I seriously thought this flyer was a joke when I saw it posted on a message board several days ago. “Light Skinned Women & All Libra’s Free Entry All Night”, states the (badly designed) flyer.
Detroit promoter Ulysses “DJ Lish” Barnes apparently cancelled the event that was supposed to occur last night at Club APT after getting a furor of angry calls and emails when word of the party spread to the net.
Barnes, 27, said that he “didn’t think there would be a backlash”. Really? He didn’t think that Black women of ‘darker’ shades would have felt ostrasized by an event that stated that only light-skinned women (and Libras!) got in to the party with no cover charge? According to a Detroit News story Barnes said:
I didn’t mean to offend anyone. I had planned a party for other shades (of black women). We were going to take a shade of color each week. Next week was going to be a party for ‘Sexy Chocolate’ and the week after that ‘Sexy Caramel.
That seems like a bold-face lie. He probably just said that to try and save face. Regardless of how many ‘shaded’ parties he planned on throwing, he’s still being ignorant.
How could he have believed that he wouldn’t offend anyone with an event titled as such? What was he gonna do? Stand at the doors of the club and verify that the light-skinned women who wanted to get in free were actually light-skinned and take out a brown paper bag to make sure? I could just picture it now: “I’m sorry. You’re too dark-skinned. You have to pay the cover charge.” What if two “light-skinned” women were to show up, one being a bit darker than the other–where do you draw the line?
It’s probably not surprising to some that Barnes happens to be a “dark skinned” black man. I bet if there was a party being thrown for free entry for all the light-skinned brothas out there, he’d understand why there was such a backlash. It’s sad to think that as a ‘Black’ community there’s so much prejudice within our own race.
Well I guess something good came out of this situation: On DJ Lish’s MySpace page he’s now presenting “Controversy” as next Friday’s themed event. Everybody free entry all night.
WOW!! DAs funny..i cant bellleeeeeeeeeeeeeev dat! this guy is weird. RACIST to other complexionssss!! CCHA
Hahaha, i love how he slides the “we were doing other parties too!” comment in like it makes the whole fiasco any less retarded.
Dude is an ignorant fool, mindless of his own ethnicity’s history. Then again, that shouldn’t be surprising since he DOES work in the music industry.
my name is dj rodney day, i’m a dj from detroit and i know dj lish personally. despite lish being my competition he is a worthy opponent on how he conducts his business and promotes his venues. however i believe his idea and motive was innocent, but just not well thought out. i truly feel that if it were chocalate woman free all nite for the first venue, instead of light skinned woman, then we probably wouldn’t even be commenting on this particular topic. now on the lighter issue what if a girl is on the border line of carmel/ darker complexion would she get in for free? thinking about that makes me confused when collecting money at the door. i wish dj lish the best of luck. detroit has the most hardest working dj’s in the world. http://www.djrday.com
Hey DJ Rodney Day… Thanks for your insightful comment. I agree with you 100% that if the ‘Chocolate’ women party was promoted first that there wouldn’t be as much criticism that this promotion has been receiving as of late.
Deep down I do believe that there was no negative intentions in mind when DJ Lish’s idea was first brought about, but he should’ve took some time to understand the possible backlash that could’ve came from having themed events that were based on certain complexions of one particular race getting in for free (even though they all were covered).
Hopefully this situation will work out positively for everyone, even if it’s by understanding the seemingly trivial notion of segregation and prejudice within one’s own race (social construct that it is).
All I feel is sadness for Lish, DJ Rodney Day and Monique. I hope they grow wiser as they grow older, because that is some ignorant ass shit. Having parties based on skin color shows a complete lack of sophistication and historical awareness. Get to a history class or something! Please.
You know what…I’m going to start by saying that all of this is a bunch of BS. I am a good friend of Dj Lish’s and I happen to know for a fact that it was completely innocent and yes he was planning on throwing a dark-skinned and caramel-skinned bash as well. How can you say that he was lying and you don’t even know him. He’s been throwing these parties for many months and they have been nothing but successful. All people on the guest lists have gotten in free, ladies before 11pm, males 21 and up, and more…no discrimination against anyone, but now because of one flyer (out of four total) for one friday night event people want to try and spit venom on his name. That’s not right and that’s all that I have to say.
Hey Lady BB… thanks for the clarification regarding Lish’s intentions. My subsequent comment in this post didn’t challenge the fact that he was planning on throwing other themed events. But you can see how easy it is for people who don’t know him on a personal level to get things twisted. That’s why it’s so important to think things out in these situations, because the level at which elements such as race can be misconstrued can be increased easily. No where on the flyer (at least to the general public) did it say that ALL people on the guest list would’ve gotten in free. All that people saw on this flyer who aren’t in the Lish’s inner circle was “Light Skinned Women Free Entry All Night”, and that to most people who didn’t know his intentions would seem very discriminatory. People have to be really careful these days and you have to anticipate how the public will react when it comes to things present in today’s media. Race/colour will always be a touchy subject unless things change.
Both of you DJs should get an EDUCATION. I know for a fact that neither of you read books. If it was dark-skinned only, I would (as a darker Black woman) have a problem with that too. Ya see, I am a STOCKBROKER ON WALLSTREET.
In Corporate America, sometimes, they are not allowing the lighter brothas and sistas to represent forums for Blacks to compete and be recognized in Corporate America. That is an issue that is currently being given much attention. But YOU DON’T REEEAAAD, so how would you know!!
For the record, darker women are usually pretty comfortable with themselves. And you better not discriminate against my lighter sistas either. WE ALL STOOD UP FOR EACHOTHER IN THIS CASE.
Unfortunately, DJ Dumb-ass, If I met this man in person, I would have the utmost of respect and I would think nothing of this. I am human and know that people make mistakes. The biggest mistake that Blacks make is not reading books and being waaay too SHALLOW, CHILDISH, AND BRAIN-DEAD.
said…
Ri-damn-diculous.
I’m so over this divisive ish. And I’m mad that 400 years later, we still on this ignant mess. Props to the white man for that field/house kneegrow mess that we can’t seem to let die.
And tintin is right. Either way it goes, it’s still a sick, sad mess. Cause it would have been too much like right to just have a Libra party, huh?
THIS IS A COMMENT FROM ANOTHER BLOG…CONGRATULATIONS, GUYS!! SMILE…DEEE DAAWGS IZ A COMIN YA’LL…HE HE HA HA!
Lady BB you’re an idiot and your friend DJ Lish is an even bigger one, that’s all that really needs to be said. ANY party using skin tone as a divisive factor is a ridiculously stupid idea given the history, was he planning to use brown paper bags at the door too?
holla@a history book.
Surely there is even more blatant discrimination against those races with other than the various shades of black referred to – why the need to discriminate along any racial lines at all. I’m dead against all things politically correct but it’s surprising how blind this ugly ideology is to the many forms of discrimination against white people -or indeed Christians- let’s suppose the party was given simply for whites do you think the poster would stay up for even an hour before the `pc thought police’ sought to prosecute the organisers on racist grounds: it’s about time we fought back and made clear to these Orwellian weirdos that enough is enough.