“grand opening; grand closing”: the 50th of donata meirelles

some people have stopped using their brains nowadays.
it’s real sad.
i’d like to think phones are making folks stupid,
but everyone has google on their devices.
i like to think of google as a free “know-it-all” assistant.
so the “vogue brazil” style director,
donata meirelles,
turned 50 last friday and lost her job the same night.
why?
this is what she decided to do on her birthday via “daily mail”

The style director of Brazilian Vogue has resigned after her 50th birthday party was criticised for evoking themes of slavery.  

Donata Meirelles hosted the lavish dinner party last Friday in Bahia, northeastern Brazil.   

But the event sparked an online backlash after a guest posted a photograph on Instagram showing Meirelles, who is white, seated on an elaborate throne surrounded by black women in traditional white dress.   

Critics quickly pointed out that the imagery of elaborately dressed black women welcoming guests and posing alongside them was reminiscent of Brazil’s colonial past.

Rita Batista, a Brazilian black television presenter, re-posted the photograph alongside a similarly arranged image from 1860, also taken in Bahia, to demonstrate why Meirelles’ party was so offensive to the region’s black population.  

Explaining the historical context, Batista quoted an excerpt from the book ‘Jóias de Crioula’ (‘Jewelry of the Brazilian Creole’) by Laura Cunha and Thomas Milz.

The slaves of wealthy houses were adorned by their own masters,’ Cunha and Milz wrote. 

When they went out into the streets with their ladies or children, they were displayed in fine, jeweled garments. 

‘The slave herself was an object of the owner’s ostentation, a luxury object to be shown publicly.’  

isn’t age supposed to bring wisdom?

smh.
ya know,
i always say folks should do a “is this a dumb move?” check.
often,
before i make decisions,
i always ask myself:

Would a doofus do this?

if the answer is “yes”,
or i have to think long and hard,
then i refrain from doing it.
it’s not always fool proof,
but donata should have known better.
clearly,
she has no friends to pull her to the side.
the reality of it tho:

Some jackals just don’t gaf

they know it will offend,
but they see just how far they could get away with it.
not donata tho.
oh noooooo…
50,
fabulous,
and banished.

doofus.

article cc: daily mail

1 thought on ““grand opening; grand closing”: the 50th of donata meirelles

  1. *sighs* Let me tell you something about Brazil (and all these other countries with legacies of slavery and/or colonialism) and race…

    I’ve got a ton of friends from all over the world and many of them have this sentiment that America has a uniquely racist country. I’ve come to realize that such sentiments are due to America (as of now) still being the world’s superpower, so our dirty laundry and bare ass gets to be revealed for all the world to see and snicker and giggle about, but you want to know something? A lot of these other countries, especially the ones that currently have humanitarian images, have track records that are just as deplorable as America’s…Canada…Australia…France…Germany…the list goes on.

    Brazil’s no different. Out here touting itself as a “racial democracy” when all socioeconomic stats say otherwise, LOL. I naively thought I was going to get a breathe of fresh air escaping Trump’s America for a few months, but (Pre-) Bolsonaro’s Brazil has been interesting…the similarities in racial power dynamics and how racism is practiced in both Brazil and America is eye-opening to say the least. (Dark-skinned) Black women treated like shit, (dark-skinned) black men only valued for their dicks or athleticism, violence in the favelas (aka Brazilian ghettos), black-fishing, cultural appropriation, etc.

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