America has become a country well-known for its bigoted views. I mean...come on lets face it. What is the sense in trying to hide it, or pretend that we are post-racial, or act as if we are the country of brotherly and sisterly love when it comes to people of color. Our history is drenched in racism, discrimination, and prejudice. This country was built on a foundation steeped in racism.
Apparently, residents in Indiana seem to think being offensive with a racist twist to it is nostalagic because they are backing and support a Noblesville storeowner who is selling controversial soap with racist labels on it:
"The controversy over soap with racist labels being sold at a Noblesville store continues. In addition to those who are offended by the store selling these items, there is also growing support for the vendor who has been ordered to take the soaps off the shelves or face eviction."~~Casey Gane-McCalla, NewOne~
"After hearing about the soap, Carolyn Gentner bought two bars including one labeled “Kolored Kids.”~~Casey Gane-McCalla, NewOne~
“I don’t think they’re offensive, I think they’re nostalgic,” she told Fox59 News. “I believe if this is going to be an issue, we should be in Kroger for selling Aunt Jemima syrup."~~Casey Gane-McCalla, NewOne~
Okay, so I guess they wouldn't mind if young people of color begin businesses selling products with labels that are offensive to white folks. After all if you can't lick them, join them! It is 2010 going on 2011 and their game of offending people of color with imagery of exaggerated facial features on cartoon like characters which are racist in content has failed to cease.
Btw, Aunt Jemima's facial features on that bottle of syrup are not distorted and exaggerated. In my lifetime I've never seen a black man with red lips before, unless he was gay and wearing red lipstick. Nor have I ever seen a black man that looks like that picture.
There is no need to claim innocence in knowing that those images are offensive because black folks know without a doubt that claim of innocent would be false. After all, we've told them that time and time again for nearly one hundred and eleven years. However, they insist on continuing in their practice of degrading and being offensive towards people of color.
America is supposed to be a melting pot and multicultural, land of opportunity, liberty and justice for ALL country. The world is beginning to view America as the totally the opposite when it comes to people of color. There is not one nonwhite color group of people who has not experienced discrimination and racism in this country. Our country, lately, has taken it a step further with discrimination towards people with different lifestyles and those with different religious beliefs.
Alrighty then, what if some of our talented young artist and store owners who are people of color were to begin to do likewise. How would whites feel with products labeled white paddy, peckerwood, honky, etc.? Would whites so-called nostalgia come into play if the shoe was on the other foot?
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5 comments:
You asked: Would whites so-called nostalgia come into play if the shoe was on the other foot?
Let me think about that and get back to you. :)
They can dish it out but they can't take it.
Nostalgia?! Are these people f'ing kidding me?
I have to admit, I live in a very white world. My friends and neighbors are mostly white. Seems like wherever I go I mostly encounter white people. It's not a planned thing, it just seems to work that way.
But I swear, I don't know anyone who wouldn't find shit like that offensive except for a very small group of people who are uneducated, totally unrefined bubbas living like it's 1892 up some holler.
So I guess my point is that you can have some hope. There are plenty of white people. . . a big majority I believe, who are repulsed at this type of horrendous stuff.
Having said that, I've been to Indiana a number of times. It's not exactly a beacon of enlightenment.
I just don't understand how people can be so insensitive to other people's feelings and experience, but it seems to be a trait that is magnified in white people.
I agree with SagaciousHillbilly statement:
But I swear, I don't know anyone who wouldn't find shit like that offensive except for a very small group of people who are uneducated, totally unrefined bubbas living like it's 1892 up some holler. So I guess my point is that you can have some hope. There are plenty of white people. . . a big majority I believe, who are repulsed at this type of horrendous stuff.
Many whites that had no idea of the bigot behavior of a Director working for the City I live in took a stand with me after reading what happened at last Monday's Mayor and Board of Aldermen meeting on my wordpress blog.
I have not announced it yet on my blog, but the Director in question will no longer be working for the city as of January 2011. However, I will believe it when I see it and if it is true, it is a step in the right direction. For that reason I am glad I start blogging about my small Southern Town :-)
Anonymous 11:59:
I believe you are missing the point of what I am saying. It's not a threat. Nevertheless, the point is why would someone do to others what they wouldn't want done to them?
You said WE blacks, but yet your comment speaks as if you are WHITE and speaking for them. How would you know what offends and doesn't offend them or how they would would react if you are not white? Also, do you think it is fair to lump all blacks in the same boat of inaction and paint them with so broad a brush? Surely, being a black person you've met or know some black people who say what they mean and do what they say. For example, would you say that Malcolm X or Martin Luther King were people of inaction?
I sure hope you meet some nicer white people someday...I'm white, and a born and bred Hoosier, raised my whole life in an extremely diverse area of Indianapolis, and I would not have traded it for the world! I thank God that I grew up knowing how to respect, interact with, love, and appreciate people who may look, act, or speak differently than me.
It blows my mind when I meet a racist person because I keep forgetting that those kind of people still exist!!! It was just a non-issue where I grew up, it really was.
I am a human being, so "my own kind" is humanity, all of the children that God created!!!
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