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yes. we have a certain standard of what is beautiful and white people have their own!

I think it is healthy and beautiful for anyone to celebrate our culture. As long as this chick can do our beauty justice I say Go for it! If we want to overcome the barriers that have been a problem in the past then we also have to ALLOW others to appreciate us….let’s all embrace black culture – even black folks have some growing to do on that front. Separate but Equal is over…let’s move forward.

Who the F*u*C*K cares? Why is this even an issue? It’s about who can do the job. Essence is slowly loosing is circulation by numbers, they have to do whats best for the mag, to keep it afloat. Maybe she wasnt doing a good job and thats why she got fired or what ever hapen to her.

I mean is this the same cover that put Reggie Bush on the Black Love issue? I don’t say write her off bcus race bcus ww usually find bw insanely beautiful so maybe it might work.

I mean is this the same magazine that put Reggie Bush on the Black Love issue? I don’t say write her off bcus race bcus ww usually find bw insanely beautiful so maybe it might work.

And fact is they would NEVER hire a bw at vouge, marie claire, cosmo ect they will never let that sh!t go down bcus those ppl r borderline open racisist.

ABSOLUTELY IT MATTERS!!!! WHY WOULD ESSENCE DO THIS? TELL ME WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? OBVIOUSLY NOT ABOUT THE PATRONS THATS FOR SURE. TO HAVE A WHITE FEMALE OR WHITE MALE FOR THAT MATTER IN CHARGE OF A MAGAZINE THAT RESPRESENTS BLACK PEOPLE PRODOMINATELY WOMEN IS LIKE HAVING AL SHARPTON IN CHARGE OF WOMENS DAY MAGAZINE. JUST SAYING!!!

i really don’t think it matters cuz isn’t E’RYTHING RAN BY WHITE PPL!!!??? LMAO

@Rational
I co-sign. It’s all about money, if it doesn’t work get rid of it and try something new. Publishing is a competitive field, and without the numbers your going under.

How many black fashion directors at the white magazines. I’ll bet zero. black people don’t get those breaks in the corporate world.

Am I the only one that got the memo that Essence is white owned?

many of you are pathetic, how many of you say that love is colorblind, well at least when a bw is with a wm.

now you are going ape ##ish that a ww is the fashion editor. If it were a wm, that you guys thought was fine, i bet you wouldn’t have a problem.

You see i have figured many of you out, you envy ww but love or lust for wm!

NO..IT,DOES.NOT.MATTER,IF,THE,ESSENCE,DIRECTOR,IS,WHITE..***WHAT,REALY,MATTERS,IS,SCHOOL,,,OPENING………SOON..

No, it does not matter. That’s like asking if it matters if the fashion director of Glamour Magazine were black. I doubt she is, but it would be fine if she was.

dont think its a prob at all. heck, some Yt folks know more about black folks than we do.. SMDH

Well, at least they have the spiritual leader of black woman love on the cover. The 250lbs baby mamma who proclaimed to the world that she was saving herself for black men. She had to turn down all of those offers from non black men. There were Non black men with broken hearts all over the world crying after that pronouncement.

On another note, does that mean the fashion editor picked out the wardrobe Jill wore for the photo shoot?

Who the f*ck cares? I do. You see, this is why some black people still remain ignorant of the world around them. Look, white people always employ their own. They have plenty of opportunities blacks will never have. We should be employing our own people. Everyone else thinks about their own (Jews, Latinos, whites, Asians) yet when it comes to blacks, we always have to give our sh*t away.

You know, people talk againsta Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, but they are the only blacks that are left that, regardless of their ulterior motive, will stand up for black people. By the looks of many of these comments, blacks don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell for anyone to stand up for our rights.

Boy, the white man has done his job very well.

Sorry to say but most Black blogs and magazines have been bought out by the white media system.They never let us anything on your own for long, they always have their greasy hands in the pie.

@Shea – every time a black man has tried to start something that give us economical power, they were always killed, i.e. Marcus Garvey, MLK, Malcolm X, etc. Remember Black Wall Street. The white man has always attempted to keep us down. Why do you think he spends the majority of his time telling us we are inferior. The sad part is that blacks do not know their history so they are clueless. We’ve given away EVERYTHING that we’ve owned or it’s been taken away from us, i.e. music, arts, language, culture, and even our minds. Many blacks still think white folks are superior. SMH.

@Anonymous Gal-I know love,couldn’t agree with you more!!It really breaks my heart to see my people so misguided and not know their true history not His_Story.

Maybe they need a different perspective because Essence is going out of business like a lot of other magazines.

@Shea – it is very heartbreaking because many of them don’t WANT to know the truth. They are comfortable living in ignorance of who THEY are and not who OTHERS think they are. Thank you for your wisdom.

@Spicboyz1 – yeah, the whole world has been bamboozled into praising St. White Man.

As long as there keeping black people on the cover it don’t matter

All Mags are going down anyways. It’s the varied perspectives that bring relatablitity.

rain 7/28/10, 07:41:PM

As long as there keeping black people on the cover it don’t matter
~~~~~~
so as long as a black mag keeps the Negros on the cover, but allows yt to run the show, it’s okay with you, huh. SMH.

And BET along with the majority of the major radio stations are black owned right? Just keep it real….

Essence/Jet/Ebony are all a waste of $$$$ and I quit buying them many, many years ago. I glanced at a coworkers Essence & Jet a few months ago and just shook my head at her sitll subscribing to them. The news is JET was so old that it had gray hair growing out of the pages and the articles in Essence were repeat after repeats of stuff written either there or already seen somewhere else. This woman will hopefully do a better job and print a magazine worth reading and subscribing to once again.

LMAO: St. White Man!

I’m sorry, but at this point, it does matter. All the sistas out there with no jobs and they could’nt find one sista to fit the bill? Really? *smh*

Its about identity and opportunity. We, blk women don’t have the equal representation in the fashion n publishing industry. Its heart breaking to witness. Like Elvis stealing rock n roll.

Who owns Essence magazine???

What is the REAL issue @ Essence? Is it advertising dollars? Will the presence of a white Fashion Editor attract revenue for ad space?

Well it doesn’t help their situation. They are already losing subscribers but I suspect it’s because the magazine keeps rotating the same celebs on the cover. And honestly, even when I did subscribe to Essence, I didn’t pay much attention to the fashion pages. I go to Lucky and InStyle for that.

Hell YES IT MATTERS! Black magazines are supposed to cater to OUR culture, not white folks trying to tell us or invent what our culture should be about it or what beauty is. This is what’s wrong with Black media that sold out to whites. Every last one of these outlets tell a false narrative about us. BET is garbage and has ruined a whole generation of young blacks, now Essence is trying to destroy the minds of educated Black women. Their articles are so dumbed-downed, thy need to go out of business.

YES it does matter…ESSENCE did not need to go this way. Dumbest move in 2010. EPIC FAIL!!!

Its just sad at this point…

She proved shes qualifd. & can move copies off d shelf generatin revenue\better quality mag 4 bw. lets celebrate this 1st!!!

YES IT DOES MATTER!!!!! i am a black woman, and Essence is the only magazine for us. I go to Borders or Barnes & Noble and i see Allure, Cosmo, Glamour, Vogue, Elle etc….I have subscribed to Essence for 8 years and i’m about to cancel. It’s DISGRACEFUL!!!!

This woman has been a contributer for the last six months. Now that folks know her race, a stink is being made. WTF?!

I’m amazed at some of the comments. All black women are not the same. We do not all have the same sensibilities in fashion. We are not all the same size. We do not have the same silhouette. Defining yourself by your ethnicity is just as small minded as when others do it to us. Sure we share a history but we shouldn’t be anchored to the past by holding on to a perspective that limits us.

If this woman, regardless of her race, interprets the vision as the editor, then that’s all she needs to do.

If you don’t like it, don’t by the magazine. You better believe they’ll make a change.

White women have NEVER focused on Black women and our needs…How can she even relate to the make-up and unique issues many of us have in the industry…They don’t make make-up for our tones that match…they laugh at us with hair choices and stay saying that we will never fit the Upscale standard of fashion or beauty…

What can a white woman tell me about my skin tone and how to manage my hair texture and what products are good for it…I DO NOT WANT TO SEE or READ about the virtues of BOTOX and Implants and articles on Anorexia and beautiful white skin/thin is…Show more Black models on the runway…more on their mags and hair mags then we can talk

not a good move essence

“Ellianna, who has been contributing to the magazine on a freelance basis for the last six months”
—————
So basically a 6 month freelancer was chosen over the 20 something employees that have been there for YEARS…probably suggesting ways to UPGRADE the magazine. I can even think about the woman’s race right now…I hate when companies do things like that. Argghhhhhhh

NOPE! NOT TO ME, BECAUSE I DON’T READ IT!!

ATL gal if you want to have your head up your behind than that is up to you. BET, has gone down hill since the black owners left and the skin color on BET and the hosts have been getting lighter in shade. I cant name you one dark skin host on BET. Women like you will never get it, your to comfortable in your ignorance and self diluted white world. Probably one of them swirl sistas thinking all is white and merry. Like we say, until we see more blacks in white magazines it is a moot story. I am Tired of making whites rich off of black ideas and image.

Essence isn’t owned by blacks anymore anyway. If it bothers you boycott and send them a letter letting them know why you’re boycotting.

We’re really bad at allowing folks to profit from our culture and products. We complain but still patronize them. If we stopped reading them they’d go out of business or white chicks would fill in the gap; and that’s fine.

BOYCOTT

HELL YEAH IT MATTERS. The next time we see Jill Scott on the cover she will be a size 4 (from photoshop).

I agree with truthmatters. To bad nobody addressed your comment. I peeped the same thing you did.

LMAO@Miami Chick about that kicking rocks if she can’t cut it lol
In the interst of being fair quite ironic the lady has the job so let’s see what she does,
For starters like to further what Miami Chick said
Let’s see what she does for with the best swimsuit for our bodies,
The best AFFORDABLE looks for work, casual, evening,for our different shapes
What new makeup looks that flatter our different shades including my dark skin

She botches any of the above mention then simply put Ms Placas can along with Essence kick rocks

The T is
Remember Suede!!!!!
A division of Essence
Time which owns Essence and has since Fall 1999,has attempted to give you what you want !
However circulation is down yet other magazines are posting increases in reserved maillings.

Time is protecting the stockholders $154 Million dollar investment. As well as again wanting to protect the strongest diverse black brand!

The content has been just above gutter and you know it !
There are more beauty adds than health fashion and finance ! This is not what was the purpose of Essence !
This woman is on her grind and is going to give it her all to make it work for us all .
Shut up ! And check this honey!!!!
Time gave free range more do than others and ya nearly killed it ! So how to this and that , when he cheats,and best thing at the strip …child it’s all
GUTTER .
It’s fine for you to claim to accept diversity yet look at ya wanting to wade and waller around in SH/! Just cause somebody is Caucausian !!!
Futhermore
Demand more out your daaaym life as much as you do a magazine !
And WHat!!!

LMBAO, How the hell ya’ll gonna go all pro black and Angela Davis over a “Black” magazine hiring a “white” fashion director. You do realize you’re complaining on a what you claim to be a “Black” blog that’s owned by white but you don’t seem to have a problem with that…..not pro black enough to find a black owned blog to spend your days and nights sounding ignorant I see……

HAUTE SHOTS: Letoya Luckett Essence Magazine’s Scans!!!…

I found your entry interesting thus I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog …

blck ppl piss me off @ times this is why its so hard 4 us to move forward because ppl are complaining about bullshit

ummmh…I read lucky and other white magazines now because I felt that Essence and Ebony never really knew how to speak to my fashion sense anyway…I don’t see the issue here…I want cutting edge fashion, as long as she can do the job and actually speak to a 32 year old professional black woman who has money to spend, then I might actually pick up a copy or maybe even subscribe…

Essense sales would not be down if they stop doing the same articles every year. I am tired of Essense telling my educated sisters to date down in order to have a man. How bout telling them some truths about why they are really single.

The owners of Sophisticate’s Black Hair are asian

We cant have anything they have to infiltrate everything. Sheesh! Well that’s one less mag I have to worry about. They have everyting and I like to support those things/corporations that uplift us with the images they sell and the ppl they employe.

@ Get Real 7/29/10, 07:35:AM
Essense sales would not be down if they stop doing the same articles every year. I am tired of Essense telling my educated sisters to date down in order to have a man. How bout telling them some truths about why they are really single.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

100% COSIGN

Same stuff different day!

It does not matter what color is on the staff because I cancelled my subscription right after Susan Taylor left anyway.

Skin color should not make a difference if she is qualified she have the job. We don’t want white people working for our companies but if they don’t want us working for there company they are racist. Wake up people we are more racist then they are.

I totally disagree that just because the lady is white she has problems working for a ‘black magazine’. so thats just as bad as saying if your black you cant work for vogue because its a magazine dedcated to white people. My brothers and sister, when are yall gona start opening your minds.

I don’t think so. Fashion is universal. I wouldn’t want white publications not hiring black folks so why shouldn’t black publications hire white folks in roles where a black perspective isn’t essential?

Creativity is color blind.

Casting Directors Are Looking For New Talent for Reality TV. Think You Have What It Takes?
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/tlg/1865674492.html

Although hiring a white fashion director may be disconcerting for many of you, here is another bombshell: Essence is not even owned by African Americans. So why is anyone surprised?

@Coco – I wish white people thought that way when it comes to us, too. Maybe we wouldn’t be so racist if we got treated with dignity & respect. Why do we have to get a job because they need a token and not interested in our skills. Its a vicious cycle out here. People expect us to treat them w/respect, but don’t feel they have to OR need to respect us, our culture or our heritage. In fact, we lucky if we get ANY LOVE out here because our own treat us WORST. We need to start looking out for each other – like we look out for others. You want to be sensitive to others feelings, but who is being sensitive to us – the man who hires us as his TOKEN?

@ CHAKA1… c0-sign. So they couldn’t find one black sista in the entire U.s. to head the dept. Blk ppl are still nothing in this country; can’t even run a blk magazine; but yet a blk woman ran the dept. for decades b4. Don’t buy it this is a way to slowly move out all blks in key positions in the company. the otherr workers should be putting out resumes. FAILLLLLL!!!

Blacks are losing ground in America? Have you forgotten who our president is? Who elected him? Do you realize no European country has ever had a white leader? Do you realize we never had a Muslim or Jewish president and we may never will?
The blunt black racism is just as appalling as white racism – just listen to yourself.
The girl was already contributing to the magazine for 6 months and where was she working before? Oprah! It didn’t seem like a problem then, did it?
Maybe I do not know but Black women love Louis Vuitton just as much as white women. The range of designers featured in Essence will notchange most likely. There are black editors and stylists working out there – they are educated and smart and just because you don’t know their names doesn’t mean they are not there. Should it be a problem for white people that Edward Enninful styled plenty of stories for Vogue and he was in The September Issue documentary. Andre Leon Talley has been a much admired staple of fashion for decades and he is powerful – should whites have problem with it too? Yes, there are not enough black girls on magazine’s pages but also I do not think essence is planning to geature white models in the magazine now – that is an issue that is not related to Ellianna Placas’ hire.
Justifying your own prejudice with other people’s prejudice is gross. Being black doesn’t give you the right to discriminate.

I mean “a black leader” in the first line.

WHY DO YOU ALL LOVE YOU WHITE MASTER SO MUCH??? WHY ARE YOU NOT PROUD TO BE BLACK?WHY ARE YOU ASHAMED OF YOUR HERITAGE?MAYBE BECAUSE YOU DON”T KNOW IT?WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE VALIDATED BY THE WHITE MAN? WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO LOOK EUROPEAN?

People get use to it…as this country continues to fall you will see more whites people place in front of Black people or latinos to moves products…remember if the minority can’t afford to buy, you have to sell to the people that can buy…It’s not personal it’s business and until black people stand up and say NO, this will be the beginning of a new trend…TRUST ME!!!

NO. it really doesn’t make a difference.

Gosh!!!

@WHY – I love my blackness. I love my culture and I love my heritage. I wouldn’t trade my blackness for anything – despite what we have been put through as black people. I’m not bitter about how we are treated OR how we treat others – I’m using all that information to further my GOALS. Knowing where you came from goes a long way in giving a person SELF-ESTEEM. I mean knowing where you came from before our Ancestors hit the American Shores. Black people have to realize – HISTORY did not start with AMERICA.

Yes it does!!!!!!!!!!

Next they will think its OK to replace the black women, stories and photo’s with Hispanic women just like when MTV purchased BET they replace Free with a series of Hispanic women and keep them around no matter how bad there reputation is….And Black women will be expected to be understanding because the are also women of color…..

subscription canceled!

No the position is fashion director, her race should have nothing to do with fashion choices.

Now if the postilion entails direction of issues pertaining to “the black consciousness such as love, body image, family, etc” then I would have a problem with her hiring.

http://bryanviper.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/ellianna-placas-wait-and-see/

delante 7/29/10, 09:39:AM
Creativity is color blind.
____________________
Is it really? Tell that to Vogue who turned down doing the Africa magazine.

@ Delante and everyone else that agrees with the nonsense that Creativity is COLOR BLIND…That is ridiculous. So, that is the excuse. “Creativity is colorblind” but guess what the FASHION INDUSTRY ISN’T! I hate when people come up with stupid “saying” to make a point.It is not about creativity or fashion or sales. You mean to tell me that ESSENCE couldn’t find ONE BLACK WOMAN THAT WAS ABLE TO DO THAT JOB B.S.!!! Sellouts point blank. I find it hard to believe as long as they had that AD up for creative director that no black woman in the industry could fill that position. IT IS EXACTLY like Michaela said. I am in fashion and I have worked in top “BLACK URBAN” fashion companies so I know. It is SO difficult for black people to get jobs at CK, Michael Kors, DKNY, etc. Only Ralph Lauren I can say gave me the time of day on more than one occasion. However, these High End fashion companies are racist!!! The fashion industry is RACIST!!! When African -Americans have a magazine that has been successful gives a leadership position to a WHITE person. WHEN it is EASIER for them (white people) to get a JOB PERIOD is idiotic and selling out!-Disgusting

Well who owns BET and the majority of your R&B/Hip Hop stations. Not African American, so where is the complaint with this.

Boricua hasta muerte, los daños de la verdad

Don’t you guys see whats going on? Everything that is suppose to be strictly for us has infiltrated and replaced by the faces of YT and HISPANICS.You all just don’t get it, it has nothing to do with being racist or discriminating.

Yes it does! she doesn’t know what is to be BLACK AND BEAUITFUL!

print is dead!!! this time next year Essence will be another BlackTail rag.

Yes it does matter. The magazine is for today’s black woman and I think we should hire black woman. I am 48 years old and I have always been told by white women how I am supposed to look, now they are going to tell me how to dress. I named my 26 year old daughter after this magazine because I loved you guys so much because it was for me. Lately you guys have been messing up. I am 100 percent positively sure that there is a black woman out here that needed this job that a white magazine company will not hire. Hmmmm

It doesn’t matter if the person is black or white, asian or hispanic… If she has hip hop style or ethnic style that’s all that should count… what about the white lady who has a african inspired line that dressed erica badu etc… Color does not matter, my definition of Style includes all color and shapes may it the person styling or the person wearing the clothing. Stop being so racist people…

@believe that
i agree with you wholeheartedly.I don’t subscribe to essence but all my friends that do have also cancelled their subscriptions.why are blacks not strong enough to keep something just for us?Vogue would never in a billion years let a black face have anything to do with the generating of their magazine,nor would elle or glamour.black people of this generation are too forgiving,they’ll sacrifice any integrity they have just to be accepted by other races

No it doesn’t matter that she is white. If white people hire only white people than they are racist. If black people do it, they are looking our for there own. I understand as a people we have suffered but where does it end? Especially when we are the most undivided race on the planet. We are the only people that think, “we can do it to each other but you better not do it to us”. That bs mentality doesn’t work with your fu&%ed up family and it certainly won’t fly with a hole race.

I think there are a few larger issues at hand in regards to this recent Essence announcement. After years of being a loyal subscriber, I stopped reading the magazine regularly 2-3 years ago because I felt it no longer spoke to and for me — and I think there’s a segment of sisters who hold similar sentiments. I’ve been taken aback by some of the decisions the magazine has made as far as its content, whom it places on its covers, and other editorial decisions. From what I understand, this latest news is another disappointment to a number of sisters who have held the magazine dear to their hearts for years — many, such as myself, who were introduced to it by their mothers. In the current economic environment and with the constant turmoil within the media/publishing industry, a publication cannot afford to be out of step with the desires and needs of its readership — and I think that Essence is teetering on that edge, IMHO. It is no secret that many of us as black women feel that most of popular culture does not reflect who we are as women, and Essence was a place that celebrated sisters, where they were not invisible, where they were valued. I think some sisters believe that the magazine is not what it once was – due to ownership/internal changes and other issues.

A second issue that I’ve seen reflected in what I’ve read and seen in this issue is the widespread homogeneity in the behind-the-scenes world of the media and fashion industries. When I interned years ago at a national news magazine, I became familiar with how culturally exclusionary the industry can be – That same summer I met a young sista who was interning at Essence, and she was thrilled at being given the opportunity to get her foot in the door and some experience under her belt at a widely known magazine. These opportunities are invaluable for black women who are trying to break into an industry that has historically been unwelcoming – as much as diversity continues to be a challenge at media outlets across the board, I believe it is even more apparent within the niche of magazines, particularly the Vogues, Instyles, Marie Claires, and Glamours of the world.

I’m glad that someone who is of another race was hired. This is but a small step in breaking down barriers that continue to hinder us. I would love to see more minorities in the corporate world as well as magazine covers, and behind the scenes too. It all starts with one step. We all deserve equality.

HEY SYD, HAVE SEEN THE LATEST ISSUE OF IT ..AND IF YOU DID ARE THE SISTAZ REPRESENTED RIGHTEOUSLY? OR IZ IT CHANGED TO THE POINT WERE EURO WOMEN ARE TOO SEEN ….OR ARE ALL THE SISTAZ LIGHTER SHADES OF BLK AND NOT DARK WOMEN ..I HAVENT SEEN A ESSENCE MAG IN DECADES …BUT I BEEN TO A ESSENCE AWARDS SHOW IN NY AND HALF THE AUDIENCE WAS WHITE!?

I WAS LOOOKING LIKE WTF!

BELIEVE me, members of my family and I saw the writting on the wall a couple of years ago! When I was a young girl in the late seventies Essence was it! they came on the scene with everything I wanted to know about me, clothes, makeup, jewelry…
Our neighborhoods, politicians, food, and I could go on. Howevveerrr,the straw that broke the camels back was when they had Puff Daddy and one of his babies mamas on the cover. We all canceled our subscriptions because we saw that Essence didn’t care about the African American community. It’s all about the dollars and cents. So it’s no surprise that they are revealing that their fashion director is white.

this is what happens when we sell access to our community. BET, now this

JILL SCOTT LOOKED FANTABULOUS!

@Glok

The clip of Ms. Davis is from AC360 on CNN, btw. She was interviewed by Anderson Cooper.

THANKS SYD ..I WILL CHECK IT OUT ,..I THINK THOSE SUBCRIPSTIONS & BUYES WILL DECLINE, IM GOING TO SKIM THROUGH ONE ….WHAT ABOUT JET DID SOME ONE SAVE THEM ?

@Sydney
How are you,my intelligent black sister?Anyway,I just wanted to say that my mother and grandmother are more than sad about this.Honestly,i never really got into the magazine like they did,but I at least respected the fact that they were black owned and operated.Now that they’ve decided to join the long line of black operations that sold their integrity and identity for a dollar,my respect for them is gone.The only magazine I read is Black Enterprise.

I am appauled at this and will be writing a letter to Essence magazine. I use to have a subscription a long time ago and I’m glad I didn’t renew. This is disgraceful on so many levels!!!!!!

Sorry, had a meeting.

@Glok

As far as I know, Jet is fine. I think there were rumors about the future of the Johnson Publishing Company, but I don’t have the latest info on where that stands.

@CAT EYES

Hi, my insightful and wise sista! How are you?

“Anyway,I just wanted to say that my mother and grandmother are more than sad about this.Honestly,i never really got into the magazine like they did,but I at least respected the fact that they were black owned and operated.”

I haven’t spoken yet with my mother about this recent development, but she also has had a deep reverence for the magazine for years. She grew up during segregation, so the magazine was one of the few places that highlighted the beauty, intelligence, and accomplishments of black women. It’s more than a mere publication for millions of sisters — it has been a reflection of us for years in a mainstream culture in which our visibility is still limited.

Yes, a number of black magazines are no longer in circulation (I used to love Emerge, and I need to renew my Black Enterprise subscription), and the media industry in general is in turmoil (some newspapers have also folded or have been sold). I think some sisters view recent decisions made by Essence’s leadership as a form of betrayal – I think many black women feel personally vested in the magazine.

KOOL SYD … THANKS YOUR AMAZING SIS, LOVE YOUR STYLEE!

@ROBERT

Darling I see blacks in America everyday? What America do you live in? Also, there are blacks in every facet of Corporate America. Just because you don’t see them darling doesen’t mean they don’t exist. Perhaps you should choose a different circle of friends….hmmmm?

You’re sweet, Glok! Thanks for all the laughs and interesting tidbits of information.

Magic Johnson walked away from the deal think about it.

I am an equal opportunity employer. My first thought was what is she going to do about the hair products? However the fashion editor is different than the beauty editor for most mags so then I’m like who cares. Essence doesn’t feature just black designers anyway. Think about it most of the clothes they push are by white designers. Most of the clothes their readers buy are by white designers so just exactly why are people mad. Ms. Ann has been telling you what to wear and buy for years. How many of you selling your soul for Louis, Poochi, Fendi, Prada, Burkin, and the rest. Yes for the sisters who applied I get it but honestly maybe it’s time to give Essence some competition instead of crying. And on a personal note I would let Stacy London dress me anyway day. Fashion has no color. Style has no race.

I have to agree with a lot of the comments that some of you made about us(BLACKS) sticking together. A lot of black people will sit and complain, but won’t do a DAMN THING! When one of us becomes famous(LIKE BEYONCE, BRYANT GUMBLE, MICHAEL JORDAN,TIGER WOODS,ETC,ETC),then all of a sudden,they forget where they came from and they don’t bother going back to the community to teach and help others.Like someone else said, we treat each other worse than any white man or woman ever could. Personally I’m going to contact ESSENCE and let them know I will not be reading their magazine anymore. I am by no means a racist ( I’m BLACK), but when something is just for us(BLACK FOLKS) then DAMMIT hire us. I know damn well there HAD to be a BLACK FEMALE that had been there for several years that would have been good at the job!And please black folks when you do come up or see another black person come up,STOP BEING SO JEALOUS. I can’t stand to see a black person unhappy because another black person has found some success!

@marquis
you never fail to repulse

It matters because who is she to set a sense of style for Black women. It matters because all the jobs in the fashion/magazine industry are ALREADY held by white women. I knew essence hated Black men now we see they have no love for sisters, their JOB is to mentor and empower Black women in the industry. smmfh

Is it me or does anyone else see how history is repeating itself. It all started with Africans selling their own for money, greed. Notice the similiarities? It is evident that Balcks, or shall I say, African-Americans are notorious for selling out,espcially when it pertains to anything black! Need I say more.

One more thing, if its for money, personal gain, BLACKS will sell out ALL THE WAY!!! SO, am I surprised?? HELL NO!!!

Yes! Its a magazine for African-American woman. SMH

Essense has been owned by owned by TIME WARNER sense 2005, they new this was comming 5 years ago….Just like BET….Dang

Cosign 100% with AnonymousGal!!

To those who believe that racism is over, I have news—we still live in a very color conscious society. I’d been noticing for a while that a lot of the ‘beauty’ ads in Essence have started to feature less minority women and a lot more caucasians. I deal with them every single day, the interaction is wearying to say the least. When I open my Essence magazine, I want to be able to see people who look like me and understand my struggles. The truth is that I don’t see anything attractive in a Dior spread with a pale, bleached blond staring back at me from my magazine. Dior don’t design for me anyway! Too much hip and booty, by their standards!! None of us would ask a poor man with a scrap of bread to share the scrap. In the same vein, why ask black women to share one of the very few beauty and fashion publications by and for us with others? I think sometimes in our sick obsession to live in a color blind society and be accepted into ‘mainstream’ society, we forget that there IS beauty in our own race and fail to celebrate it properly. Unfortunately, this move is another step in separating us from something of our own, something that celebrates who we are. We can’t keep rap/hip hop or our one television station. We can’t keep our greek organizations, our step routines (!), we can’t keep our HCBU’s, and now we can’t keep magazines.! When a magazine that caters to white women doesn’t even have ONE ad showing a woman of (ANY)color and doesn’t employ one woman of color–that’s okay, right? No bias or racism there, right? And I’m supposed to be okay when I’m asked to share another shread of a shrinking scrap of bread? I think not!

I think that it is very insulting and disturbing that a magazine created to reafirm the beauty of black women was as soon as it was sold to a white company one of the first things thats done is to hire a white woman to define a black woman’s beauty and style.