the 'workaholic' thing . . . .that is another social construction IMO does not make it reality. I think they were very Athletic Rocket River
Actually I remember several moments in "Soul Man" where Howell tries to speak "jive" in order to fool others. I believe there were other black stereotypes in the movie but i would have to see it again because it has been a while. The two white chicks are not named Hinton, they are named Wilson. I don't see how the movie even attempts to show all white females in this country are rich and spoiled brats. How was the purpose of the movie, the sole purpose of it at that, to justify anything? It's a freaking comedy, as you said earlier in the same paragraph, there is no underlying social or political message in the movie but at the end of the paragraph you contradict your own statement.
I gave up on this thread after the first few replies. To anyone who got offended... shame on you. Shows that you live in suburbia, and you're a closet racial profiler. Case in point... Last night I was watching an old "The Man Show", and they brought out a black woman. I said "Nobody likes darkies". A couple of my friends bailed for the door. The one guy there that was black, whom I also had live with me after his divorce, looked around at the rest of the room and said "What? you didn't realize he was already an A-Hole?" Get a sense of humor, and quit pretending that you're special. Believe me, you're not.
OK, so since your friend didn't get offended nobody should? Like this one time I was sitting with somebody who called me a "grey baby" because I am biracial, now there were two other biracial people there who didn't mind but it was offensive to me but I guess it shouldn't have been since the others didn't get offended. It's just like youths today going around saying ni**a instead of ni**er. It doesn't matter how you say or use it it is still offensive to many, especially those who went through the struggle. I saw a special on 20/20 a few years ago about this and parents and grandparents wee disgusted when they heard their young ones using the word. Oh, but according to your philosophy nobody should be offended because the rest don't get offended.
BTW, I was not offended at what these girls did but I can understand how some people could get offended.
My point is that I don't care, and I tire of people who do. Fact is, I've lived with every race since I was born. We all are the same. Live with it.
I think it's hilarious that a pretty important point is being completely ignored here: The fact that these girls decided that they would represent this player by wearing charcoal-dark skin makeup and gold teeth, despite the fact that the player does not look like that at all. With the amount of history that blackface has and continues to have worldwide, it may have been more than a tad unwise to bring this criticism upon themselves like that. So, what I don't understand is why the girls went this far with this costume when a simple wig and heavy, light-brown makeup would have sufficed? I understand that this is a likely a product of naivete, but that doesn't mean it should be considered ok as a result.
I was saying that the world will never see all people seeing each other as equals. Why? Because that is the way people are. If we all were one race people would still find something not to like about another person or group of people. I would like to see it to but I know it will never happen, I'm a realist.
People will always be different. People will always mock other people. Life wouldn't be funny, otherwise. The fact is, as a 33 year old, nobody is better than anyone else, race-wise, and I'm tired of people getting uppity about it.
Not only that.. but.. Where was the reaction to THIS!? An entire two decades! Just kidding.. but when thinking of that, doesn't Chapelle's show come to mind? Dude dresses up like a white guy, makeup and all, to make fun of white people, at least once a show.
I deal with criminal lawyers and there is a disproportionate amount of blacks that get asked to step out of their vehicles during routine traffic stops. This is a fact in the DC/MD/VA area and it is an admitted problem.
New Yorker had a good point. They weren't really dressing in 'blackface'. They were dressing up as someone who was black. I think the softball team, and the basketball player they were costumed as, should make a statement explaining the whole thing, and why it isn't offensive, and anyone who claims they are offended should be allowed to get a free copy. I don't think they did anything wrong. Taking that extra step since it is a touchy subject would show their awareness of it.
The girl on top by herself probably wouldn't have caused much controversy, but the girl in the middle (whether she knew it or not) is very close in style to the original 'blackface' which is very demeaning.
And regardless of her intentions, if you think I should be flattered as a black person by the way the girl in the middle picture looks, you are delusional. she looks like a clown. and that's the problem. my skin isn't a costume.
This is an interesting thread and just shows that race is an issue that its going to take long time for us to get over. I think one problem here with the "quit being so sensitive argument" is that as a member of the majority race in this society its difficult to understand the minority viewpoint. For instance Jayson Blair's race was often mentioned, a black man falsifying stories for a major media company, while Stephen Glass who was white and did the same thing his race wasn't mentioned, or in another example a lot was made of Colin Powell's race but none of Warren Christopher even though they both were secretaries of state. As minorities we can't just pretend to be color blind because society doesn't allow us to. Further just saying that we are color blind and that legally we can't discriminate doesn't mean that discrimination doesn't exist. You can't wipe away centuries of bias at the stroke of pen. For instance take a look at what's going on in France. France attempted to legislate a colorblind to the society to the point of not even counting ethnicity as a census category. All that meant was that people still ended up discriminating and there was no record of it. So its easy to say as someone who is in the majority and has never had to wonder whether society is judging you on the color of you skin to say "get over it" as opposed to a minority because you know for a fact that society has judged people by the color of their skin.
