You know, it was actually quite hard to type that previous sentence out. Over the past few weeks, much has been said about Kendrick Lamar. Whether it be “lyrical titan”, “weirdo rapper”, “confused human being”, or whatever many want to call him, Kendrick Lamar is still a Black man. And being a Black man, he has to welcome much commentary about his actions. Namely, there will be plenty of people questioning and talking about every little thing he does.

Still, I am usually at a loss for words when someone is questioned over their own personal choices.

Kendrick Lamar Believes in Colorism?

Recently, Kendrick Lamar became engaged to his longtime girlfriend Whitney Alford. In an interview with Power 105.1 Breakfast Club, he noted that he is “loyal to the soil”. And you know what? This is great news to me! In my eyes, there is nothing more important than being loyal to the woman that had your back when your top flight cuisine was sardines andramen noodles.

However, there are many of those that don’t share my adulation for Kendrick Lamar’s situation. Rashida Marie Strober made it perfectly clear that she was thoroughly disgusted with his choice in woman:

well, well, well would you looky here! ANOTHER FAKE CONSCIOUS MUTHER FUKER EXPOSED. I will never support him nor his music with one dime of my money and encourage all dark skinned women not to either! [1]

And she was not done after that, either.

FAKE CONSCIOUS COON ASS RAPPER KENDRICK LAMAR PART 2.

I see calling out and exposing self hating fake black men who speak about consciousness but date and marry NON DARK SKIN WOMEN brought you haters to my page. WELL SHARE THIS MUTHERFUKING POST!!! These type of fake coons are the worst of the worst. DARK SKIN is the essence of true blackness and if these fakers were really and truly conscious they would MARRY DARK SKINNED WOMEN!!! You pissed ?? GOOD!!! [2]

So, what she is saying is that Kendrick Lamar is a “fake activist” and a “coon” because the woman that he has been dating for years is not dark skinned. I take it that we are going back to School Daze when the sorority girls and the regular girls chirped about “good or bad hair”, right? Or are we going to take it back farther with the “light skinned brother” (he’s not black, btw) preaching his Blackness in The Spook Who Sat By The Door? Are we really going to assume that Kendrick Lamar is being color-struck through his love life? Also, at what point was it our fucking business what he chose to do in his love life to begin with?

Kendrick Lamar and Where Rashida Marie Strober Went Right/Wrong

What Strober does help us realize is that colorism is an issue that needs to be addressed. Colorism is a practice of discrimination by which those with lighter skin are treated more favorably than those with darker skin [3]. With roots in slavery, light skinned slaves received preferential treatment. Meanwhile, the darker skinned slaves caught much more flack. This type of treatment has carried on into our societal actions.

Unconsciously, we have either witnessed or partaken in colorism. All of those “paper bag” tests that many organizations and clubs did back in the day? Colorism. Mentioning “Light Skinned Be Like” jokes? Colorism. Showing preferences for those that aren’t dark skin? Colorism. Thus, colorism has been happening without many of us recognizing it.

However, what Strober fails to realize is that she is speaking out against colorism by using its worst aspects. I understand that she is pro dark skinned women. I love it actually. However, she isn’t going to win any fans by going after a man because his fiancé is light skinned. In all actuality, she sounds like a bitter female misguided by her own insecurities and inner demons.

I’m still wondering if she understands that many Black people come in many different shades and hues. But that is another discussion.

I would’ve thought that Kendrick staying with the same Sista both pre- and post-fame would be something to celebrate, but don’t mind me.

— April (@ReignOfApril) April 5, 2015

And then, there is the obvious part: how does she even know Kendrick Lamar’s intent? This is Lamar’s high school sweetheart. This isn’t some chick he picked up after the Dr. Drechecks and dick riding became overwhelming. This is actually the one female that remained loyal through the thickness of failure and thinning lane of success. In short, Whitney Alford is Kendrick Lamar’s ride or die chick.

Meanwhile, Strober is looking like a misguided hater.

Kendrick Lamar Epilogue

I am glad that people like Strober work hard to eradicate the effects of colorism. However, using “reverse-colorism” isn’t the way to defeat it. At the end of the day, Black is beautifulin all of its different shades. Being dark skinned is not better than being light skinned and vice versa. At the end of the day, the shade of your skin cannot account for the ugliness of one’s soul.

The post Kendrick Lamar Accused of Colorism appeared first on Madness & Reality.

So when I read about the backlash from comedienne (and one of two new black female staff writers – hired under mounting pressure) Leslie Jones’ recent Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update skit, I wasn’t in the mood to be roiled and chose to willfully ignore it; plus I haven’t watched SNL in years. In fact, the last time I watched with any regularity, Sally O’Malley was still yelling about being limber at 50-years-old.  I told myself I wouldn’t crank out anything for the think-piece machine, although I feel strongly about issues concerning the well-being of black women and girls, particularly since we have to navigate the intersections of race, gender, rigid beauty standards, and class. But I read this piece by Rippa, here on the Intersection of Madness & Reality, and it prompted me to head on over to Leslie Jones’ Twitter feed to peruse her responses, where I also saw folks in her mentions, going-in on her… then I finally watched the infamous clip. Leslie starts off by congratulating Lupita Nyong’o for snagging the cover of People magazine’s annual 50 Most Beautiful People issue, then things, admittedly, got a bit dark.

Leslie Jones used slavery (which always tends to be a bad idea if a comedian employs it haphazardly) as a vehicle to joke about an issue that’s all too real for black women who don’t inhabit the right complexion or balletic facial and/or body structure; and I concede that it was awkward to watch, but only because I sensed an undercurrent of genuine dismay from Leslie. I wasn’t incensed or offended, though. Jones asked her white male Weekend Update co-host who he’d choose  if he saw she and Lupita standing at a bar, to which Jones quickly determined he’d make a beeline for Lupita, before noting how much black beauty standards have changed and joking that she would have undoubtedly been a viable choice during slavery.  And I think this is where most black people… namely women… checked out.

A joke about black female subjugation during chattel slavery, told on a sketch comedy show produced by a white man who, for years, hadn’t found any value in hiring visibly black women until now, in front of a predominantly white studio audience, on a white-owned network, I get that black women are not here for it, particularly since we can’t ever be great without being put through the ringer; but I do think the opportunity to further dismantle the issue(s) Leslie broached, is being missed.  As a brown-skinned and full figured black woman whose body is often considered too fleshy to be palatable to those adhering to rigid standards or objectified under the scrutiny of the white gaze and intra-racial beauty standards, and whose self-acceptance doesn’t get heralded the way plus-size white (or even non-black women of color) do lest I straddle the ‘Mammy’ line … ‘Cause black, dark-skinned AND fat is a no-no… I commiserate with Leslie Jones’ lived experience and think she had the right to use her art-form to tell her story as a dark-skinned black woman, living in a large body not even desirable by black male standards. And it’s not unusual for women who’re invisible or erased, to use self-deprecation as a way to navigate their experiences and as a way to seemingly apologize for not living up to someone else’s personal aesthetic; Leslie’s lament was palpable, but she shouldn’t have to apologize for the way Euro beauty standards influence how black men see dark-skinned black women, because… colorism.

While I wish Leslie’s skit was more astute (I realize you can only do so much in a short segment), I actually agree with Don Lemon’s defense of her, and her commentary wasn’t without merit especially since, amid the combative tweets that riled people up even more, she offered insight into the experiences that prompted it,

“… I’m a comic and it is my job to take things and make them funny, to make you think. Especially the painful things. This joke was written from the pain that one night I realized that black men don’t really fuck with me and why I’m single. … I wouldn’t be able to make a joke like that if I didn’t know my history or proud of where I came from and who I am.”

A black woman’s truth is often a jagged pill for most to swallow, even when offered in a distilled way: some of us write, some of us paint, some of us perform poetry or dance… and Leslie used comedy. And I suspect the bulk of the outrage (not discounting the obvious: black female pain, slavery and slave breeding as comedy fodder just isn’t generally funny to most people) is because Leslie’s unfiltered joke was performed in front of white people; but alas, the scenario could have been much worse.  Speaking of which, while white folks are chuckling and cheering Leslie on, I find much of the, ‘It’s just a joke, get over it! I’m white, and I thought it was funny!’ commentary problematic and think this is a conversation many of you need to sit out… particularly when a) this isn’t about sating white people’s amusement and b) white people benefit the most from the structural inequality and colorism chattel slavery wrought, even when it comes to something as basic as dating and being chosen as desirable partners.

Yes, Leslie Jones’ delivery, timing, and placement may have been too crude for most people’s tastes (and I’d be willing to wager that some of same black folks put-off by Leslie’s SNL sketch laughed when Mike Epps’ quipped  that his darker-skinned older daughter was ‘half-James Brown’), but I don’t think it’s fair to completely dismiss her as a ‘coon’ or to discount her commentary; because in the grand scheme of the painful narratives black women sometimes weave, her experiences matter too.

The post SNL, Leslie Jones, & A Black Woman’s Truth appeared first on Madness & Reality.

In a post-apocalyptic world where resistance to an overheated environment defines class and beauty, Eden Newman’s white skin brands her as a member of the lowest class, a weak and ugly Pearl. The clock is ticking: if Eden doesn’t mate before her eighteenth birthday, she’ll be left outside to die.

If only a dark-skinned Coal from the ruling class would pick up her mate option, she’d be safe. But no matter how much Eden darkens her skin and hair, she’s still a Pearl, still ugly-cursed with a tragically low mate-rate of 15%.

Just maybe one Coal sees the real Eden and will save her-she has begun secretly dating her handsome co-worker Jamal.

I haven’t read the entire book, but based on the generous excerpts I’ve been able to without having to pay and Foyt’s own misguided views on what constitutes anti-racism and racism, I’ve gleaned all that I need and then some, so more than enough to offer a critique on Foyt’s work.

To reiterate: Eden is a young “Pearl” [white woman]; part of an endangered “minority” race, struggling to survive in this dystopian underground civilization where another group of people identified as Coals [read: Black folks] reign supreme, due to having survived some cataclysmic event in greater numbers. The catastrophe left the earth’s surface radioactive and the Coals immune to the heat, due to the high levels of melanin in their skin. However, it’s unsafe for those with pale skin to be above ground. Survivors have been overtaken and reduced to the lower class and are trying to pass [in blackface].

Time is imminent for Eden because, unless she finds a male Coal to mate with before her 18^th birthday, to dilute her own DNA, she’ll be cut-off from receiving government resources, relegated to the hot surface above ground, and left to die. Not to mention the privilege, reassurance that she’s desired, and protection that’ll be restored to her if she’s successful in her quest to be mated with a Coal.

As if the synopsis weren’t dubious enough; the book’s YouTube page is a treasure trove of foolery consisting of a trailer showing the Eden character in blackface, lamenting her plight as a genetically undesired, but rare and delicate Pearl; as well as mock dating profiles featuring over-eager Ambers [Asians],  oversexed Coal women with little else to offer beyond freaky relations, and Coal men who believe dating a Pearl from the lower end of the totem pole still outweighs having to date a female Coal on his same social level.

There are so many troubling things wrong with the tired tropes about people of color and interracial relationships Foyt trot out in her book and follow-up responses to critics, I don’t even know where else to continue from…

… Perhaps an incident from her childhood, where she was “slandered” by a Black boy hurling an unspecified racial slur “usually targeted at Blacks” from a school bus when she a young girl, saying vile things about her “bee-stung lips”, is what inspired “Save The Pearls”; her weak attempts at trying to romanticize “passing” and explain away blackface while having implemented a plot device where Eden smears body paint on her face called “Midnight Luster” and applies red lipstick to make her lips look fuller; her fetishizing of the “Coal” males, reducing them to nothing more than sexual commodities to be approached with the utmost caution by female “Pearls” and manipulated into being “mated with” for status; dark equaling smarmy and dangerous; “Pearl” equaling delicate and rare;  this sentence describing the book, from her site: “this captivating novel set in a terrifying future, which is all too easy to imagine” — because apparently a world where Blacks are the ruling class is a world she or her readers shouldn’t have to fathom; the fact that the female protagonist seems to bemoan the loss of her White privilege and White female desirability, which is no longer pedestal-ed– [Ms. Polka Dot bikini was Eden’s kind, right down to her long blond hair and big blue eyes. And yet, according to the antique Beauty Map, she had been prized for her beauty—which meant, if Eden had been born in an earlier time, she too might have been beautiful.] — And of course there’s the author’s puzzling classifications and traits she uses for people of color versus the non-offensive slur she ascribes to Whites.

For all of Foyt’s “color free” anti-racism rhetoric, what she fails to realize is that she still seems to equate darker skin as something negative, to be tip-toed around. I’m not sure if it’s prompted by residual feelings from her encounter with the Black boy from her youth, but she definitely stokes the long-held trepidation some White people have towards Blacks, and any denials to the contrary is complete nonsense as evidenced in her delusional HuffPo post…

“Conceivably, if the book had not reached the African-American community of readers, if such a category still exists, perhaps there might be some backlash. The first young African American reader who responded to me loved the book. But then, she’s the kind of free spirit who would eschew limiting herself to a single category.

Or perhaps — and this is what I hope — the YA generation sees race in a way that is unique to them, unique in our history. After all, they have arrived on the scene decades past the integration of schools and Jim Crow, even well past the days of The Cosby Show.

Soap-mouth-washing words that were forbidden in my youth now populate rap songs so often I wonder if, happily, they have lost their vile connotations.

I have endeavored to raise my children with a color-free mentality. My son once mentioned that his color was white while mine was tan. This was said with no more feeling than if he’d been describing the different colors of our bedrooms.” [Oh.]

It seems as if Foyt has been actively deleting the backlash she claims she hasn’t been receiving, from threads on the book’s Facebook fan page and suggesting that critics are engaging in reverse-racism. Her denial about the world around her runs deeper than I could ever imagine, and ignorance is a blissful and serene vacation for folks like her.

Her desire that people buy and read her book seems to come with strings attached; and those strings dictate that folks [read: Black readers] need to extol her narrow views on interracial dating, race, and race-relations and hopefully renounce their identities and personal experiences with racism in the process … sort of like the “free-spirited” African-American who offered her positive feedback, because she doesn’t seem to grasp that Eden’s narrative serves as a voice of condemnation of the Coals, despite her plotting ways to “be mated” with one. Victoria Foyt’s delusions about race, racial identity and  interracial dating has her thinking that she has the right to decide how people of color should and shouldn’t feel about race, dating across racial lines, and blackface; so no thanks. I don’t like having my intelligence insulted.

The post “Save The Pearls”: Eden Newman, White Privilege, & Interracial Dating appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Hair and skin-color continue to haunt my sistren. Deeply rooted issues of Colorism are extensively blogged and written about by mostly Black female bloggers and writers, who take rappers to task for preferring racially ambiguous looking, seemingly non-Black women to frolic with on and off the sets of their videos.

Recently controversial novelist, Kola Boof sounded off at Wale via Twitter, in a long, sometimes expletive-filled tirade about his video Pretty Girls not featuring enough Black women… that eventually culminated in a feud of sorts. Kola berated Wale (whose parents are Nigerian)- accusing him of prompting young Black women in Nigeria to want to bleach their skin in order to compete: “Wale is doing more than just dig light women. He [sic] selling AFRICAN CHILDREN on skin bleaching … making them feel BLACK is ugly…”

Additionally, Actor/Singer Tyrese also felt the backlash of frustrated darker-skinned women, confused as to why his video was seemingly devoid of obviously Black women. “So I’m getting tweets … why aren’t any “Black Women” in your video. [Sic] I had a 2 days audition. I welcomed ALL women and went with the BEST” he tweeted.

When framed within the context of entertainers and their sex lives, Colorism is undeniable. I acknowledge that it thrives within this realm and influences the aesthetic of many Black men, however, I’m a bit flummoxed as to why Black women continue to look to entertainers and athletes to validate their worth and personal brand of beauty. I understand wanting to see more honest and diverse examples of Black beauty in music videos; But when do we stop holding rappers responsible for how we essentially should view ourselves? When do we stop allowing Lil Wayne’s preference for a “long-haired, thick Redbone” to bother us and realize that when Black men (many of whom are also darker-complexioned) punctuate their preferences with disdain for dark women, it’s their deep-seated issues… and has nothing to do with us? When some Black men reach the pinnacle of financial success, they get to dictate who keeps their mattress warm and comfy… and for some, darker skin just doesn’t suffice.

As frustrating as their self-loathing is, that’s just the way it is. Quite frankly, when I look in the mirror, I’m not wondering whether heavily tattooed rappers with platinum dental work and several children by several different women, think I’m too dark to be considered attractive. Black men who look down on women for having darker complexions… have soul searching to do. Black women who agonize over and doubt themselves on account of a troubled individual’s superficiality… have soul searching to do..

My hope is that Black women with darker complexions move away from seeking acceptance in empty, cold places and hold themselves in high regard.

Actor and film director Bill Duke eloquently explores the issue in this 9-minute trailer for his documentary,  Dark Girls …

Recommended Reading: Don’t Play in the Sun by Marita Golden 

The post Colorism in African American Culture: If You’re Black, Get Back! appeared first on Madness & Reality.

I remember my big sister wrote a letter to Ebony magazine, asking them why they always portrayed the children models with fair skin and wavy hair.

My sister, who is brown with thick lips and hips, never got an answer. She lives with shame to this day of her complexion. So much so, that the fathers of her children are fair-skinned. Nope she is not a hood rat, but on her second marriage with a medical degree, and still is not happy with the skin she inherited.

I really wish she could see the beauty we all see in her, and see she is worthy of being adulated and revered like all women.

All of my sisters, including me are a darker shade of brown. I clearly remember having the door slammed in my face by some brothers who opened it for my fair skinned-roommate, the first week I was at Florida A&M University.

They called her redbone. It was the first time I ever heard that name. I asked her what that was, and she explained. Since my mom comes from Louisiana, color complexions varied much in my family, and my folks never favored in complexion. So it was disturbing to be in Florida where color really mattered in most social circles.

I am not saying that I was immune to it. Growing up in Los Angeles, the choice pick was a light-skinned man with pretty eyes and good hair. However, in the black community, to have a physical feature that was as far from being associated to “black” was a luxury and serious bonus when it came to beauty points.

What I mean by that was to have light skin, or a fine nose, or wavy hair, or long hair, or light-colored eyes, brought adoration. So to be big-bootied, big-boned, dark, with kinks was considered inferior. And I have seen so many girls who desired attention would give their bodies and souls to the first bidder, just because they wanted to be wanted.

Still, dark-skinned black girls and women are suffering in many ways.

And it is not a figment of the imagination. Ask why CNN continuously casts fair-skinned newscasters, especially “black” women who are racial-ethnic rainbows. Or why Carol’s Daughter, the natural hair care mogul, has all fair-skinned models to represent the line, when dark-skinned women put stock in that effing place.

It hurts to not be liked or loved because of skin color. Getting passed over for a lighter woman, or being treated like shit because you are darker does monstrosities to the self-esteem.

It is disgusting and disheartening when black people still devalue a color that everyone craves. Then, black women must get appreciation from others in order to feel beautiful

This video points to the pain of many.

Dark Girls: Preview from Bradinn French on Vimeo.

And though I love this song by Black Star (Talib Kweli & Mos Def) it boggles me that Mos Def married a bi-racial stripper after being with her for less than a week. It killed me a little inside when I saw his wife because all the time I had been rocking that song, it felt like he never was really singing it to me.

Blog on, EcoSoul

The post The Plight of Dark Skinned Girls & Women appeared first on Madness & Reality.

by Eco.Soul.Intellectual

It is unfortunate that Fantasia had to address the issue of colorism at a time when unwise decisions and straight gutter behavior in her personal life undermined the truth of skin color preference in the media that has been going on forever.

Before I start my piece, I too as a married woman would’ve been on the hunt for Fantasia, right after I dealt with my hubby. So I speak as a sister who is in love, and celebrates the sacredness of marriage.

Now let me continue…

I cringed at Fantasia’s reality show (especially her coon brother Teeny) and oft-bad hair days of many unflattering shades; but I cannot turn a blind eye on how much negative press she has gotten since her emergence into the limelight or should I say blind-light.

Fantasia, a functioning-illiterate, high school drop-out and young single mother when she won the American Idol competition became the butt of jokes that many people snickered loudly after she publically confessed her educational flaws and social status.

She became the ignorant welfare-mother with the predictable dead-beat black baby daddy that we oft-hear too much since the Moynihan reports of the 1950s.

Fantasia fits perfectly into the quintessential black woman that mainstream America imagines—uneducated, lonely and poor. The fact that she is darker in her brown complexion with broad facial features and big-ole booty, made it easier for the jokes and perceptions to continue.

She is the Jezebel, the Mammy, the Sapphire, the Aunt Sarah and Peaches in Nina Simone’s infamious song, “Four Women.” Hell, look at how Nina Simone herself got treated. Or for that matter, Shirley Chisholm, Cicely Tyson and even Gabrielle Union who can’t land a job if she sucked every director in Hollywood.

Fantasia is aesthetically displeasing from the lens of a supremacist mindset that has never embraced brown-skinned ladies as the epitome of beautiful.

Truth be told, America is still trying to convince themselves that Michelle Obama is pretty with its overemphasis of her grace and charm.

It took an exposé of her affair for Fantasia to articulate what she had been feeling and thinking for a long time. Hollywood, America, and the black community still operate from a skin color hierarchy.

Of course her claims were done in wrong timing. I agree that her accusations were misplaced and serve as no excuse to contributing to the disruption of a family and fellow black woman; but her charges of a biased, color-eyed media are dead-on.

This is the part of the industry I loathe. High-yella folk (still) get all the fun, and frankly much of the good jobs. Of course they are surveillance and limited, but it is a truth that they enjoy a certain movement than those who are more closely associated to our African ancestors.

And in my opinion, folk like Alicia Keys are privy to celebrating an Afro-centric flair (braids and all) and a hood swagger more than an India.Arie who is blasted and maligned as a bohemian hippie and alternative artists who is pushed to the periphery.

I often scratch my head when I look at the African-American correspondents of CNN—especially the women. It is as if dark-skinned people don’t exist in intelligent, professional, and savvy upper-echelon circles.

Or at the very least, have a degree.

The romantic love scenes, the “girl-next” door embrace, the Beyonce, the Rihanna, the Zoe Saldanas, the Vanessa Williams and the Alicia Keys are proffered the carte-blanche (pun—intended) or at least a second chance—-even when they eff up.

When Fantasia and the Alicia Keys affairs were running simultaneously, I also asked for simple, fair coverage about both matters. Keys not only had an affair with a married man, but Keys’ now hubby then fuck partner, Swizz Beats, had an infant at the time when she began the role of mistress.

Swizz’ ex-wife, Mashonda Tifrere, was so upset over her husbands affair with Keys, she wrote an open letter to Alicia Keys. In it she states:

If you are reading this Alicia, let me start by saying, you know what you did. You know the role you played and you know how you contributed to the ending of my marriage. You know that I asked you to step back and let me handle my family issues. Issues that you helped to create.

This affair was followed by Keys’ pregnancy and public celebration of a South African traditional ritual to protect the child she will be birthing any day now. And of course, a glamour-filled wedding.

Fantasia’s shenanigans weren’t any better, but you know more about her personal matters because they were the topic of even “Good Morning America.”

Though I acknowledge the quasi-publicity stunt in Tasia’s suicide attempt and her relationship confusion that shows typical side-chick behavior like thinking her married man really loves her; you cannot dismiss that her color is more of a liability in the media eye.
A book titled Bits & Pieces of My Truth, has a poem that speaks volumes to the colorism darker-skinned sisters’ face.

The post Colorism Does Matter in the Case of Fantasia appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Because sometimes we need to be reminded of how the media plays a significant role in shaping our minds and harmful racial stereotypical perceptions. I’d like to thank Anerson Cooper for this little tidbit from his show the other night. No new ground was broken; Kenneth & Mamie Clark, have already been down this road back in the 1940s. But if anything, the following clips reinforces the deep sickness of Colorism; a definite byproduct of the evil that is White Supremacy:

Of my four daughters, the 16yr old is having a hard time accepting her beauty. For quite some time she has developed self esteem issues related to her skin tone. In our family she’s the darkest (her 4mth old baby sister is also the same skin tone but in her eyes she’s the darkest). Quite naturally this is cause for concern for her mother and I; and hopefully, this is something she can outgrow as she gets older. But I’m afraid that this is a long held believe of hers that may affect her for a lifetime.

Try as we must to dispel these stereotypes, the sad reality is that in the world outside of our homes, it’s just not that easy. The world outside our doors, which sneaks into our homes via the media, is an ugly place. And I’m not one of those dreamers hopeful for the day when racism comes to an end. As the clips and studies have shown, these attitudes are ingrained into our collective psyches.

Maybe mirrors should have never been invented…

The post White and Black children biased towards lighter skin appeared first on Madness & Reality.