CharmedSlayer85
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- Joined
- Mar 7, 2007
- Messages
- 402
(This might be a little long, since I'm going to mention a couple things I read)
Okay after reading everything that was written in the Obama Inauguration thread I decided to start a new thread to get the conversation going, after all how do we as a people expect to learn and grow if we don't receive many perspectives. I want to of course put it out there that yes I am black..oooo a shocker I know lol. But anyway, a common theme that I saw in the Obama thread is the usage of the word "nigga." Me personally I think that word is offensive no matter who uses it, black, white, mexican, asian, etc and I believe the whole idea of using it as a term of endearment is all bullshit to me. If that's the case let me call your mother a bitch, but I'll be using it not as a derogatory term, but as a term of endearment.
Also another thing I read is someone mentioning the inauguration of Obama really means nothing because there are still black lawyers, doctors, etc and the whole shouting of "BLACK POWER," and blacks thinking doors have opened because Obama is elected is "crap." I disagree, because sure maybe the blacks that you go to school with have those opportunities, because the school you go to, however many schools across this country that are predominately black or hispanic are FILLED with inadequate teachers, many of those neighborhoods are poor and saturated in gang violence, drugs, extreme poverty, and sure some people make it out of that, but some people don't have a support system strong enough to make it out of that. And it truly does take a village to raise a child. Some people like to throw the responsiblity solely on the parents, however people learn from their friends, get inspiration from whatever teachers they have at school, are influenced by their environment, aunts, uncles, friend's parents, etc. And my main point is some people are surrounded by NOTHING BUT negative influences and sad to say the cycle repeats with them. So my point is many times a lot of these children don't see black doctors, lawyers, firefighters, police, etc. Really all they see are rappers, and athletes and of course the drug dealer down the street that is making a shit load of money.
Also on TOP of that many people say doors are open now that Obama is President because it makes black people look and evaluate themselves, especially black men, by saying okay we have a black man in the HIGHEST office in the United States, so no more excuses about what we can and can't do. Many blacks do still to this day try to blame the white man for many of their problems, when in reality, a lot of problems facing the black community has NOTHING to do with the white man. HOWEVER, that is not to say that racism and white people are not still a problem within the black community.
Also something else I wanted to point out is the notion that there are many black racists. People like to throw that word around, however let me put things into perspective, and of course I'm only one person and this is my view on things based on my study and experiences and interpretation, but I do not believe there are many black racists. I believe racism in the black community is minor, and I say this because RACISM is the inherent belief that your race is superior to another race. There are many prejudice people in the black community, however we're human and all humans are prejudice. However, most black people do not believe they are better than someone else simply because they are black. If I were to say "I hate white people." I'm not being racist, I'm being prejudiced, and extremely bigotted, but that does not mean I think I'm better than white people cause I'm black. White people on the other hand have throughout history believed simply because they were "white," they were better. Hell the terms white, black, red, yellow, etc came from "white," people and before the 1500s these identifications of racial phenotypes did not exist. But they called themselves "white," as a symbol of purity and having all rights in America, and "black," as evil of course and having no rights. Before colonization, people were identified by their geography and language, not skin tone. Now I am definitely going to be controversial when I say this, but I believe because of the inherent culture and systematic employ of racism for centuries and even to this day that ALL white people are subconsciously racist and suffer from what is known as "white privilege." Now before you jump on me, I ask that you watch this video, it is a bit long but watch the whole thing and you'll see where I get that from. YouTube - Talk - Tim Wise on White Privilege
And also I feel like I need to say this cause somebody might try to say by that comment I hate white people or I think I'm better than white people, I don't and if I hated white people I wouldn't be a Buffy fan now would I?
One final thing I wanted to say before I allow other people to comment and of course respond to them, is this whole notion of Obama becoming President is also historic and makes black people cry out "BLACK POWER," because if you look at what is going in the entertainment industry and how Obama being President-Elect and now the President, you got people in fashion, television, movies, magazines, etc now trying to find more ways to diversify their products and have more black models, more black television programs, more quality black movies, hell you even got BET trying to clean up its act and honestly it shouldn't have taken a black President to have all these things happen. If you look at a lot of television and things it is still very white and you may have the one token black, but everybody else is white, however this is not the America we live in. White people are slowly becoming a minority in this country and hispanics are becoming the majority, yet you look at soap operas for the most part they're all white. Sad to say you even look at Buffy and we had maybe a black vampire, and you had Kendra but she wasn't around as long as Faith, and then you introduced Principal Wood in the last season, but there didn't seem to be many black people in Sunnydale or hispanic, or Asian, etc. You look at the Sci-Fi genre and that's the one medium minorities have yet to really break through. Sanna Lathan was the first black female to be the lead in a Sci-Fi movie in Alien vs. Predator and that was 2005. Sure black people aren't the first ones to die in movies anymore but if you look at a lot of horror movies now, or Sci-Fi action we're the comic relief or the Sambo. Look at Resident Evil or Transformers. And again not just blacks, you got the making of the Dragon Ball movie and instead of casting someone Asian to black Goku they cast a white person, they're making an Avatar: The Last Airbender movie and instead of casting an asian person to play Aang they cast a white person. And I could go on about how they're aren't really any black television shows on anymore or Asian shows, or hispanic shows besides the Spanish channel. And one could even argue the show Heroes which is praised for its diversity and that is great, however you look at these past 3 Seasons practically all the black people have been killed off or written out or whatever, now I'm not saying "HEY they're racist," I'm just making the point.
But again please watch the video before this discussion can really take root: YouTube - Talk - Tim Wise on White Privilege
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Edit:
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Oh and one more thing I want to add is:
Also finally I want to say I find it somewhat laughable how people try to compare what was done to the Jews or anybody else to what was done during the African slave trade. Because before the African slave trade and no time since has it been about the TOTAL denigration of a race. Now this is not to take away the horrors of the holocaust, however compared to the length of time between slavery and Jim Crow and coming out of Jim Crow the holocaust was extremely short. Black people were ripped from Africa and came here to America and had to adapt to this new strange land and learn the language of their captors, and for the most part hearing the word "nigger," was the only name they knew. There was no sense of history, it got to the point where slaves did not remember ever being free, because those Africans there were once free in Africa were long dead, all they knew was a life of slavery. So that's where this whole we took it and turned it around came from, cause in some ways it's just an excuse, because black people started calling other black people "nigger," because again that is all they knew. Whites called them nigger and many of these blacks were uneducated because they were not allowed to read or write and they called each other nigger, and when slaves were free they still referred to each other as nigger, why because it was engrained in us. And like I said I don't believe anybody should use it, but until we truly sit down and have the racial conversation I don't really see the word going away, because like Whoopi said in the video that was shown in the other thread, we sadly do live in different worlds and see things different because of our history. White people have never really had to worry about why a cop was pulling them over. Were they getting pulled over because they were speeding or simply because of their skin tone, white people never had to ask themselves if they were denied housing because of their skin color, white people never had to ask themselves why does the Klan hate me, etc.
Okay after reading everything that was written in the Obama Inauguration thread I decided to start a new thread to get the conversation going, after all how do we as a people expect to learn and grow if we don't receive many perspectives. I want to of course put it out there that yes I am black..oooo a shocker I know lol. But anyway, a common theme that I saw in the Obama thread is the usage of the word "nigga." Me personally I think that word is offensive no matter who uses it, black, white, mexican, asian, etc and I believe the whole idea of using it as a term of endearment is all bullshit to me. If that's the case let me call your mother a bitch, but I'll be using it not as a derogatory term, but as a term of endearment.
Also another thing I read is someone mentioning the inauguration of Obama really means nothing because there are still black lawyers, doctors, etc and the whole shouting of "BLACK POWER," and blacks thinking doors have opened because Obama is elected is "crap." I disagree, because sure maybe the blacks that you go to school with have those opportunities, because the school you go to, however many schools across this country that are predominately black or hispanic are FILLED with inadequate teachers, many of those neighborhoods are poor and saturated in gang violence, drugs, extreme poverty, and sure some people make it out of that, but some people don't have a support system strong enough to make it out of that. And it truly does take a village to raise a child. Some people like to throw the responsiblity solely on the parents, however people learn from their friends, get inspiration from whatever teachers they have at school, are influenced by their environment, aunts, uncles, friend's parents, etc. And my main point is some people are surrounded by NOTHING BUT negative influences and sad to say the cycle repeats with them. So my point is many times a lot of these children don't see black doctors, lawyers, firefighters, police, etc. Really all they see are rappers, and athletes and of course the drug dealer down the street that is making a shit load of money.
Also on TOP of that many people say doors are open now that Obama is President because it makes black people look and evaluate themselves, especially black men, by saying okay we have a black man in the HIGHEST office in the United States, so no more excuses about what we can and can't do. Many blacks do still to this day try to blame the white man for many of their problems, when in reality, a lot of problems facing the black community has NOTHING to do with the white man. HOWEVER, that is not to say that racism and white people are not still a problem within the black community.
Also something else I wanted to point out is the notion that there are many black racists. People like to throw that word around, however let me put things into perspective, and of course I'm only one person and this is my view on things based on my study and experiences and interpretation, but I do not believe there are many black racists. I believe racism in the black community is minor, and I say this because RACISM is the inherent belief that your race is superior to another race. There are many prejudice people in the black community, however we're human and all humans are prejudice. However, most black people do not believe they are better than someone else simply because they are black. If I were to say "I hate white people." I'm not being racist, I'm being prejudiced, and extremely bigotted, but that does not mean I think I'm better than white people cause I'm black. White people on the other hand have throughout history believed simply because they were "white," they were better. Hell the terms white, black, red, yellow, etc came from "white," people and before the 1500s these identifications of racial phenotypes did not exist. But they called themselves "white," as a symbol of purity and having all rights in America, and "black," as evil of course and having no rights. Before colonization, people were identified by their geography and language, not skin tone. Now I am definitely going to be controversial when I say this, but I believe because of the inherent culture and systematic employ of racism for centuries and even to this day that ALL white people are subconsciously racist and suffer from what is known as "white privilege." Now before you jump on me, I ask that you watch this video, it is a bit long but watch the whole thing and you'll see where I get that from. YouTube - Talk - Tim Wise on White Privilege
And also I feel like I need to say this cause somebody might try to say by that comment I hate white people or I think I'm better than white people, I don't and if I hated white people I wouldn't be a Buffy fan now would I?
One final thing I wanted to say before I allow other people to comment and of course respond to them, is this whole notion of Obama becoming President is also historic and makes black people cry out "BLACK POWER," because if you look at what is going in the entertainment industry and how Obama being President-Elect and now the President, you got people in fashion, television, movies, magazines, etc now trying to find more ways to diversify their products and have more black models, more black television programs, more quality black movies, hell you even got BET trying to clean up its act and honestly it shouldn't have taken a black President to have all these things happen. If you look at a lot of television and things it is still very white and you may have the one token black, but everybody else is white, however this is not the America we live in. White people are slowly becoming a minority in this country and hispanics are becoming the majority, yet you look at soap operas for the most part they're all white. Sad to say you even look at Buffy and we had maybe a black vampire, and you had Kendra but she wasn't around as long as Faith, and then you introduced Principal Wood in the last season, but there didn't seem to be many black people in Sunnydale or hispanic, or Asian, etc. You look at the Sci-Fi genre and that's the one medium minorities have yet to really break through. Sanna Lathan was the first black female to be the lead in a Sci-Fi movie in Alien vs. Predator and that was 2005. Sure black people aren't the first ones to die in movies anymore but if you look at a lot of horror movies now, or Sci-Fi action we're the comic relief or the Sambo. Look at Resident Evil or Transformers. And again not just blacks, you got the making of the Dragon Ball movie and instead of casting someone Asian to black Goku they cast a white person, they're making an Avatar: The Last Airbender movie and instead of casting an asian person to play Aang they cast a white person. And I could go on about how they're aren't really any black television shows on anymore or Asian shows, or hispanic shows besides the Spanish channel. And one could even argue the show Heroes which is praised for its diversity and that is great, however you look at these past 3 Seasons practically all the black people have been killed off or written out or whatever, now I'm not saying "HEY they're racist," I'm just making the point.
But again please watch the video before this discussion can really take root: YouTube - Talk - Tim Wise on White Privilege
[br][/br]
Edit:
[br][/br]
Oh and one more thing I want to add is:
Also finally I want to say I find it somewhat laughable how people try to compare what was done to the Jews or anybody else to what was done during the African slave trade. Because before the African slave trade and no time since has it been about the TOTAL denigration of a race. Now this is not to take away the horrors of the holocaust, however compared to the length of time between slavery and Jim Crow and coming out of Jim Crow the holocaust was extremely short. Black people were ripped from Africa and came here to America and had to adapt to this new strange land and learn the language of their captors, and for the most part hearing the word "nigger," was the only name they knew. There was no sense of history, it got to the point where slaves did not remember ever being free, because those Africans there were once free in Africa were long dead, all they knew was a life of slavery. So that's where this whole we took it and turned it around came from, cause in some ways it's just an excuse, because black people started calling other black people "nigger," because again that is all they knew. Whites called them nigger and many of these blacks were uneducated because they were not allowed to read or write and they called each other nigger, and when slaves were free they still referred to each other as nigger, why because it was engrained in us. And like I said I don't believe anybody should use it, but until we truly sit down and have the racial conversation I don't really see the word going away, because like Whoopi said in the video that was shown in the other thread, we sadly do live in different worlds and see things different because of our history. White people have never really had to worry about why a cop was pulling them over. Were they getting pulled over because they were speeding or simply because of their skin tone, white people never had to ask themselves if they were denied housing because of their skin color, white people never had to ask themselves why does the Klan hate me, etc.
