The Patty Dukes Show (cont'd)
Skin color and racialization is another issue in the stereotyping of Latinas that has made the mainstream media a challenging venue for the art of Patty Dukes. "I'm a dark-skinned Latina. We're at a point where dark-skinned Latinas don't have the same opportunities in the mainstream as do your J.Lo's and your Salma Hayek's who are a little more light-skinned." Defying what the media portrays a Latina to be often causes executives to doubt Dukes' mass appeal. "I'm the female Tego Calderon in that sense because I'm the dark-skinned chick. So, I want to challenge what we think is beautiful, what people think is Latina."
Questioning and redefining what we have been thought to think, is a large part of Patty's message - A message that she will bring to anyone regardless of whom or where they are provided that they are willing to listen...and sometimes even when they're not. You can catch a Patty Dukes performance at a concert, a café, a community center, juvenile detention facility, hospital and anywhere else she is welcomed. Her primary focus is young people. "There are a lot of issues that are going on with them specifically. In my neighborhoods I hear them talking about it but in the mainstream media they're not - like, the fact that there are so many young people being incarcerated right now. That's our future right there, and it's not being talked about. What options do we have to avoid getting locked up? How can we make money legitimately and be productive citizens? We need to give them options."
Patty attributes her passion for youth and the ability to help them explore options, to the lack of options shown to her as a child. The daughter of an alcoholic father and uneducated parents, Patty now sees the many paths that were or were not placed in front of her because of her social position. "I came from a really poor family - Welfare, Medicaid. My parents didn't graduate Junior High School. They didn't have bank accounts. They didn't even know how to manage money." The stresses of that home life created a strong and mature child, but one who was also emotionally exhausted at a very young age. "At a certain age, I was the one taking my mother to appointments and translating everything for her. At 10 or 11, I was the head of the household because I spoke English and was educated. And that's a very big responsibility to put on a young person, but there are a lot of young people that have to be the adults. And the thing is that we're not prepared and we're not given the right choices."
That community consciousness runs rampant throughout the versus of her songs and poetry. Perhaps it is one of the things that best helps fans relate to her work. She speaks of real things and personal stories that touch her audience. But more than going through it, she speaks about the realities of coming out of it. "You haven't seen a girl like me. I'm an around the way girl but I'm smart and quick with it...I'm a really happy girl...I have a smile on my face, I'm a survivor. I bring joy and life wherever I go, I'm accessible and I'm a fighter. That's how I got my name." - A name that is already creating quite a legacy.
The big dreamer/determined activist has already set her sights on directing music videos, creating her own line of sneakers, accessories and gear for ladies and putting out a successful album. In the meantime, you can catch her in Danny Hoch's stage production, Till The Break Of Dawn, rhyming on the Cuervoton Tour, and writing in Kicksclusive Magazine.
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