When I saw ANOTHER commercial Tuesday night I immediately thought about Super Sunday, the commercial Black America has hammered into the ground (Doritos: black kid slapping black man, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr_BIM3GGps), and how emotions always get heated when speaking of America's number one ongoing problem: Race.In an effort to be fair - this time to white folk, I have to disclose my reaction to a Broadview Security commercial (link below).
Disclosure
Some white people do take extra steps to be racially sensitive. Actually, I would hate to be in their shoes. Always worried if they are being PC and/or sensitive to people of color feelings. I have said time and time again that black people are hypersensitive and somewhat on edge when it comes to race. I myself have a radar that automatically gauges what is said and not said by non-blacks. At times, I believe this to be unfair to white people. Then I think it is their culture that started and upheld this ridiculous racial divide. However, nobody should have to walk around on egg shells wondering if something said will offend. Especially, if the person on the egg shells always have good intentions. So, the commercial is my way of admitting: If the "ex-boyfriend" was black - black people would have something to say too. Scream about: 'That commercial is racist!'
White folk are in a losing situation...when it comes to race. Nothing they do may ever be enough. This time the commercial is indication that the producers were being sensitive if not they would have featured a man who kick in doors (home invade) by the numbers. We know who these
men are: Black Men.
Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wkr0-nVwmQY
"Fairness can be instituted if we are willing to 'see' the other side."
Brian E Payne sharing.
18 comments:
Muata encourages the group:
I hear crickets...
Come on black people. I kept the emails from the initial conversation that was full of us 'whining' about negative affects of the Diritos commercial. Well, over 20 emails of back and forth! Now, that the 'tables are turned' no one has nothing to type. WOW!
No offense: Black People, YOU ARE NOT BEING FAIR!
-Muata
Nandi responds:
I haven't had a chance to watch the video, but I want to pose the question: which group due to disintegration caused by inner and outer destruction is more vulnerable to what is portrayed about them? It's hard to be "fair," when throughout modern history, the life and culture of black people have been thoroughly distorted by the non-black establishment.
Now, can we blame them for it all? Of course not, but they share in a great deal of the responsibility. Our people have historically been a conservative-acting and -thinking people despite our confusion surrounding political party affiliations, meaning no less than 20 years ago, we would have taken offense to the doritos commercial and its underlying message about black people. The message was more than about the man and child in the commercial, and I hope most of us got that.
When it comes to "whites" this kind of behavior, and I hate to generalize here, but this type of behavior has been acceptable to them. Their children have for decades been able to scream at their parents, ignore their parents, hit their parents, disrespect their parents and grandparents and toss them into nursing homes when they are done.
So, again, our "fair" is not the same as theirs, just as who we are is not the same as them, no matter how hard we try to prove the opposite. And it is blacks that are trying to prove that. "Whites" see no reason to have to do so.
Black people are out of their natural order, which is why we are encountering the problems we are encountering. Until we get back into that natural order and out of others, we're headed for self-extermination.
Without question, there are blacks who hate their blackness, want nothing to with their blackness and wish they could make it disappear. Those are the blacks living wholly outside themselves. They're the ones whose definition of "fair" fits that of a group of people who have never played the kind of fair as even defined by them. We're the only ones expected to do that and who do it without grievance.
Nandi
www.juswritinlife.com
www.eklectiksinc.com
www.ruggedworks.net
Muata responds to Nandi:
In all due respect:
It is sad you cannot apply what humans should try to: Be Fair!
What should we tell our black kids?
'Judah, because of our history and what has been done to us, DON'T BE FAIR.'
Ridiculous!
Black People are victims of hypocrisy when it comes to these types of issues.
Black Hypocrisy SHOULD NOT BE ACCEPTED. PERIOD!
-Muata
Nandi responds to Muata:
It's not about being hypocritical. It's about knowing that our history of engagement has not been fair. You're now asking me to walk on eggshells. That's something I will not do, because some things need to be confronted head-on, and a "white" person worth their salt will admit to it.
It ain't about "white" bashing or hating "white" people, which I don't, although there are a lot I dislike for their actions (same with black people, Asians, Indians, etc.), it's about telling the truth. It's about knowing that what we define is fair is different from their definition of fair.
Yeah, there's exceptions to every case, but the truth of the matter is that we have thousands of cases to prove the unfairness. Case in point, have you heard about the case of the Scott sisters in Mississippi? These women, since they were young girls, have been rotting in a Mississippi prison with a life sentence for a crime they didn't commit. It is said that less than $10 was taken in the robbery, but not by the sisters. Even those involved outside of the girls have recanted, saying they were coerced to fib on the sisters, who the "white" officials wanted sent down the river because their father had had a law official of theirs sent to prison.
Please state the "fair" in all of this. And, lo and behold, there is a "white" person who knows our "fairs" aren't the same and is trying his best to help free these sisters. When we look at what these corrupt judges and cops have done to these girls, can we honestly cry "fair" and have it mean the same thing?
So, what I teach my children, all five of them, is that two people can be saying the same thing, but not mean the same thing. And, to me, that's fair. ;-)
One more thing I must add, the video you sent was a "white" issue, something that if "white" people take issue to then "white" people should deal with. It's not our job to play clean-up for everybody else. The black community is stretched thin with its own mess. But that is an American mindset: go clean up everybody else's messes, especially those you helped to start behind-the-scenes, while your own country lives in filth and poverty. I really believe real change could occur, if we concentrated on cleaning us up and "white" people concentrated on cleaning up their people who continue to oppress our people. Then maybe I could say we were speaking the same language.
Nandi
www.juswritinlife.com
www.eklectiksinc.com
www.ruggedworks.net
-Nandi
Muata responds to Nandi:
Okay...Let's be unfair too. Wow! Two wrongs don't make a right. In this case, blacks refuse to see the other side. Why? We been mistreated...SO what! Just do it! Move on! I did. Many of us on this correspondence have moved forward with some level of success DESPITE the racist systematic efforts to impede. If I, a poor boy from Thomasville, NC, could move forward more of us can. I went to an all white undergrad. I hated it. I hated white folk then too. I have lived and work with white people overseas. Loved it. Was a witness to the love white people shared/displayed to people of color. Came back home to blacks doing the same crap: POINTING THE FINGER! I am over it! And, I am going to say it again: IF I COULD MAKE IT THIS FAR WITH RACISM MOST BLACK PEOPLE CAN! Yes, whites are guilty in this dynamic. Again, so what? D*mn them. I did and am where I am as a result of saying, 'Racism exist-but I am Keeping Mine Eyes on the Prizes! Thanks, Frankie Payne!
-Muata
Nandi responds to Muata:
Again, you're reading something I didn't say. I said that two people can be saying the same thing with different meanings. In saying that, I've found through life experiences and observations that what is purported to be fair by those running the power structure do not fit our definition of fair. There's hypocrisy in all groups. Blacks are no more prone to it than anybody else. Yes, there are days I can't stand black people and their laissez faire approach to their own best interests, but at the same time, I know that no other group of people has been as traumatized by their experiences with "whites." This is has been handed down through so many generations that we got people doing wrong for so long they think wrong is right. I, too, grew up in "loving" poverty and chose a path beneficial to myself and my family, but that's because even in our poverty, my mother had expectations. So, it ain't about being unfair, too. It's about seeing things as they are, not as they're painted to be.
Nandi
www.juswritinlife.com
www.eklectiksinc.com
www.ruggedworks.net
Muata responds to Nandi:
This is our problem:
" When was the last time the majority of us sat down with people who looked like us, put all differences aside, and took steps to remedy this situation such as pooling resources, opening businesses in these areas, employing the people, teaching the children from a black-centered perspective, instead of waiting on and admiring the arrival of a "white" savior?"
We are our biggest obstacle. -Derrick Medley
Thanks, Nandi. I understand the info you shared. Also, I will always uplift those whites who stood by me and worked in the villages. Not one black American in sight helping me and Ms/Mr. Whitety! Despite the politics of the humanitarian efforts, white people are in the forefront. Not blacks. Not even in BLACK countries. Not even in black American neighborhoods. Pathetic!
-Muata
Reader Responds:
Honestly, I was trying to figure out if this was really Brian Payne writing this email...or if someone had hacked into his account! LOL!
I appreciate the sentiments Payne, I really do, and it's nice for you to try and see the other side. I do believe that's what's going to bring about healing. But I personally don't it's such a bad thing for white people to try and walk on eggshells. I think when we accept our priveledge, and enter discussions with an open heart willing to receive the good and the bad...the eggshells disappear. Call it my white woman's guilt, but I think we would be better off if more people at least tried to pay attention to the eggshells, and then worked through it. And as a white person, I fully accept that what I do will never be enough. I accept that, and still do my best to learn and make changes as I walk through this journey.
And I hate that I'm the one that is the voice of cynicism on this one, but I'm not sure the producers were being all that sensitive to racial issues....the home invader was an ex-boyfriend....they wouldn't want to show a white woman that had a black man as a boyfriend...THAT would have caused a different kind of stir!
I do love seeing this side of you though Payne, loving it...:)
-SN
Reader Response:
Just over it all. Not really interested in who may have had hurt feelings or who may have been offended. "Political correctness" has consumed enough of my time. This country has bigger fish to fry other than worrying about a damn Doritos add....geez!
-TD
Reader TD Responds to Nandi:
"When it comes to "whites" this kind of behavior, and I hate to generalize here, but this type of behavior has been acceptable to them. Their children have for decades been able to scream at their parents, ignore their parents, hit their parents, disrespect their parents and grandparents and toss them into nursing homes when they are done."
Generalizing is the problem. Based on my upbringing, this complete statement is false. If this were a white person saying the same thing about "blacks" they would be called racist. ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!
-TD
Reader Response:
Mr. Payne, I singularly responded to you earlier --- but let me RE-retort for the masses ........ I couldn't agree with you more fervently or emphatically. While it is good, enlightened even, to be 'on the ready' for covert (not so much overt these days) racial episodes, I do tend to think that some of us are a bit hypersensitive and hair-triggerish when it comes to what our 'race-dar' is indicating. Calling it an unfair & racial because BLACK olives are housed in cans while GREEN olives sit in jars is a bit much (no joke -- someone approached me with that 'racial Lego piece' years ago), over the ol' standby supreme-stereotype connotation that, in billiards, the WHITE BALL knocks in all of the other COLORED balls, ending the game by slapping the hell out of the BLACK ball in an act of finality. Preposterous? Maybe. But there are some of us whose racial viewpoints TODAY are still predicated on such overly hyped analogies.
I'm just saying. Pick your battles carefully. I'm just saying.
-DS
Reader Response:
B,
It's ironic that you feel this way because everytime I see these home security commercials I think the same thing. If they had a black man kicking the door in..all hell would break loose.
-DM
Reader Response:
Interesting perspectives from all sides. BP I think you hit something here. I also think you knew who would respond and even had an idea of what they would say. What I find most compelling is that less people care about this than they did about Lebron on the cover with Tom Brady's wifey.
There are some key factors to consider here.
a) Race matters. It might not matter for any good reasons or it may matter for tons of good reasons. It depends on your view. If you are a white kid from main line Philadelphia, then it doesn't matter so much. Why would it? What would your exposure to other races be other than a few in your hs and the service industry people you encounter? If you are a black kid from SOUTH Philly, race matters a ton because there are several different ethnic groups all in one area and they have been at each others necks for years. They have lot's in common but their heritage seems to be one of the strongest divides. Ironically they are all fighting each other on the basis of history and origin. Seems petty to me. But it is what it is.
B) People don't care about things that unless it evokes some emotion or takes a noticeable hit from their pockets. Do we really think that all white people back in the day wanted slaves? That was the way of the world at the time and if you grew up in those times and that's all you knew what would behoove you to change? Where would you learn right and wrong from? There was a huge effort to keep the status quo that not only used religion to brainwash blacks but whites as well. Any change from this lifestyle would be someone one daring to be an individual in a time where that could cause you to hang. FEAR IS POWERFUL.
As for people not caring about things that don't effect their finacnial bottom line let's look at people who use ATM's tht aren't their own banks ATM. Each transaction can cost of to 6 dollars. Some people do it daily. That's 200 per month they lose.For some people that's nothing, but for others if you think of the course of several years its a crap load of money. What's my point? These same people are angered by Lebron's photo or that Will Smith played a caddy in Legends of Vagerbance but they don't care that Wachovia is killing them softly to the tune of 2k a year plus all those other fees.
These two things considered, it does not shock me that the world is the way it is. But Brian, on this particular subject you let whites off the hook just a tad. I think it's incumbent upon all people to seek diversity in experience and culture whenever possible. In doing so we learn things that are useful in the process. We may not ever truly relate to another cultures feelings on a subject but we can attempt to understand. I find all too often that educated Whites as well as other races don't venture much outside of the social class they are in. If they happen to know other races,they are people whom have similar lives but just have a differnt skin tone. I worked at a company called Navigant Consulting and I was one a of few minorities there. When I went to a party that one of the consultants I was the only non white out of 100 people. HOW is that even possible. A person these days that went to college and works in DC and I am the only non black at their party? whatt?
They don't know any non white because as a white person you don't really need to. These people are cool people. There isn't anything racist about them as far as I can tell. It's just their experience. I know their good people because I am still friends with many of them. SO how can inherently good white people get to know us better if they don't try? How can they be sure they are sensitive to our struggle if they don't have any understanding of what it is?
-LS
Nandi responds to Muata:
That's because people like Al Sharpton are nothing more than emotional arousers, not logicians or changemakers. They serve as nothing more than distractors from the real issues, whether they know this or not.
WE, you, me and every other black person living in America, have the power to stop black males from kicking in the doors of the elderly and the vulnerable, from selling drugs, etc., but we can't put that power to use, because even those not participating in criminal activities are too fragmented to do so.
When the BPs wanted to stop inner-city violence, they patrolled the streets themselves. Same with the black Muslims. Where are our people doing that today? The ones who say they want to put an end to black-on-black violence? Where are those grassroots efforts without need for "white" intervention? Another thing worth thinking about is what if black men and women patrolled black neighborhoods and cleaned them up, how long before the establishment would label them hate groups and thus begin the age-old process of seeking to destroy them from the inside out? They did it with the Panthers. They did it with the Muslims. They did it with Martin and Malcolm and Marcus. And we can go on and on about how they've infiltrated and destroyed black organizations and black spokespersons espousing black independence through action. There are many reasons for this: continued domination, profit and population control to name a few.
The American system of so-called justice will never eliminate criminality, because, it, itself, practices criminality toward ALL groups of people, blacks especially. Large fleets of cops, intelligence agents, prison officials, etc., exist in such numbers due not to the rise in crime amongst the individual, but due to the rise in crime amongst the power structure. Many of these people earn wages that are dependent on the continued need for "criminal" clean-up. You know this takes me back to my college days when I did a thesis on "crime and criminality--the making of the American criminal." What I found through research back then is still very much relevant today. Unfortunately, many of my hypotheses have also come to fruition. A major finding from my research was that "whites" are just as much puppets and victims of the system; the only difference is we, as blacks, are more aware of the puppetry and victimization, since we do not enjoy the fruits of "white" privilege on as grand a scale, if at all.
But black men and women, despite the history, can change black communities. Of course, it would mean more of us willing to come out of our middle-class abodes to do so, and that's yet another obstacle in the process.
So, yeah, we get tired. I know I do. I also get disgusted, but like the "Brain" character in Pinky and the Brain, I gotta keep figuring out ways to take over my share of the world. ;-
Nandi
www.juswritinlife.com
www.eklectiksinc.com
www.ruggedworks.net
Muata adds another response:
If I were white and aggressive as I am as Brian I would tell blacks, 'Go to h*ll with your excuses. Defeat racism. You can - but you won't because you are lazy . As a result you are a disgrace to your ancestors who died for your black behind. Stop complaining and focus!'
-Muata
Reader Response about Al:
Al Sharpton takes much criticism for his actions..................yet he actually does more than write and talk about issues. Many of black folk don't do anything..........read, write, nor work!
-PM
Muata again:
He one of a few who still on the front lines. Where are the rest of them? I respect Al. At least he will say something. These black pastors of mega churches bringing mega bucks and attracting mega crowds will not even mention HIV/AIDS in the pulpit. I actually cannot name over 5 blacks standing up with guts, without care of repercussions. Al does say what many will not. He acts too.
-Muata
Nandi respnds:
I wasn't calling Al an armchair revolutionary, btw. He does do more than a great many others, if nothing else to keep the inequality in the public eye so that our people with short-term memories can't totally forget. ;-)
Nandi
www.juswritinlife.com
www.eklectiksinc.com
www.ruggedworks.net
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