What do Black women and red heads have in common? don't ask Keli Goff
By: Brendan Patrick Keane | Published Tuesday, August 31, 2010, 11:55 AM | Updated Friday, September 9, 2011, 9:48 PM
"Black women have long been treated as the red-headed step-child of the fashion industry." Keli Goff made that gaff on
Dylan Ratigan's show yesterday. According to the beautiful essayist, red-heads are the accepted example of ugly duckling--Gingerellas if you will.
Her picking on one body type to make her point about diversity on
Vogue covers was ironic. Diversity would mean that all kinds of body types get the cover.
Picking on red-heads seems a wee bit cruel. In
Britain, red-heads are deemed "ging-ers," and such epitaphs are part of a long history of ethnic defamation against people with the audacity to live on land coveted by more powerful blondes and brunettes.
No harm was meant, but it might be something a commentator on diversity would consider the next time she's looking to make an example.
"Black women have long been treated as the red-headed step-child of the fashion industry." Keli Goff made that gaff on Dylan Ratigan's show yesterday. According to the beautiful essayist, red-heads are the accepted example of ugly duckling--Gingerellas if you will. 
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.IrishAndProud | Sep 18, 2010, 03:19 AM EDT
BTW Brendan, 'Keane' can also be Scottish or English in origin (just look it up). How can anyone know otherwise, with you? How can you prove it?
IrishAndProud | Sep 18, 2010, 02:56 AM EDT
Well Brendan, you've disappointed me a wee bit. Seems you've attempted to take the same tactic that several of your ilk on this website have taken (exploding back at me with 'you're not Irish' after I've clearly rubbed their fur the wrong way); it's a typical, unprincipled hothead's response, as silly as it is untrue. Perhaps you've seen their responses yourself from time to time, and decided to parrot them yourself for lack of anything more substantive to respond with -- and if so, or even if not, that's a shame, because it only diminishes YOU, Brendan -- not me or anyone else. My Donegal and Derry ancestors, as would most of the vast Irish Diaspora who disagree with you on most things, would probably beg to differ with you on this matter. One's Irish DNA does not cease to exist because they disagree with you, Brendan...and quite honestly, I nearly half-wonder if Brendan P Keane is even YOUR real name. Anyone can put a picture up of a guy holding a fiddle with that name under it, and have no real way of proving if it's for real or not. Now, back to my original point, each culture can adapt different things from other cultures (there are few cultures on earth that haven't), but they nonetheless remain separate and distinct. And true, unamericanized Irish culture -- that is, in Ireland -- has nothing to do with black culture, and vice-versa. They're as different as Chinese and Polish, and wishing otherwise just to be politically correct is silly...and painfully obvious. Apparently it's YOU who doesn't understand Irish culture, Brendan. Everything I've said is just basic human existence.
BrendanPKeane | Sep 11, 2010, 03:51 PM EDT
IrishAndProud: You're not Irish. You don't understand Black or Irish culture. Pete Hamill's book Downtown has an excellent chapter on the culture swap between Irish and Blacks in early NYC. Tap dance, fiddle, banjo and many forms of early popular American entertainment come from the culture-swap of Black and Irish.
IrishAndProud | Sep 10, 2010, 01:37 AM EDT
What's ugly about what I said, Brendan? All I said was that they have nothing in common -- culturally or by identity. That's not casting a slur upon either party, or stating either one is inferior -- it's just stating a fact. Sure, different cultures borrow things (and expound upon them) that began with another culture -- the banjo is another example, and there are many, many others from all sorts of cultures. But the fact remains, Irish and black cultures are two separate things -- with very distinct and different histories. BTW look back through your own posts...are you seriously going to say that nothing YOU'VE ever said is 'ugly' to someone else?
BrendanPKeane | Sep 09, 2010, 08:45 AM EDT
IrishAndProud: You pride yourself in ignorance. Why is every comment you make so ugly? Look-up the history of tap dance, for one example that refutes your assertion.
IrishAndProud | Sep 07, 2010, 02:27 PM EDT
What do black women and redheads have in common? Nothing. What do blacks and Irish culture or identity have in common, for that matter? Nothing.
BrendanPKeane | Sep 01, 2010, 01:26 AM EDT
A fine Irish name, Keli. I couldn't resist.
KeliGirl | Aug 31, 2010, 11:00 PM EDT
My humble apologies Brendan. No harm was meant at all and after seeing from the photos above how much better I would clearly look as a redhead, I can now see that my words were poorly chosen :) Thank you for helpfully pointing this out in such a gracious and funny way. Yours, Keli (which I hope you noticed is a good Irish name)