main protagonist, a woman named Olivia Pope who works as a 'fixer' in Washington, D.C. When the big names are in trouble (be they elected officials or CEOs of companies) they run to Olivia to sort out their problems and to handle the media and publicity machine. In addition to being a 'fixer', Olivia is also involved in a sordid romantic relationship with the president of the United States, who she helped -- through fairly nefarious means -- to win the presidential election.
While the wheeling and dealing and fast-talking and fast-walking that are the staples of the show are fascinating in and of themselves, what's most striking about the show is how race is simultaneously discussed and not discussed at all.
Olivia Pope -- based on a real life figure, Judy Smith, a former press aide in the George Bush administration -- has managed to reach, interact with, and influence individuals at the highest echelons of power. She manages to do this not only as a woman, and sartorially elegant in designer wear, but also as a person of colour. To be a woman of colour and to have achieved the success necessary to play with and push the big wigs, she must be good -- extremely, terrifically exceptional, that is. While season one made no direct mentions of Olivia's race (although it should be said, given the visual medium that is television, her race is obvious for all to see), season two has dipped its toes in the bucket of American colour politics on a few occasions.
In "Happy Birthday, Mister President" a flashback episode, we witness the complexities of being 'the other woman', particularly complex when Olivia Pope, 'the other woman', or mistress, is black and her partner in matrimonial crime is the Republican president of the United States, Fitzgerald Grant, who happens to be white. Olivia, in a fit of frustration with their act of creeping around, declares to Fitz that she's "feeling a little Sally Hemmings-Thomas Jefferson" about their situation. It's a seemingly one-off line, but there is so much richness, history, and truth behind her comments. As the mistress -- even one who is described as the love of Fitz's life -- she cannot occupy the main stage of her lover's life. Her name will never be found indelibly etched beside his in the history books when the president's life is accounted for -- his wife will hold that spot.
Unlike Sally, Olivia is not legislatively or socially enslaved -- she lives in a different historical context. But, while she may have significant economic and political power, at the end of the day she's not so different from Sally. She's just one in a long series of black women in the tangled history of the United States, involved with a white man who holds most of the power and who can never really be hers.
The fact that Fitz is a white Republican makes the Olivia-Fitz relationship especially captivating and serves as a ripe foundation from which to build storylines for the show. Fitz, in the aftermath of surviving an assassination attempt, seems to 'see the light' and feels invincible and declares that he wants to divorce his (white) pregnant wife, in order to pursue his relationship with Olivia. In response, his chief of staff, Cyrus Beene, states, "'Liv is a lovely, smart woman... but she's not exactly a hue that most of your Republican constituents would be happy about." Hmmm. Le plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose...
The latest episode, "Top of the Hour," deals deftly with the topic of race without so much as a word. It touches on the judgements and assumptions many of us make about who we see as naturally filling powerful roles. Olivia comes to the rescue of a female CEO, arriving at this woman's home with a few members of her entourage: Abby (a pretty redhead) and Harrison (the black male lawyer in Olivia's company). The CEO has never heard of or seen Olivia Pope before. She immediately walks up to Abby and says, "You must be Olivia Pope." Before she can shake Abby's hand, however, the real Olivia interjects, shakes her hand and says, "I'm Olivia Pope," while Abby and Harrison give each other knowing looks in the background.
No one dwells on the moment, because it's time to get to the work at hand. But it is truly priceless.
]]>Hoping for a New Era for the Catholic Churchtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.26659092013-02-12T10:29:39-05:002013-04-14T05:12:01-04:00Yaa-Hemaa Obiri-Yeboahhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/yaahemaa-obiriyeboah/
Although there are several would-be candidates from North America and Europe (including Quebec Cardinal Marc Ouellet), there are also potential candidates from Africa, such as Peter Turkson of Ghana, and, given that Latin America represents 42 percent of the 1.2 billion Catholics in the world, there also seems to be a significant contingent of Latin Americans who could represent the Church.
Several Archbishops have talked openly about the "universal" nature of the Church, such as Archbishop Gerhard Mueller who told the Dusseldorf's Rheinische Post, and as reported by Tom Heneghan of the Globe and Mail, that "The universal Church teaches that Christianity isn't centred on Europe." In this same report, Tom Heneghan cites the comments of Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch who stated that the Church's future was not in Europe.
This last statement is not surprising given that an ever increasing number of North Americans and Europeans are no longer people of faith. Interestingly enough, the populations in Latin America, Africa and Asia that once received multitudes of missionaries on their soil, are now themselves acting as missionaries to the West in a case of reverse religious migration and proselytization.
Many are hopeful that when the papal conclave, or meeting of the College of Cardinals, is gathered to elect the new pope, that a pope of a "different hue" or background is selected. It remains to be seen though whether all those who adhere to the Catholic faith, in whichever part of the world, will be as steadfastly loyal to someone who is not of European descent. I'm cautiously optimistic that this would be the case and that a faith connection would override any racist or prejudiced inclinations, especially if the "one Church" is, as Catholics claim, for everyone. If the Church is truly for everyone, then anyone, European or not, is more than worthy of leading the faithful.]]>Black History Is Everyone's Historytag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.26336832013-02-06T18:21:18-05:002013-04-08T05:12:01-04:00Yaa-Hemaa Obiri-Yeboahhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/yaahemaa-obiriyeboah/
Sure, I understand that there's much to cram into school curricula, but when we skip over or elide significant aspects of our country's past, we demonstrate what -or who - is important or unimportant in our society. These omissions -- which affect, of course, not only blacks, but also Asians, native peoples, and various other ethnic groups (women too lest we forget) -- skew our view of the world and lead to erroneous assumptions. If a child, or an adult for that matter, only learns about the contributions of those of European descent, it's unlikely that they will consider that people of other races or ethnicities also played a significant role in building our country. How can you be expected to know and understand the full spectrum of history if you've never been given non-traditional examples? To put it another way, if you never saw the colour blue in your lifetime would you know that it even existed?
I don't see Black History Month as revisionist in any way; the aim isn't to rewrite history to artificially raise the ranking of black contributions; the aim is to bring to light or to the surface the people and events that were forgotten or that were purposefully buried in the annals of time. Also, Black History Month isn't designed to elevate black culture over white culture. One isn't better than the other. In fact, neither history or culture is separate or distinct because it's a shared history. The concurrent stories on both sides of the coin are what make our shared past. Black History month isn't just my month, or your month, or the month of a friend of yours. It's ours.