Blacks according to American film and television seems to go something like this:
- There are not many of them – maybe just 6% of America.
- Unlike whites, they do not represent the full range of humanity but just a narrow, screwed-up part of it.
- Blacks are so limited in their behaviour and interests that a dozen Hollywood stereotypes are enough to cover nearly all of them. The rest can be covered by the phrase, “You are not like other blacks”. Hip hop videos and BET prove that the stereotypes are true to life!
- Blacks are mostly poor, live in big cities, listen to hip hop, are disrespectful, have loose morals and speak bad English full of slang.
- Most black people are poor and most poor people are black.
Most black men commit crimes and most crimes are committed by black men. Most therefore wind up in prison at some point. They account for most of the country’s gun violence. They will kill a complete stranger for no good reason.- Most black women are “ghetto”. They are poor, ill-mannered, loud-mouthed, loose and are baby mamas, having children by different men they never marry.
- Blacks, both male and female, have a hard time controlling their anger.
- Few black women have any true beauty or grace. Most are either fat and ugly or, at best, sexy in a trashy way.
- Black-on-black love is rare.
Black men prefer white and Latina women over black women.- It is not uncommon for a black person to have a white parent or be mostly white by blood.
- Black success comes mainly through sports, entertainment and crime, not through education and hard work.
- There are not many middle-class blacks. Most of them are noble but boring – and have little or no love life.
- Missing black women are rare compared to missing white women.
- Racism is rare – just a matter of some skinheads. Most of the ills that blacks suffer from come from their own pathologies.
Black political opinion is divided between those who are pretty much happy with the way things are (“black conservatives”) and those who always seem to find something to complain about for no good reason (the “race industry”). There are no independent black views of America that are seriously worth considering.- The lives of black people are good for a few laughs, but not something that would be serious or interesting in its own right.
- Most Jamaicans are Rastafarians who speak with a fake Jamaican accent.
Africa is a country full of unending tribal violence and cruel, unsmiling rulers who wear sunglasses. It is incapable of peace and civilization without the help of whites – who always seem to be well-meaning and have nothing to do with how screwed up things are.
Black ghettos are full of unending gang violence and cruel, unsmiling drug lords who wear sunglasses. It is incapable of peace and civilization without the help of whites – who always seem to be well-meaning and have nothing to do with how screwed up things are.
See also:
- white gaze
- race and television:
- about blacks in America:
- How to argue like a white racist
Abagond 
since TV teaches people a lot of thing these days when somebody says “you’re not like those other black people” really means you’re not like those blacks I see on TV becasue lord knows that the majority of the people who say that have very little to no contact with black people and of course someone who defies those Tv sterotypes are one in a million. Very rare indeed. But if that black person does some how live up to a sterotype i.e. a black woman getting angry for a very good reason it’s a case of “you’re just like them”
so of course you have to supress a lot of emotions when being in contact with white people
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this stereotypes also seem in the uk.. very sad indeed
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This is completely untrue. In American film and television blacks are presented in a far better light than they should receive. Jut think of cop shows. How many times did you see a poor black guy as the guilty party as opposed to a rich white guy. The movies and serials are full of hyper-competent blacks and white bumbling fools.
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‘ How many times did you see a poor black guy as the guilty party as opposed to a rich white guy’
ROFL… how about all the time?
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@davi
Compare the number of “white bumbling fools” to the number of the ‘normal’ whites then come back and form a opinion okay.
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@Aiyo:
The American film/television are broadcasted throughout the world. And from the people I personally know in those parts of the world, they get these perceived ideas of what black people are supposed to be like. It’s unbelievable.
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I’m not American, and don’t really follow American news media, which may be why Abagond’s list rings so hollow to me. If you think only of American movies and tv shows, the opposite of what Abagond says is often true.
In tv shows and movies, African Americans are typically middle class professionals. Poor black people are rarely portrayed, unless the story is about crime or other problems in the black community. However, probably 90%+ of criminals in American tv shows and movies are white. Amusingly, violent criminals are often of upper class backgrounds.
Blacks tend to play supporting characters. They are colleagues and bosses of white main characters. In movies and tv shows, the American workplace seems very well integrated racially, at least as far as whites and blacks are concerned (other minorities may be underrepresented).
Far from black-on-black love being rare, in Hollywood fare interracial relatioships are almost unheard of. Whites date and marry whites, blacks blacks. Latinos, however, are more often portrayed in relationships with non-Latinos, perhaps because there are few well-known male Latino actors (in contrast, there are a lot more successful black male actors than actresses).
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So would you like to tell us where are you from Jack then??
As someone in the UK I had to chuckle at this bit:
Most Jamaicans are Rastafarians WHO SPEAK WITH A FALSE JAMAICAN ACCENT
If most Jamaican are Rastafarians…then I would presume that most watching these shows would think that is how Rastafarians and Jamaican speak
he he he
Its always been of interest to some of us over here are there no Jamaicans actors in Un-Holy wood (Hollywood)??
he he he
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Northern Europe.
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Cheers…
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@Leigh204
I know right, I was listening to an old Addicted to Race podcast and the host Carmen, was saying how some people she knew would say “I haven’t actually met a black person, but I know how they are.” WTF
now that is some freshly squeezed bullcrap right there
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Most black women are “ghetto”. They are poor, ill-mannered, loud-mouthed, loose and are baby mamas, having children by different men they never marry.
First of all the “ghetto” is a place not a person. Some people from the ghetto do not act in this stereotypical manner. There are people who come from the ghetto, and later become Teachers, Doctors, Professors, Lawyers, and Buisnessmen. That being said, I am sick of the stereotypes, or better yet the LIES that black women are being labeled with. Many black women I know are not ghetto, very well mannered, have high morals, and are not poor but middle and upper middleclass. This is coming from a black woman who has been married before, of middleclass, who is not loud (most of the time people ask me to speak up because they can’t hear me) ,and have do not have any kids.
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@ Jack
“I’m not American, and don’t really follow American news media, which may be why Abagond’s list rings so hollow to me.”
Um yeah, probably so.
“If you think only of American movies and tv shows, the opposite of what Abagond says is often true.”
More often than not, these movies are in the minority in representing a less stereotypical view of how people see minorities. For every movie that shows people of color “normally” in a blended cast, I can name 12 movies that embody every stereotype that makes me cringe when the character appears on screen.
I’m tired of being in mixed company and people assuming I’m “from the hood” and that they have to use “blackspeak” to make me comfortable (ex. One of my white co-workers using the term “girlfriend” with me. I’ve NEVER referred to any of my friends as “girlfriend”).
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This is a good subject for me! As some of you already know, I don’t have any personal experience with black people, and I never met a black person in my life. Despite education (and common sense), my views are partly shaped by American media (ah, you can’t escape it these days, now can you?) And when I say “media” I mean TV shows and movies- I don’t really watch American news.
So, let’s see which of those is true. I’ll try to be as honest as possible (honest to you and to myself).
1. There are not many of them – maybe just 6% of America. False.– I used to think there were more black people in America, around 40%. I think I know why I had this impression, but let’s move on for now.
2. Unlike whites, they do not represent the full range of humanity but just a narrow, screwed-up part of it.
3. Blacks are so limited in their behaviour and interests that a dozen Hollywood stereotypes are enough to cover nearly all of them. The rest can be covered by the phrase, “You are not like other blacks”. True. There are only a few “types” of blacks: thugs, race complainers, boring-and-perfect middle class citizens, and police inspectors. Women are either overweight or sexy in a trashy way. Throw in a few magical Negroes here and there.
Note: There’s a rule, however. If there are “ghetto” blacks around, there must be at least one too-perfect-to-be-true black to calm African American audience. But only one.
4. Blacks are mostly poor, live in big cities, listen to hip hop, are disrespectful, have loose morals and speak bad English full of slang. True, true, true.
5. Most black people are poor and most poor people are black. True and false. I remember many poor blacks, but there are also many “white trash” people I remember on TV.
6. Most black men commit crimes and most crimes are committed by black men. Most therefore wind up in prison at some point. They account for most of the country’s gun violence. They will kill a complete stranger for no good reason.True and false. There are way too many black criminals on TV/in movies. However, there seem to be less and less of them, because of PC.
7. Most black women are “ghetto”. They are poor, ill-mannered, loud-mouthed, loose and are baby mamas, having children by different men they never marry. True. Black women are either loose and oversexed (but not in a way they are really portrayed as incredibly beautiful and sexy- they simply can’t control their urges and they never heard of condoms). If they are not like this, if they are respectable members of the society, they are loud-mouthed (what’s called the stereotype? Saphire?), mean and aggressive.
8. Blacks, both male and female, have a hard time controlling their anger.True!!! Now that you mention it, I don’t honestly remember any black character, respectable or not, who could control anger. The only exception are magical Negroes.
9. Few black women have any true beauty or grace. Most are either fat and ugly or, at best, sexy in a trashy way. True. While there are black women portrayed as sexy, or even love (sex?) interests, they rarely have any grace. If they aren’t, by a chance, portrayed as oversexed or fat, they are cold corporate bit…es that no man would want to touch.
10. Black-on-black love is rare. False. I remember many black couples. In fact, it’s relatively rare to see a black character paired with a non-black one. Unless the film is about interracial relationship.
11. Black men prefer white and Latina women over black women. False. I honestly don’t remember this. I guess you’re referring to “Will Smith effect”, but I am not a fan of this actor, so I don’t remember it. Like I said, the way I remember shows and movies, when a black character has a wife/husband, it’s always a black person. In fact, if there is only one black person on a popular TV show (which is usually the case), the moment producers introduce another black character of the opposite sex, you know they will end up together. All black people are alike, so of course any two blacks of the opposite sex would be perfect for each other, right?
12. It is not uncommon for a black person to have a white parent or be mostly white by blood. False. Once again, I don’t remember this one. In fact the opposite is true- even a mixed actor or actress will have two black parents. Which is not impossible in the reality, but if you’re black, you come from a black family, period. Unless you were adopted, but in this case, it’s a story about interracial adoptions.
13. Black success comes mainly through sports, entertainment and crime, not through education and hard work. Mostly true. What about police inspectors!
14. There are not many middle-class blacks. Most of them are noble but boring – and have little or no love life.True Very true. Middle class blacks are flawless, flat and boring characters. And yes, many of them don’t have any love life.
15. Missing black women are rare compared to missing white women. False. I guess you are referring to news, but when it comes to TV shows and movies, I remember many missing black women.
16. Racism is rare – just a matter of some skinheads. Most of the ills that blacks suffer from come from their own pathologies. True. The only racists are skinheads, but fear not, there are many white- not black!- characters who oppose them.
17. Black political opinion… Unsure I guess this is about news and “real life”, so I don’t know.
18. The lives of black people are good for a few laughs, but not something that would be serious or interesting in its own right. True. Blacks, when accepted, are often comic reliefs, perfect but boring, and tokens. Important for showing diversity but not truly important.
19. Most Jamaicans are Rastafarians who speak with a fake Jamaican accent. True. Scratch “most”. ALL Jamaicans are like that.
20. Africa is a country full of unending tribal violence and cruel, unsmiling rulers who wear sunglasses. It is incapable of peace and civilization without the help of whites – who always seem to be well-meaning and have nothing to do with how screwed up things are.True. My media experience of Africa deserves separate comment, but this is basically true. Especially concerning “they need whites who are well-meaning”.
21. Black ghettos are full of unending gang violence and cruel, unsmiling drug lords who wear sunglasses. It is incapable of peace and civilization without the help of whites – who always seem to be well-meaning and have nothing to do with how screwed up things are.True. Of course it’s true. They are violent, but fear not, some of them can change- if noble white people help them.
Please note: This is NOT how I see black people. But this is my experience with media portraying blacks. True/false labels don’t really mean a statement is true or false- it simply shows whether I noticed it on TV/films or not.
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I’m tired of being in mixed company and people assuming I’m “from the hood” and that they have to use “blackspeak” to make me comfortable (ex. One of my white co-workers using the term “girlfriend” with me. I’ve NEVER referred to any of my friends as “girlfriend”).
This is too true. I also hate when white people address me with “whats up” then address another person (nonblack) with a simple hello. I also dislike when people assume I like rap music when I almost hate most of it.
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The above list is why I do-not watch television for the most part! Nor do I go to movies, besides being a cheapskate!
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Its almost like a game show…
At the end of this round Mira
You scored 80
ha ha ha!!
Some very interesting responses though.
It reminds me of how attitudes, stereotypes are developed etc in Psychology
Hmmm!!
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leaveumthinking,
I think most women who live in big cities are loudmouths.
Anyone remember the tv character “Fran.”
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OMG! That trick “New York” is a disgrace and she DO NOT represent for all black women.
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“Black ghettos are full of unending gang violence and cruel, unsmiling drug lords who wear sunglasses. It is incapable of peace and civilization without the help of whites – who always seem to be well-meaning and have nothing to do with how screwed up things are. ”
LMAO!!!
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Hathor
leaveumthinking,
I think most women who live in big cities are loudmouths.
Anyone remember the tv character “Fran.”
I remember Fran. Yes she was loud but to me she was a likable character who was kind and funny. On the other hand to me New York is loud and ignorant. She is not funny at all. The show New York goes to work is a vile form of entertainment, where a black woman is shown in a negative light ( “ghetto”, loud, attitude,overbearing) all for a couple of laughs.
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@Hathor
You were referring to Fran from The Nanny right?
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Fran from “The Nanny” was a nice person, but also annoying (just my opinion). Is the actress black?
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I don’t think Fran from the Nanny is really a good comparison. Fran was Jewish, which as a racialized group has it’s share of stereotypes (loud, big haired and fat bootyed being a few I can think of off the top of my head in relation to females). I remember reading a post (I think it was at Racialicious) about male Jewish actors playing Italians if they happened to be too “mocho” to play the stereotypical Jew.
I think it’s interesting that so many people have noted that they disagree with number 11, “Black men prefer white and Latina women over black women”. I think as a Black woman I probably notice interracial relationships (wheter between bm and non-bw or bw and non-bm) more in the media, but I think if I actually think about it, most of the time Black men are cast with Black women as their love interests, but the Black woman cast is usually very light skinned and falls within the European beauty standard (thin nose, lips, slim figure, has straight or “good” hair).
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It’s discouraging to see that American media is so dominated by ANTI-BLACK LIES, MYTHS, and STEREOTYPES when a media power like Oprah exists. I hope that she, Tyra and other Blacks who have access to media resources will work as hard as possible to help DESTROY ANTI-BLACK media/culture and REPLACE it with TRUTHFUL/POSITIVE images of Black people once and for all.
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About “Nanny”: I have no idea about actress’ ethnicity, but that character, as lovable as it may be, really seems like a stereotype. Please think whether you would like the character if Nanny was played by a black woman. Would you still think the character is likeable?
if I actually think about it, most of the time Black men are cast with Black women as their love interests, but the Black woman cast is usually very light skinned and falls within the European beauty standard (thin nose, lips, slim figure, has straight or “good” hair).
This is also true. They usually get the lightest actress they can find- but she is still unmistakeably black.
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@ laromana,
not only that, I want American media to stop stereotypical portrayals of ALL minorities!
I’m tired of seeing the tired oversexualized image of the “spicy” latina mami (see Eva Mendes in “The Women”), or the non-English speaking nanny/houskeeper who’s grateful for a chance because her papers aren’t legit.
The gangbanging/drug dealing SA dude
The quiet submissive Asian lady/man (who also can’t quite grasp English, just nod and bow and smile really really big) or the SAT braniac Asian
the (insert world ethnic group in peril) immigrant who made it to America because it’s the land of the free and the home of the brave *rolls eyes*
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To be honest with you, most of the stereotypes listed above pretty prevelant without the aid of television. TV just reinforces these ideas.
Skin color comes up yet again!!! And I get accused by another poster of “getting worked up” when I reply to the constant mention of it! LOL.
I’m curious, who are the big name “light skinned, Euro” black actresses who are constantly cast as the black male’s love interest?
P.S.: Abagond, will the solutions to colorism/racism post be up pretty soon. All the mention of skin color on this blog as it pertains to blacks shows that we need it.
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I agree with another poster.
If we go by U.S. television:
-East Asians and South Asians mainly don’t exist. And when they do, they’re either “Chinese” or “Middle Eastern”. They either speak broken English or have a heavy, almost cartoonish accent. They either work at Chinese food spots or convience stores; practice martial arts or are Hindu. But oh, they’re so smart at Math and proficent with computers!
-Native Americans? What Native Americans? Oh, yeah, them. They like to drink, right?
-“Latinos” are a race. Mainly a “Mexican” race. Like to have babies, speak fragmented English, live in barrios. But oh, atleast their women are “hot”, “passionate” and so “exotic”.
*excuses himself while he goes in the corner to barf*
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@FG
Your examples are good. I haven’t seen show/movie in question. However, from what you said, it looks like their biracial background is one of the themes discussed. I was talking about “regular” situation, where character’s races aren’t an issue in the movie.
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“Your examples are good. I haven’t seen show/movie in question. However, from what you said, it looks like their biracial background is one of the themes discussed. I was talking about “regular” situation, where character’s races aren’t an issue in the movie.”
That is an important distinction. LOL. In the US, when interracial relationships or mixed race people appear in tv or film, it is an issue. From what I hear, British media does not treat such things as controversial, though.
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It seems that people have a very narrow view of success. People define success differently. If you think that becoming an actor, famous athlete or singer makes you successful because of the amount of money that comes with it, then so be it. But many people see success as having the career they always wanted, despite the amount of money, raising a family with a loving spouse as successful. So therefore there are plenty of black people who are successful who are not actors, singers and athletes and I know plenty of them.
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…well it seems in africa on T.V. anyway,that blacks aren’t intelligent enough to be leaders on safaris. What i mean is if we look at all the adventure shows – natgeo,big-cat diary,discovery channel safari,operation animal recon…etc. and countless other wild animal shows which take place in africa, the shows 99.9% of the time revolve around ‘the great white hunter,tracker,fotographer type’…with blacks in the role of scout in service to’ whitey’…this isn’t to say that position is not important,it seems to speak to white fantasy in another way…that they are masters of every domain…even one where blacks are clearly dominant.It seems to me to further the ‘tarzan’ syndrome disguised as a nature show.You mean to tell me…since safaris shows began ,in all of africas nat’l parks and wilderness and people there isn’t one black person with the ability to speak english and have intelligence, charisma enough to be number one and be the leader who understands this most beautiful of lands like his white counterparts?
just sayin’
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@FG
From what I hear, British media does not treat such things as controversial, though.
True. I am not trying to say racism doesn’t exist in Europe (because it does), however, there must be some difference.
At least it’s perfectly normal (though not really common), to have an interracial romance in a film where this aspect isn’t an issue. At all.
Even in a film such as “Secret and lies”, the emphasis wasn’t on the fact that a white woman has a black daughter. (The film was not completely free of race issues, but it wasn’t really about white mother/black daughter problem). I can’t help thinking an American version of this film would be much different, more cliche and full of “cheap” sentiments. Ok, I am a Mike Leigh fan so I might be biased, but in overall, yes, in European cinema, it is possible to have a black woman as a love interest in a film that is not about her being black.
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*secrets and lies
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I only watched a few whole episodes more than a decade and a half ago and all I remembered was a very pretty and petite woman who had a nasaled voice. To me she had a annoying voice but she was still likable “my opinion”. I also seen her on a talk show recently as herself and she was funny. I did not know what ethnicity Fran was. I was unaware of the jewish stereotypes in the show because I do not know what these stereotypes consist of. If the shows whole idea is to make fun or belittle jewish people then no it is not funny or a good thing.
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@Leaveumthinking
I was unaware of the jewish stereotypes in the show because I do not know what these stereotypes consist of. If the shows whole idea is to make fun or belittle jewish people then no it is not funny or a good thing.
I watched only a few episodes and no, I don’t think the show was meant to ridicule Jews. Nanny was somewhat “trashy”, but a loving person. And yes, her voice was annoying, but I don’t think it was meant to be offensive, more of a character trait.
But I wonder whether black people would like this character if played by a black woman. It could easily be turned into a stereotype, given the fact Nanny was a bit loosed (not really oversexed or anything, but she was flirty and had a tattoo on her bottom). I do think some (many?) black people would be offended with such a character- and yet, it would be the same character!
That’s why producers and filmmakers create all those boringly perfect black characters- in fear of PC and complaints, they don’t eve, ever, ever give black characters any actual characterization, a personality or a flaw.
(And yet, in the next second, they turn around and include minority characters as plain stereotypes. So they say: “But we’re not racists! X is regular character on the show, and he is a respectable African American!)
I’d love to watch films with great black characters, but there don’t seem to be many.
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abagond, it is clear to me that you have formulated your opinion of blacks in film and on TV based on your own personal bias rather than an accurate accounting of the facts regarding the movies, TV shows and nature of the scripts featuring blacks.
As for the stereotypes you cited, well, where I live — the Flatbush section of Brooklyn — it is easy to find living proof of each one. Not one is fictional. They all exist, just like the living examples of white stereotypes, which also get their fair share of play in movies and on TV.
A few years ago here in Brooklyn, a black city councilman — Charles Barron — attempted to have the city council pass a resolution requiring the NY City public school system to teach ebonics. I believe Maxine Waters attempted something similar in California.
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I did mean “Fran” the nanny. Where I live, I’ve encountered Polish and Irish loudmouth assertive woman. I think if you want to be heard or to get things done you have to speak up. I think any woman who does not fit the “Father knows best” wife or the Beaver’s mom, becomes a bad stereotype, because the patriarchy can’t have women step out place.
Sometimes it is hard to differentiate between sexism and racism. Then Black folk have to introduce colorism on top of that. as if all Black light skinned women have had the Red Carpet thrown in front of them. Many times other Black people will make sure your color is a liability. I have seen someone almost murdered over her lighter color.
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One question: are Polish and Irish women fully, honestly and absolutely accepted as “white” white in America? Or is it possible to make them a stereotype? What I’m saying, would be character who is a Polish or an Irish “loud” woman be accepted as a loud woman, or a loud woman of a certain ethnicity?
I didn’t see Fran the Nanny offensive- I was just really annoyed by her voice (I guess I just like deeper voices, even for women). But I am sure it wouldn’t make any difference for me if the character was black.
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I have seen someone almost murdered over her lighter color.
That’s terrible. I”m sorry to hear that. Was she murdered by another black person?
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But I wonder whether black people would like this character if played by a black woman…I do think some (many?) black people would be offended with such a character- and yet, it would be the same character!
Yes, some black people might be offended because the character wuld be reinforcing stereotypes and portraying black women in a negative light. And they would be well within their rights to be offended, despite it being the same character. Black people in America are seen to be a monolithic group (while white people are individuals), so one black woman would reflect on black women as a whole. New York (the woman pictured in the first photo) and similar characters do a great disservice to black women in America by acting out stereotypes simply to make a buck.
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*would
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*almost
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Yes, some black people might be offended because the character wuld be reinforcing stereotypes and portraying black women in a negative light. And they would be well within their rights to be offended, despite it being the same character.
I understand this. And I know people would have right to be offended. Still, I don’t think it’s character’s fault; the problem is with media image, and real life image as a whole. With more different roles offered to black actors… What am I saying- with a different view of black people in real life, black Nanny would be ok.
On the other hand, I still dislike boringly perfect black characters. First of all, they are boring. Second of all, they are there only because filmmakers want to be seen as anti-racist and PC, not because they really care about blacks.
Can somebody give me an example of a non-stereotyped black character? (Preferably created by non-black filmmakers). Is there such a thing?
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Mira,
One question: are Polish and Irish women fully, honestly and absolutely accepted as “white” white in America? Or is it possible to make them a stereotype? What I’m saying, would be character who is a Polish or an Irish “loud” woman be accepted as a loud woman, or a loud woman of a certain ethnicity?
I come from a city with a large Irish population and, in my experience, they absolutely are. They are one of the largest “white” ethnic groups in America. The Irish did face terrible discrimination in the mid-1800s with NINA, but they are currently pretty much inseparable from “American.” No one can actually tell if a person has Irish roots or not unless they happen to catch their last name and it is something like McDougall or O’Donnell. Which most people wouldn’t give a second thought or note and disregard. They are just white. The end.
The same can be said for Polish Americans — “American,” unless they are recent immigrants. It might be possible to turn them into a stereotype but it wouldn’t be as effective or recognizable as some of the other stereotypes.
Still, I don’t think it’s character’s fault; the problem is with media image, and real life image as a whole. With more different roles offered to black actors… What am I saying- with a different view of black people in real life, black Nanny would be ok.
What do you mean, exactly? That blacks should have more diverse image in real life or the media should present more diverse images of blacks? Or both?
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“One question: are Polish and Irish women fully, honestly and absolutely accepted as “white” white in America? Or is it possible to make them a stereotype? What I’m saying, would be character who is a Polish or an Irish “loud” woman be accepted as a loud woman, or a loud woman of a certain ethnicity?”
I think this is only the case with Jewish women, these days. Not everyone considers Jews white. Other than that nationality doesn’t matter all that much in the US. There are hardly any pure Irish or pure Polish anyway; the white population is a European soup.
I think I may understand why you would think it could be a big deal. Nationality seems to still matter in Europe. This is surely benign in most instances, but not all. I remember when the civil war in the former Yugoslavia was raging in the 1990s, alot of people over here were puzzled. Many could not comprehend the idea of white people killing white people over ethnic differences.
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@Natasha W
Thanks for the explanation. There are still so many things about America that I don’t know, so I had to ask.
In other words, our Polish and Irish loud women would be fully perceived as white, which also means they would be perceived as individuals- loud women.
What do you mean, exactly? That blacks should have more diverse image in real life or the media should present more diverse images of blacks? Or both?
Well, about Nanny, I meant that, in a society that is truly free of racism, this character could be played by a black woman and seen as individual, rather than a stereotype.
And whit the above paragraph, I wanted to say both. First, and most important, majority of non-white people have to stop thinking about blacks as stereotypes. Yes, in real life. That is the most important. Once white people start seeing blacks as individuals, and not walking stereotypes, things could begin to change. Media can help shape this different opinion, and I can see some attempts. Yet, those attempts seem pretty pathetic in my humble, non-black opinion. Pathetic, because they don’t ring true. It doesn’t look like filmmakers really want to include more diverse black characters- all they want is to appear “fair” and PC. Of course we need more quality characters and more quality roles for black actors.
I remember when the civil war in the former Yugoslavia was raging in the 1990s, alot of people over here were puzzled. Many could not comprehend the idea of white people killing white people over ethnic differences.
Really?!? This is a surprise to me (I mean, I am surprised somebody was surprised). While I still could not really understand what happened to my country, and while it’s still hard for me to shape my identity after all what had happened, it is “normal” here to have conflict based on ethnicity. We are all white. But, as we all know and history has proved it, societies need war; it’s impossible for human groups to exist near each other without conflict (I am happy for anybody who disagrees, because he is lucky to live an an “apple-pie” world). Still, I do believe that war in Yugoslavia was “pushed” by forces greater than our little nations. But yes, just like in America interracial romance is an issue, romance between, say, Serbs and Croats (Serbs and Albanians) are issue here. In this sense of the word, anybody with a Serbian and a Croatian parent is mixed. This person’s identity would not be the same if she grows up in Croatia or Serbia. I am one such mix, and so is my husband.
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I disagree with some of your points…
“1. There are not many of them – maybe just 6% of America.”
If you watch sports, you might get the idea that this country is 90% black.
“4. Blacks are mostly poor, live in big cities, listen to hip hop, are disrespectful, have loose morals and speak bad English full of slang.”
This is, for the most part, true. After all, 70% of all black children are born out of wedlock.
“6. Most black men commit crimes and most crimes are committed by black men. Most therefore wind up in prison at some point. They account for most of the country’s gun violence. They will kill a complete stranger for no good reason.”
I agree that most black men are law-abiding, but most criminals are undeniably black. Just look at the statistics.
“13. Black success comes mainly through sports, entertainment and crime, not through education and hard work.”
For those of us who don’t live in black communities, most of the successful blacks that we do see are sportsman or entertainers. It’s not true, of course. But it’s understandable why whites might believe so.
“16. Racism is rare – just a matter of some skinheads. Most of the ills that blacks suffer from come from their own pathologies.”
This is absolutely true. I’ve never heard a racist word spoken about anyone in any place that I’ve ever worked. It’s only a few nuts who really embrace that kind of belief system nowadays.
“20. Africa is a country full of unending tribal violence and cruel, unsmiling rulers who wear sunglasses. It is incapable of peace and civilization without the help of whites – who always seem to be well-meaning and have nothing to do with how screwed up things are.”
This is completely false. Africa is a continent.
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@Mira,
It’s easy to imagine that you come from a mixed background because you don’t subscribe to “us versus them” ways of thinking about race/ethnic relations.
How would your identity change if you lived in Croatia instead of Serbia?
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@FG
It’s easy to imagine that you come from a mixed background because you don’t subscribe to “us versus them” ways of thinking about race/ethnic relations.
How would your identity change if you lived in Croatia instead of Serbia?
Not sure- not sure in my case. You see, my identifications tend to be more individual than collective, so I do think I’d still be me. But in general, mixed people choose a side. It’s usually the side of a country they live in. To prove they’re real, patriotic and don’t share anything with the enemy side (except a father, perhaps) those people often become hard core nationalists. Others choose different path and identify with the “other side”, but these people are in minority. My own problem is that I don’t fully identify with any side- my national identity and patriotism was built when I was a child, before the war. So I was raised as Yugoslavian. When horrors happened, I was forced to change my identity, but it didn’t seem to work. I know that Yugoslavia probably wasn’t the best idea and it couldn’t really work, but I can not change the fact it was my country. It’s not like it’s easy to erase your identity and change it with a new one (most of the people, though, seem to cope well with the change). People who feel like me are rare, but there are a few of us:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugo-nostalgia
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leaveumthinking,
The woman didn’t die, but it was a Black woman that tried to kill her. She cut the major artery in her thigh with a straight razor. There was so much blood. This happened in a club and was over 40 years ago.
I had actually thought over the years that animosity had disappeared until some incidents happened in my family. Then the net confirmed that colorism is alive and doing very well.
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Peter Lerman says,
“4. Blacks are mostly poor, live in big cities, listen to hip hop, are disrespectful, have loose morals and speak bad English full of slang.”
This is, for the most part, true. After all, 70% of all black children are born out of wedlock.
“16. Racism is rare – just a matter of some skinheads. Most of the ills that blacks suffer from come from their own pathologies.”
This is absolutely true. I’ve never heard a racist word spoken about anyone in any place that I’ve ever worked. It’s only a few nuts who really embrace that kind of belief system nowadays.
laromana says,
The ANTI-BLACK/RACIST IGNORANCE demonstrated in this person’s comments illustrate the serious damage ANTI-BLACK/RACIST media driven LIES, MYTHS, and STEREOTYPES are doing to the image of BP and why they need to be DESTROYED/REPLACED with TRUTHFUL/POSITIVE, PRO-BLACK/ANTI-RACIST images that respect the HUMANITY/DIGNITY of BP.
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It funny I was just talking with a friend the other day and telling him that I watch VERY litte tv.
It’s an insidious, well organized, controlled, white dominated media machine that is purposely degrading and insulting to Black People. Especially to us!
You turn it, you’re likely to see a Black woman chasing some white boy and bedding him. What crap! And many of us are watching this mess? Are children are watching and being brainwashed by this bs.
Diversity, inclusion, “doing the right thing”, mean NOTHING to them.
What you’re seeing on a GRAND scale, much today, is a HOMOSEXUAL agenda be played out – AND It’s well oiled.
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“Most Jamaicans are Rastafarians who speak with a fake Jamaican accent.”
You have no idea how much that irritates the daylight out of me. Both that we’re supposedly all Rastas as well as the butchered ear-bleeding noise that they claim is a Jamaican accent.
I’ve yet to watch “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” because of it.
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“the butchered ear-bleeding noise that they claim is a Jamaican accent.”
As a fellow Jamaican, I know exactly how you feel, Peta.
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Wow, so many great comments! I particularly enjoyed Mira’s. I find it interesting how certain kinds of commenters believe in the stereotypes they see on television.
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In the Uk, where I live, Whites have 50% (and more,up to 60% in some towns outside of London) birthrates of children outside of wedlock. English Blacks(Carribean ones that grew up in the UK) have a high rate as well..
Immigrant communities such as Africans, Indians, Pakistanis..etc have a very low rate compares to the Native English whites as they come from traditional communities.
As I grew up in a mostly white environment, I found that White people’s sex habits just like Black people’s.
The difference is, they are more likely to use a condom so less pregnancies result so this masks their sexual promiscuity
As well, in the States, there are more Middle-class and Rich Blacks than there are poor Blacks. But TV shows otherwise and PEOPLE BELIEVE IT!!!!
Peter Lehman’s comments demonstrate exactly what happens when you watch too much TV
(By the way, this person sounds and thinks like no-slappz…..Even the name is Jewish….)
Has he changed his name?
Any more comments like the one above, will show if this is Slapppz or not
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UK has the highest teenage rate pregnancy rate in Europe.
Further I would add that the amount of African-singled parents is much higher than what is thought..
I concur with what you say about those from the Indian sub-continent.
I think the Home Office (or some other body) in fact has conducted some study into this and published their
results.
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No Slappz and Peter Lerman are commenting from different American states, so they are unlikely to be sock puppets of each other.
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“12. It is not uncommon for a black person to have a white parent or be mostly white by blood.”
I agree with Mira and Frustrated Guy that biracial characters are rare in Hollywood. Jennifer Beals joked that when she was growing up there was only Spock on “Star Trek”. Things have changed little since.
On the other hand there are plenty of biracial entertainers, like Halle Berry, Alicia Keys and the Mowry sisters, and that I think gives people a false sense of how common such people are among Black Americans – only about 1%.
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“11. Black men prefer white and Latina women over black women.”
On this one I am probably overly affected by certain casting decisions Hollywood has made over the years, particularly when it comes to Will Smith who stars in films aimed mainly at white audiences.
I agree that black male characters who are married are almost always MARRIED to black women, but most often these wives are a sort of placeholder character. We know little about their relationships.
Also in celebrity news it seems like black men are pictured with white girlfriends and wives more than with black ones – but that could be subjective on my part.
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In America you not only see the Hollywood films and American television dramas which you see overseas, but also local and national news and celebrity news.
Local news is well known for showing the police leading away black crime suspects. Even assuming no racism on the part of news reporters and their news editors, nearly all of them white men, the mere fact that blacks are more likely to be arrested than whites when compared to rates of conviction, makes blacks seem more given to crime than they are. Especially when so many whites already have certain stereotypes in their heads about these things.
From what I know, these are the American cable television channels most given to racist stereotypes about blacks:
Fox News
VH1
BET
I do not know how many of these are seen abroad.
CNN, I know, is seen abroad. I saw it in Italy and New Zealand. Some of the shows are the same as you see in America but some most certainly are not. In America you almost never hear a British accent on CNN unless it is some on-the-scene overseas reporter.
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As a Black woman, I have been to Italy where there they see BP mostly through TV. I stayed in a hotel one night only to have the male clerk come up to my room to have sex with me.( Would he have done the same thing if I had been white?) I was dressed modestly but assumed I was easy or a prostitute. I had ladies grab their purse when I walked by. I stayed witn a friend who married an Italian. Her friends assumed I was the new servant. When Ieft, her stepson berated her for letting Black people stay at the house.( Meanwhile, this guy lived off of Italian state benefits and was abusive.) A lot of Italians were amazing and hospitable, but then there was that brazen assumption from some that I was a thief, a prostitute or a cleaner….
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Amos n’ Andy was on the radio for many years, but the performers were white. When the show moved to TV, the actors were black. The TV show ran during the late 1950s, probably about 1955 to 1960.
Every character had a job. Some were married. No one was a criminal. All were the main characters were black.
In the 1960s there was I Spy, which starred a white guy and Bill Cosby. The Mod Squad featured a white guy, a white woman and a black guy. All were honest cops.
Dirty Harry/Clint Eastwood, had a black partner in at least one of the Dirty Harry movies and the major bad guys were always white.
A hugely successful TV dance show was Soul Train.
John Shaft was an honest but unorthodox detective. The NYPD Blue TV cop show had a black lieutenant as a main character for almost the entire 10-year run of the show.
Hill Street Blues featured a black cop — Bobby — who was always honest.
Inside Man starred Denzel Washington as a cop trying to solve a bank robbery. The remake of The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3, starred Denzel as an honest subway dispatcher who saves a lot of people from the murderous impulses of John Travolta’s character.
Die Hard features a black cop who gives emotional support to John McClane through the entire movie, then saves McClane’s life at the end.
Danny Glover plays a good-guy cowboy in Silverado and in several movies he plays a good-guy cop opposite Mel Gibson.
The A-Team starred George Peppard and Mr T. Both good guys.
Rocky fought Apollo Creed and Clubber Lang (Mr T), and both were presented as worthy, honest and superior opponents.
Morgan Freeman was the moral force in Million Dollar Baby. Lou Gossett was the teacher, moral leader, physical example and maker of men in his role as the Marine Corps Drill Instructor/Gunnery Sergean in An Officer and a Gentlemen.
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abagond, according to you, the following statements enumerate aspects of blacks in America:
“1.There are not many of them – maybe just 6% of America.”
False. We all know the population is about 13% black.
“2.Unlike whites, they do not represent the full range of humanity but just a narrow, screwed-up part of it.”
False. Obviously you have seen few movies or watched much TV, and I know you have read almost no books.
“3.Blacks are so limited in their behaviour and interests that a dozen Hollywood stereotypes are enough to cover nearly all of them.”
Partially true. Since only leading characters are given depth and breadth, your statement is true for most characters in all movies, TVs and plays.
“4.Blacks are mostly poor, live in big cities, listen to hip hop, are disrespectful, have loose morals and speak bad English full of slang.”
More or less true. Poverty is substantially higher among blacks compared with whites. Compared with whites, a larger percentage of blacks live in cities. Blacks do listen to hip hop.
Disrepectful? Hard to say what that means. But there is no doubt about a large percentage of blacks having poor speaking skills. I hear it every day around the city.
“5.Most black people are poor and most poor people are black.”
Partially true. Poverty is high among blacks. However, since blacks are only 13% of the population, there is no reason to think there are more poor blacks than poor whites. However, if the number of blacks and whites were equal, then claiming “most poor people are black” would be true.
“6.Most black men commit crimes and most crimes are committed by black men. Most therefore wind up in prison at some point. They account for most of the country’s gun violence. They will kill a complete stranger for no good reason.”
Close to one-third of all black males have been in trouble with the law. A big percentage of those black males go to prison. Half of the murders in the US are committed by blacks, and over 80% of homicides are committed with guns. The math is easy.
As for killing complete strangers for no reason. That’s not true. The reason for killing a complete stranger is almost always related to money. Like the jeweler on Madison Avenue in NY City who was shot to death a couple of days ago by an armed robber — a black armed robber. There was no need for the shooting. But their was a reason. Getting the jewels.
“7.Most black women are “ghetto”. They are poor, ill-mannered, loud-mouthed, loose and are baby mamas, having children by different men they never marry.”
Partially true. There are plenty of black women who are “ghetto.” Their existence is not a product of the white imagination. Those who live up to the stereotype are sometimes loud, and they are baby mamas, evident by the fact that they are riding the subway with their kids, no husband, and no wedding ring.
“8.Blacks, both male and female, have a hard time controlling their anger.”
The domestic violence problem is substantially larger among blacks and hispanics compared with whites. Murders and beatings of girlfriends and wives, and the muders and beatings of children is much worse among blacks and hispanics, as court records and police reports show.
“9.Few black women have any true beauty or grace. Most are either fat and ugly or, at best, sexy in a trashy way.”
The preceding statement applies to all of humanity.
“10.Black-on-black love is rare.”
The Cosby Show, The Jeffersons, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Will Smith in Independence Day. Many more examples, too numerous to list.
“11.Black men prefer white and Latina women over black women.”
See above.
“12.It is not uncommon for a black person to have a white parent or be mostly white by blood.”
What is the definition of “uncommon”? Anyway, when it comes to having a white parent, check with the president. By the way, where was his black parent?
“13.Black success comes mainly through sports, entertainment and crime, not through education and hard work.”
Thousands of blacks have achieved huge success through sports and entertainment. It might be news, but virtually no one achieves success through crime. Most criminals go to jail unless they are killed in a work-related activity.
“14.There are not many middle-class blacks. Most of them are noble but boring – and have little or no love life.”:
What is the definition of “many”? The black middle class is growing, but it is still smaller than the poor segment of the black population.
“15.Missing black women are rare compared to missing white women.”
What? Reports of missing black women are in the New York Post every week. After a week or two, the missing women often turn up dead.
“16.Racism is rare – just a matter of some skinheads. Most of the ills that blacks suffer from come from their own pathologies.”
Actual, true racism is rare. These days colleges give blacks 200 bonus points on their SAT scores. Blacks benefit from hiring quotas and preferential treatment when borrowing money to buy homes. Government contracts are awarded to firms headed by blacks and women.
Nevertheless, despite the leg up, blacks to suffer far more than whites from the social pathologies of illegitimacy, fatherlessness, substance abuse, violence and low academic achievement.
“17.Black political opinion is divided between those who are pretty much happy with the way things are (“black conservatives”) and those who always seem to find something to complain about for no good reason (the “race industry”). ”
The two black positions of complacency and complaint both exist.
“17.There are no independent black views of America that are seriously worth considering.”
Thomas Sowell is highly regarded. Al Sharpton is a clown.
“18.The lives of black people are good for a few laughs, but not something that would be serious or interesting in its own right.”
What? There are laughs everywhere. But one of the biggest areas of academic research is sociology, particularly the study of American blacks. Blacks themselves pursue this discipline. However, it is filled with charlatans.
“19.Most Jamaicans are Rastafarians who speak with a fake Jamaican accent.”
It would surprise me if more than a tiny percentage of whites considered this thought even once in their lives.
“20.Africa is a country full of unending tribal violence and cruel, unsmiling rulers who wear sunglasses. It is incapable of peace and civilization without the help of whites – who always seem to be well-meaning and have nothing to do with how screwed up things are.”
As was already mentioned, Africa is a continent. Not a country. But it is a place filled with tribal violence and humorless leaders wearing sunglasses who kill citizens at the drop of a hat.
So far, most of Africa has proven that it is incapable of functioning peacefully and forming an advancing civil society even WITH the help of whites.
“21.Black ghettos are full of unending gang violence and cruel, unsmiling drug lords who wear sunglasses. It is incapable of peace and civilization without the help of whites – who always seem to be well-meaning and have nothing to do with how screwed up things are.”
For many years, black ghettos were the site of vast gang wars fought over drugs. Despite the declining number of homicides, the murder RATE is still highest in the black ghettos.
Black stereotypes are NOT myths. They are partially true.
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Wonderful post. As a film and media scholar you are right on point! I just saw an extended trailer for Valentine’s Day. It stars Jamie Foxx and Queen Latifah. Jamie Fox finds love with Anne Hathaway, Queen Latifah finds love with…… no one.
The biggest mainstream films with black folks this award season are Precious which is riddled with of black hood suffering stereotypes and the Blind Side about the extremely rare case of a white family taking in a large dark skinned black teenager…yeah, that happens every day!
Here are some wonderful independent films that actually portray black people as complex individuals.
Nothing But A Man
Chameleon Street
Eves Bayou
Straight Out of Brooklyn
Dead Presidents
Wonderous Oblivion (for my UK brethern)
Gospel Hill
Sunshine State
Brother From Another Planet
To Sleep with Anger
Hav Plenty
G
Hollywood Shuffle
Watermelon Woman (for my lesbian sisters)
Loooking for Langston (for my gay brothers)
Dancehall Queen (for my fellow yardies)
Daughters of the Dust
Alma’s Rainbow
Just Another Girl on the IRT
Compensation
I could go on and on and I have not included the documentaries.
I hope many of you put these movies on your Netflicks cue or search them out on Amazon.
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Thank you for the list!
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The list above has some great little films on it while others aren’t so great.
I disagree with her opinion of Precious. You have to read Sapphire’s novel Push. Without it, your perception of the film will be distorted. Reading the book and seeing where Sapphire was trying to go with it puts everything in its proper context.
The Blind Side is just another generic strand in a long string of commerical”white good-doer helps lost black person” flicks. The only reason it got an Oscar nod is because the Academy is trying to “broaden their horizons” (read: boost their ratings) and include more populist fare amongst the artier, lower budget films they usually award.
Also, you must not follow sports much. It’s not rare or crazy for a white family to mentor or even “adopt” a young black athlete. Many of those “large, dark skinned black kids” you see on the court and on the field are examples of this. Ask A.I., Carmelo or a guy who graduated from my college and is now in the NFL. It’s not rare at all.
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Hollywood Shuffle is a great movie. It was recently aired and I really enjoyed it.
Daugherts of the Dust is also another good one.
I would really love to see Dance Hall Queen. Love that culture.
Thanks for the list! There are several movies worth checking out.
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@No_Slappz….I think when you have high concentrations of poor people living in close proximity to each other, there will be violence. It is not about race, but class. Any poor area no matter the race of the people who live there WILL have more crime.
In terms of Africa, are you saying that colonialism, the predatory economic development firms (Halliburton, etc), and the fact that many of Africa’s corrupt dictators were backed by western powers have nothing to do with current state of many African Countries today?
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Islandgirl,
I thought Dancehall Queen was crap but if you’re fan of dancehall music, it may have some appeal. Jamaica’s cinematic exports have went down hill IMO since the golden days of The Harder They Come and Rockers.
There were some quality films listed above but not all of them. Also, many of those films weren’t independent nor focused on a black main character. For instance, Sunshine State, features Angela Bassett, James McDonald and Mary Alice, yet it is an ensemble film with a mainly white cast.
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Mynameismyname:
“To be honest with you, most of the stereotypes listed above pretty prevelant without the aid of television. TV just reinforces these ideas.”
Right: this stuff did not come out of thin air. It comes from the racism that White American culture is built on. Some of it goes all the way back to slave times.
The soliutions to colourism post will be up some time in the coming week.
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abagond, you wrote:
“this stuff did not come out of thin air. It comes from the racism that White American culture is built on. Some of it goes all the way back to slave times.”
Oh. In other words, you are claiming that the social pathologies afflicting the black community — illegitimacy, fatherlessness, substance abuse, violence and low academic achievement — are a reaction to whites.
You are claiming that black culture in America is a REACTION to white attitudes. That means you are saying black society has no intrinsic driving force.
It would be tough to think of a harsher criticism of blacks than that. In your view it is just a reaction, and much of it, according to you, is misguided.
How remarkable that so many blacks seem to define themselves and black life through their feelings toward whites.
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OneBrownSnowPea, you wrote:
“@No_Slappz….I think when you have high concentrations of poor people living in close proximity to each other, there will be violence.”
Really? YOu might want to look into China and India. There is violence, of course, but not on the scale seen in poor black urban neighborhoods.
You wrote:
“It is not about race, but class. Any poor area no matter the race of the people who live there WILL have more crime.”
The real question is about the “relative crime rate.” There may be more crime in poor neighborhoods compared with better heeled areas, but the highest crime rates are in black and hispanic neighborhoods.
In NY City, the police precinct that records the highest murder rate Every Year is the 75th Precinct. That is the East New York section of Brooklyn, which is black and hispanic. The total number of murders in the 75th has dropped, as it has all across the country, but on a relative basis, it has maintained its place at the top of the local charts.
You wrote:
“In terms of Africa, are you saying that colonialism, the predatory economic development firms (Halliburton, etc), and the fact that many of Africa’s corrupt dictators were backed by western powers have nothing to do with current state of many African Countries today?”
First, you obviously know nothing about Halliburton. It is an oilfield services company that mainly operates offshore drilling rigs.
Second, with respect to Africa, the “colonialism” argument is phony. By claiming that Europeans in Africa somehow corrupted and dominated the blacks living there means you believe that blacks are so helpless, naive, innocent and hapless, that actually participating in the modern world is beyond their capacities.
Meanwhile, when Hutus slaughter 800,000 Tutsis, as they did in Rwanda, it may be tempting for blacks to blame some external white influence, but there is no way to dodge the facts. Blacks slaughtered blacks.
Moreover, the US always tries to back the leaders who will do more for their countries’ prosperity and general economic development than the other guy. It is always in the best interests of the US — and the nations themselves — to help a nation increase its overall prosperity.
Unfortunately, Africa is a collection of countries that have been run by a succession of thugs. Zimbabwe was as close to an African success story as there was, until Robert Mugabe decided to declare himself dictator for life while seizing the white-owned farms that were the source of national well being. Now the country is a mess and an estimated 40% of the population has fled.
Nigeria is oil rich. But its corrupt leadership does nothing for the population, which is obvious because about 50% of the population is still waiting for indoor plumbing and electricity. American oil companies and the US government have NO role or responsibility for the corruption of the Nigerian government.
The Nigerian government is paid in full for the oil purchased by US oil companies. What does the government do with the money?
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Slow-Lapz, would you please explain Angola’s history to us, with references?
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I second that Thad!
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Don’t encourage him you guys. lol! 😉
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@No Slappz….East New York has a high crime rate because the people there are poor or working class. In areas such a Canarsie or certain black middle class parts of Queens and Long Island crime is low.
I never stated Halliburton was the EXACT company, but Halliburton is a corrupt corporation nevertheless. I don’t have the time to list all of the companies that do this. Companies have been giving ‘economic development’ loans to third world countries for decades and all it does is create economic dependency.
Secondly, yes in Rwanda blacks killed blacks. I believe they should be held responsible for their actions. HOWEVER, the conflict between the Hutu and the Tutsi ethnic clans have roots during the colonial era. Before colonialism Hutus and Tutsis lived side by side peacefully. Of course, there were occasional quarrels. During the colonial period, Europeans were now obsessed with race. Rwanda was colonized first by Germany than Belgium. The Germans believed that the Tutsis were superior to Hutus because they were taller and had more “European” noses. The majority of both Tutsis and Hutus were poor peasants, but the Germans placed many tutsis in a pseudo-elite class. They really didn’t have any true power, but again the practice of divide and conquer worked most effectively.
Under Belgian rule, Rwandans were forced to carry ethnic identification cards. This solidified the ethnic divide. The Belgians continued with the belief that Tutsis were better and helped the Tutsis impose power over the Hutus. Again this was pseudo power since the Tutsis were only carrying out Belgian orders.
Once Rwandans got independence, the Hutus had a long history of animosity towards the Tutsis. This is what gave birth to the genocide. Of course, the Germans/Belgians didn’t force them to kill each other, but the long years of psychological warfare against Hutus sparked a major fire.
No, you have it twisted it is in the best interests of the western powers to get as much as they can without having to give much back. The whole system of colonialism/slave trade was based on this strategy. To take Africa’s natural resources, ship them back to the colonial ‘mother’ country for them to be processed, and sell them back to their colonies and other European countries. African countries were not allowed to manufacture or grow their own products/ food. Western powers became FILTHY RICH off of these methods. During the wave of African independence in the 1950’s Europe didn’t want to give up their colonies it made them too much money and they also took it as a blow to their national pride. The major powers didn’t get to be major powers by sharing, but by exploiting.
No_Slappz do your research before you post on this blog.
Abagond…I apologize for this topic (again!) going completely off topic.
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In addition, some African countries do have corrupt dictators, but they are not the ONLY causes of the current situation in some countries there.
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@Herneith:
You’re my kind of gal. Great sense of humor! lol! 😀
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OneBrownSnowPea you wrote:
“@No Slappz….East New York has a high crime rate because the people there are poor or working class.”
Oh. I specifically mentioned the MURDER rate. Do you believe “poverty” stimulates murder? Or, is there a correlation between people with poor impulse control — poor socialization — that leads to violence and poverty occurring together in black neighborhoods?
You wrote:
“In areas such a Canarsie or certain black middle class parts of Queens and Long Island crime is low.”
You must be joking. There is a direct correlation between the black population and crime in the black neighborhoods in Queens and Long Island.
Until the 1970s, Canarsie had been heavily Italian, with a mafia presence. Since then it has changed, becoming more black, and crime has risen. The students at Canarsie High School are marginal performers.
However, with respect to the black middle class area of Queens, well, you have simply identified an area where there is less crime than is found in poor black neighborhoods. You have made a circular statement.
The reason for less crime is simple — the people who live in middle class areas have learned some things about life, and understand the forces that let the social pathologies take root.
The real question is why middle class sentiments are less common among blacks than whites.
You wrote:
“I never stated Halliburton was the EXACT company, but Halliburton is a corrupt corporation nevertheless.”
Corrupt? You have no idea what you are claiming. That by itself is a problem, because I am sure you believe your own nonsense. As I said, Halliburton is an oilfield services company mainly engaged in supplying offshore drilling rigs to companies that have leases to drill oil that is below the seabed.
You wrote:
“I don’t have the time to list all of the companies that do this. Companies have been giving ‘economic development’ loans to third world countries for decades and all it does is create economic dependency.”
More nonsense. US corporations do NOT give “economic development” loans to Third World countries. In fact, US companies have an unfortunate track record of trusting the governments of Third World countries. Dictators have a bad habit of nationalizing corporate facilities such as oil refineries, factories and communications systems.
Nigeria seized the three foreign-owned oil refineries that were operating in the country. However, Nigerians were incapable of operating the refineries and it did not take long before the three refineries ceased operations.
Recently the Nigerian government has allowed foreign experts to renovate the refineries and operate them, thus restoring cash flow to the nation. Of course, you seem to be among those who think it is the companies — organizations with virtually no power — that call the shots.
As for Rwanda, naturally you have the black perspective that somehow the Belgians — who left Rwanda in 1962 — were responsible for mass murder in 1994.
Do you realize the median age of Rwandans is about 19 and life expectancy is 55. That means two generations of people were born in Rwanda after the departure of the Belgians. In other words, there had been a huge turnover in the population.
Based on your view, successive generations of blacks are incapable of maturing beyond ancient tribal feuds. Is it news to you that Hutus and Tutsis were enemies who fought each other for reasons unrelated to the Belgians?
You wrote:
“The whole system of colonialism/slave trade was based on this strategy. To take Africa’s natural resources, ship them back to the colonial ‘mother’ country for them to be processed, and sell them back to their colonies and other European countries.”
The colonists did exploit Africa’s natural resources. After a while it became obvious to Africans themselves that they had something they could sell to the rest of the world.
What happened?
After getting their independence from the colonial powers, did the African nations create stable governments and capitalize on their natural resource wealth? Or did the countries go into prolonged and devastating collapses?
Like I said, the US knows the value of working with prospering nations. Trade is two-way street. Japan has NO natural resources. We have a huge trading relationship with Japan. China is buying lots of stuff from the US. As China becomes more prosperous, it will buy more from the US. That’s how it works.
You wrote:
“African countries were not allowed to manufacture or grow their own products/ food.”
Nonsense. The most common livelihood in Africa is farming. Zimbabwe prospered due to its agricultural exports. Then Mugabe ruined the country.
You really know next to nothing about Africa, though I am sure you think you are well informed.
You wrote:
“Western powers became FILTHY RICH off of these methods.”
Again, you are screaming your lack of knowledge here. African nations could have become affluent if they were not destroyed by corrupt leaders. Nigerian could export more oil. Other countries could mine more gold and diamonds. There are also bauxite supplies in Africa, which a essential to produce aluminum. They are valuable — and under-exploited.
There was a time when natural rubber was exported from Africa. Then Dupont discovered a process to make synthetic rubber. Overnight there was no longer a need for rubber plantations in Africa.
You wrote:
“During the wave of African independence in the 1950’s Europe didn’t want to give up their colonies it made them too much money and they also took it as a blow to their national pride. ”
Alternatives to virtually every resource from Africa have been found. Why? Because it is too risky to operate in Africa. Companies do NOT invest money in nations that are politically unstable. Meanwhile, the African nations have proven they lack the technical capacity to handle resource recovery without help.
You really need to learn something about economics. However, like science and math, this is an area that has no appeal to blacks.
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herneith,
The subtext of your sarcasm is painfully clear. You acknowledged and agreed with every point I made.
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Would you guys stop entertaining No Slappz! LOL.
He makes all of these stupid comments in order to derail or deviate from the topic at hand.
In response to Abagond’s previous comments. I agree, the media’s fixation on the likes of our President, Halle Berry, Alicia Keys and the like give a false impression of the actual numbers of such individuals. That 1% correlates with my own personal observations and experiences.
I’ve said before that I find it strange how the pop press just love to show the likes of Reggie Bush, Lamar Odom, Seal and Kobe Bryant with their white women. Yet, ignore LeBron, Denzel, Usher and many more with their plainly black wives! And LeBron, Denzel and Usher are bigger names than Bush, Odom and Seal!!! LOL.
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Myname,
I completely agree with you. I rarely see Denzel and the others with their wives unless it’s a black publication or media outlet.
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@No_slappz…I have a life and cannot entertain your nonsense. Believe what the hell you want.
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*sigh*
why on earth does no_slappz have such a vendetta against blacks?
I think he needs a hobby
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Well LOL a hobby outside of hating black people
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OneBrownSnowPea, you wrote:
“I have a life and cannot entertain your nonsense.”
The chief problem for blacks stems from the widespread embrace of your attitude. The attitude is the one that ignores the facts because the facts contradict your myths.
As long as the existing social pathologies remain a significant part of black life, serious problems will remain.
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we get it.. you dislike blacks and you think they all have serious probelms blah blah blah… you seem to argue on even the most random topics.
why do you bother?
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@lucia:
I’d suggest knitting. cross-stitching, and scrapbooking. However, I get the distinct feeling that wouldn’t interest him. lol! 😉
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@lucia:
Uh oh. Now you’ve done it. He’ll most likely go into some pointless diatribe. Here we go: 3…2….1
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^ lol.
i just really wonder why he bothers though?
and sadly for him this is not a question that can be answered with lots of questionable interpretation of stats
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@lucia:
I honestly don’t know the answer. It’s sort of like questioning if Elvis is really alive and not some overweight impersonator in Vegas. lol! 😉
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@slow_lappz:
The subtext of your sarcasm is painfully clear.
Painful for whom? Try hemorrhoid flare up, now that is painful! Time to crack out the Preparation H! Try sitting down with such an affliction!
The chief problem for blacks stems from the widespread embrace of your attitude. The attitude is the one that ignores the facts because the facts contradict your myths.
CLEAR THE ROOM! I feel a gas attack coupled with a hemorrhoid flare up coming on! Discuss.
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There’s no point in arguing with a person like No_Slappz because he want’s to distort and question Black people because he’s an arrogant racist/sexist jerk who comes to this website because he’s at bottom a white supremacist who hates Blacks and has a superiority complex.
La Reyna
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Hi Folks,
the best why to deal with ignorant white supremacists like no__lapps is to ignore him. He probably lives in a meth ridden rural, southern or midwest town and makes himself good by trolling black sides. Why he does it, that is for a mental heath profession to decide. IGNORE HIM!
@mynameismyname
As for the black athlete, white family thing, you are absolutely right, I only watch sports with my male friends.That practice is sick. No wonder that actual subject of the film has refused to do publicity, but his white “mom” has grabbed the spotlight at every opportunity. This practice smacks of the same racial arrogance to so called missionaries tried to pull in Haiti.
Here are some more gems from the blaxploitation era
Claudine
Man and Boy
Aaaron Loves Angela
Cornbread, Earl and Me
Five on the Black Hand Side
Uptown Saturday Night Series
Cotton Comes to Harlem
Come Back Charleston Blue
Buck and the Preacher
Ganja and Hess
The Wiz
Next post
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oops
Next Post I will list some great documentaries.
@mynameismyname
I am a Jamaican American, so Dancehall Queen and the Harder they Come are both near and dear to me heart. Until there are ten more Tyler Perry types out there who can control production and get decent distribution deals. I have plenty of problems with Madea but Perry has the right idea. We will stuck with more black-urban-suffering and good white-folks- helping-the-poor-Negroes-films
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just out of interest- to any americans reading this..
do you think there is a common stereotype about Italians on US TV?
if so can you please tell me.. 🙂 thanks
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thad, you asked:
“would you please explain Angola’s history to us, with references?”
Angola is another African nightmare nation, except that a small percentage of Angolans are able to confiscate most of the revenue from oil sales.
The Angolan oil industry pumps about 2 million barrels a day, or 730 million barrels a year. The revenue from oil sales accounts for well over half of all the cash flowing into Angola from foreign sources. Despite other natural resources in abundance, the economy is heavily dependent of oil exports.
Angola became an independent nation in 1975 when Portugal departed, and then went into a civil war that leasted over 25 years.
One of the most striking problems plaguing Angola today is its infant mortality rate. It is one of the highest in the world, which tells you there is very little healthcare available.
In any case, a coastal nation with extensive natural-resource reserves should have little trouble developing a prosperous economy. But Angola has had plenty of trouble and is a long way from overcoming its problems.
Meanwhile, Angola is another country of children. The median age is 18 — half its 13 million citizens are under 18. And life expectancy is 38 years — half the life expectancy of people living in the US.
Those are nightmare statistics. Furthermore, literacy is low. Thus, the uneducated children who populate the country will become the uneducated adults who make a further mess of things.
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Eshowoman,
One excellent black documentary would be Life & Debt. It’s actually based in your homeland of Jamaica. It is a eye-opening look into the trouble with globalization. It’s very recommended.
Speaking of sports, Hoop Dreams, is an excellent documentary despite all of the hype it got upon it’s mid-’90s release.
Like you, it always raises my eyebrow, when I see how quickly many whites will embrace a black person who is a skilled athlete while shunning an everyday black person who may not have such a wicked jump shot or fast hands or feet. It’s so hypocritical.
I also agree about Tyler Perry. He has so many haters but I get where he’s coming from. I’m not necessarily a fan of TP’s, based on the films I’ve seen of his but I do respect his grind.
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Esho,
Dancehall Queen, is similar to Purple Rain or an Elvis movie, in that it’s more of a cultural artifact than an actual linear, well-done film. You can actually say the same for classics like The Harder They Come and Rockers.
Dancehall Queen like the films above is great from a cultural standpoint but not a cinematic one. Of course, this is all in my opinion.
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One more thing, Esho,
I would like to add Sweetback’s Bad Ass Revenge and The Miseducation of Sonny Carson, to the blaxplotation film list. They are more experimental in nature but they definitely leave an impression!
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@mynameismyname
I also forgot The Sppok Who Sat By the Door.
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“just out of interest- to any americans reading this..
do you think there is a common stereotype about Italians on US TV?
if so can you please tell me.. 🙂 thanks”
When Americans think of Italians, they tend to think of Southern Italians, because those were the ones who immigrated here in large numbers back in the early 1900s. Italians are often stereotyped as being romantic, passionate, good-looking. In the past, many were thought of as belonging to the mafia, but this is not necessarily a negative stereotype because the Italian mafia is romanticized in American culture (see The Godfather). Italians are also often thought of as being restaurateurs who serve pasta-based dishes.
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A rarely heard of black film maker whose films went against the grain of the usual Hollywood fare:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2479/is_2_29/ai_78437072/
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Unfortunately few of Osacr Micheaux’s films have survived and even fewer have been restored Within These Gates and Body and Soul are the only two of his films that have been restored on DVD. Some others are out on DVD like Scar of Shame but they are so degraded they are hard to watch.
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A note on No Slappz: He is a troll. There is no reasoning with him. You are wasting your breath if you try to talk to him. I tried. It does not work. He is not interested in the truth or true debate. He only believes the facts that suit his arguments and stereotypes.
He is only interested in making blacks look bad. I thought that my posts on TJ Holmes, Ida B. Wells and Staceyann Chin would bore him. But no, in each case he found something bad to say. It is like it is impossible for him to admit that blacks can do anything good in the world outside of sports.
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As an Australian I can only comment on those US TV shows that I’ve seen here.
“Black-on-black love is rare.” As some earlier posters have commented, this is not my observation. I find it rare to see an interracial couple. When I do see it, it is a noticeable exception, and I see it as a good thing because it shows boundaries being crossed. (Even though sometimes it can be portrayed with an unhelpful way)
I’ve also thought that regarding the portrayal of Af-Ams as criminals, a lot of shows seem to make an effort not to overdo it. Like Law & Order for example, seems to have Af-Am perps less than NYC’s crime rate stats would indicate.
Then again, you’ve got a show like Cops, which is the opposite.
Regarding Asians on American TV, they seem to be a bit more common. However, they can be a member of the supporting cast, but never deemed worthy of being in a lead role.
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mynameismyname, you wrote:
“The Miseducation of Sonny Carson…”
Sonny Carson and his followers did more to destroy educational opportunity for blacks in NY City than anyone in history.
The NY City Dept of Education is only now getting past the damage he inflicted on the schools in 1967.
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abagond, you wrote:
“A note on No Slappz: He is not interested in the truth or true debate. He only believes the facts that suit his arguments and stereotypes.”
You should take a step back and consider the nature of almost every post on your site.
The theme of your blog is The Trouble with White People.
Inserting a post about Paul Newman or James Franco changes nothing.
Moreover, the comments from almost all readers affirm your view. There is a well developed anti-white psychology that dominates this site and it seems to have sprung from a pseudo-academic base that has created its own jargon to further itself. Amusing.
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abagond, you wrote:
“It is like it is impossible for him to admit that blacks can do anything good in the world outside of sports.”
The most notable black successes have occurred in sports and entertainment.
However, in other areas, success has been seriously limited or non-existent.
Can you name any black writers YOU read and YOU believe are truly great writers?
Black Artists? Scientists?
Black Economists? I’ll give you this one: Thomas Sowell. However, you won’t like Sowell. But I do.
Have you any thoughts on William Julius Wilson?
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The reason why some of us have antiwhite viewpoints is because of people like you, No_Slappz. Do you have Black friends? Probably not. Because you believed that your race is superior to all others and you advocate segregation and jim crow. You probably be happy down south where racist views like yours are accepted. That, and stop imposing your moralistic views on the rest of us because your race is a bunch of hypocrites and liars.
La Reyna
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I hate those sorry arse excuses that the white media makes for not have a black couple in a movie hell even ofther PoC “the mainstream won’t be able to relate” but everyone can relate to white people? That is why you see little no american made film/tv shows that features asian main couple the same goes for other POC
I mean that was the excuse used for Princess and the Frog “having the Prince be black would have made it a black move and others won’t be able to relate.” alright, how come that wasn’t the case with Mulan or Alladin or any of white main cast Disney film? Hell Slumdog Millonaire no white people in the main cast and it did well (however the director Dany Boyle is white maybe the same success wouldn’t be had if he had been asian too but I digress)
The stupid excuse for Hitch was just face slappingly foolish having Smith paired with a black actress would have made it a black movie having him paired with a white woman would have made it interracial but having Eva Mendes made them have their cake and eat it too.
Eva Mendes is white/metizo Latina making it still interracial! But it wouldn’t make white audience uncomfortable becasue he is not with a white woman but to show that they are okay with it they put Will Smith with a white woman in Hancock.
freshly squeezed bullcrap right there
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Yes, I’m going be on no_slappz’ toes as long as he spread lies like so many racist white men who come to this website and think that they’re entitled to say whatever.
It’s also the reason why so many white men hate Michelle Obama is because she’s not their stereotypical black women white men in segregated communities have of us.
If anyone has a problem with my views, tough luck!
La Reyna
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la reyna, you wrote:
“Yes, I’m going be on no_slappz’ toes as long as he spread lies like so many racist white men who come to this website and think that they’re entitled to say whatever.”
Can you name any black writers YOU read and YOU believe are truly great writers?
Black Artists? Black Scientists?
Black Economists? I’ll give you this one: Thomas Sowell. However, you won’t like Sowell. But I do.
Have you any thoughts on William Julius Wilson?
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la reyna, you wrote:
“It’s also the reason why so many white men hate Michelle Obama is because she’s not their stereotypical black women white men in segregated communities have of us.”
You have exactly ZERO understanding of how white men view Michelle Obama.
However, she did write her senior college thesis on a race-related issue and said she was disappointed that blacks who graduated from her college were LESS race-conscious than she had hoped.
Moreover, she alienated many whites when she lectured the nation on the subject of race, telling the country she had been disappointed by America until her husband won some public support in his pursuit of the Democratic nomination.
Her rebuke of the country was an eye-opener because it came from someone who benefited — a lot — from Affirmative Action.
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La Reyna,
Michelle Obama is a highly intelligent, financially stable and naturally graceful black women. To many whites, this is very threatning. This explains the hate that she gets from some whites.
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aiyo says,
Eva Mendes is white/metizo Latina making it still interracial.
laromana says,
MIXED RACE mestizos are NO MORE “white” than MIXED RACE mulattos , even though they WRONGLY identify themselves that way.
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Do not bother with this no_slapps fool. He gets off on this and you are just making his white supremacist we-we hard.
Here are some good documentaries:
African American Lives
Race the Power of Illusion
Street Fight
Scandalize my Name
CSA: The Confederate States of America
Black Picket Fence
A Great Day in Harlem
The Night Tulsa Burned
The Road to Brown
The Murder of Emmett Till
Hip Hop Beats and Rhymes
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Yes, do not feed the animals!
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Laromana,
So right. Also, anyone who thinks Eva Mendes is a “white Hispanic” needs to get their eyes checked! LOL. Her parents are Cuban “mulattoes”.
Esho,
I loved Street Fight and Race: Power of Illusion. Hip Hop Beats and Rhymes was also really good.
Additional recommended documentaries include Life & Debt (mentioned by me earlier in this thread), Paris Is Burning, When The Levees Broke, Thug Life in D.C., Question of Color and many more. Are you familiar with any of those?
And you guys are just foolish to ever respond to anything “No Slappz” says. He’s a joke.
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@mynameismyname….I agree 1000%. Michelle Obama doesn’t fit into a box. That is why the media tried so hard to “label her into submission” during the primaries. They called this women who has been married to her husband for over a decade a “baby mama”. Not even Britney spears who has two kids out of wedlock gets that kind of disrespect.
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@mynameismyname
@laromana
I was just going on what i read about her…oh well
the reason she was picked for the part was she wasn’t “white” white and wasn’t “black” black just a pretty rainbow of racial ambigous-ness
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@OneBrownSnowPea
I know right “baby mama”? it’s really pathetic how they pick and pick to find a sterotype and give themselves a mental cookie “Yay they lived up to a stereotype just like I thought! Go me!”
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mynameismyname, you wrote:
“Michelle Obama is a highly intelligent, financially stable and naturally graceful black women. To many whites, this is very threatning. ”
There is NOTHING threatening about Michelle Obama.
You wrote:
“This explains the hate that she gets from some whites.”
What hate? Do you have copies of hate mail sent to her?
The only hate comes from people like you making statements like yours, claiming there are whites who “hate” Michelle Obama, but making these claims without the slightest supporting evidence.
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OneBrownSnowPea, you wrote:
“Michelle Obama doesn’t fit into a box…They called this women who has been married to her husband for over a decade a “baby mama”. ”
I missed that story. Can you provide a link? Or is this one of those myths or half-truths?
You wrote:
“Not even Britney spears who has two kids out of wedlock gets that kind of disrespect.”
Not that it matters, but I believe Spears was married to Kevin Federline when she became pregnant. Maybe not.
Either way, Spears has been hammered by the press for years. She may have fans, but she has been regularly ripped by the tabloids since her first marriage, which lasted about 24 hours.
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No_Slappz, would you please explain Zimbabwe’s history to us, with references?
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@No_slappz… http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25129598/
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it is sad that black people are portrayed so negatively in the media. i think the media likes to play up to certain stereotypes. in the u.k they like to put black women with attitudes eg. charley uchea on the big brother show. or they portray black men who can’t speak or dres normally or are uncle toms. . it seems like when black women don’t act sassy they are labelled boring ie. leona lewis so we can’t win.
people can argue that characters on tv don’t reflect all black people, but some white people who haven’t met many black people may look at those in the media and think they truthfully represent black people.
It is true that any negative connotations can ring more with us. for instance if a white woman holds her own people think she is assertive but if a black woman does the same she is a bitch or diva.
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Hmmm. #10 (black-on-black love is rare) is perhaps false, but it reminded me of something close:
Black people (black women in particular) don’t need, show, or yearn for love.
It’s not so much that you never see black people in relationships with other black people; it’s that the black people you do see frequently have no love lives. Like, at all. And sometimes, people can’t wrap their minds around it when they do. Check out this blogger’s brilliant take on the issue, vis-a-vis the widespread grumbling about the Uhura/Spock relationship in the new Star Trek movie (note, the first few paragraphs of the post are kind of out of context, but give it chance to get going).
I also notice that married BP are rarely portrayed as affectionate or loving. Nine times out of ten, they have a sort of three-quarters-adversarial, one-quarter-affectionate, Edith/Archie type relationship. If you believe tv and movies, most older married BP refer to their spouses as “you old fool!” at least twice a day.
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Other stuff about black people per American (fiction) media:
• All black people in the US are descended from slaves of the American South. Period. Weeell… okay. A very, very (very!) small handful are fresh-off-the-boat immigrants, evinced by their heavy accents. They all come from Africa (as medical students or refugees), or from the Caribbean (usually Hollywood’s “Jamaica”). Black people who emigrated to this country during pretty much the entire 20th century don’t exist.
• Black families come in two types only. Many black people have broken/dysfunctional/abusive families. A smaller fraction are “decent” black families— meaning large, close-knit families with enviably deep roots. They always know their family history all the way back to the slave era. It is not at all uncommon for them to still have their first free ancestor’s land/home in the family.
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Karinova:
What you said about #10 is probably a better way of putting it.
They do show West Indians but nearly all of them are heavily stereotyped Jamaicans played by Americans.
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Karinova:
As to Africans in America I somehow get this picture of them from television: the men are all doctors with stethoscopes married to gracious women with huge headwraps who would never be caught dead in blue jeans. They never seem to have children. They speak English with some generic African accent which does not sound like any African accent I have ever heard for myself. They are never from a particular country, just from “Africa”. Because, you know, Africa is a country.
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It’s not so much that you never see black people in relationships with other black people; it’s that the black people you do see frequently have no love lives.
This is true. Having a black character with no love life or family is almost a norm. Sometimes there’s no even any explanation for this- it’s just the way it is (like there’s nothing strange about it). I am not saying not being married is strange, but having no love life, sometimes not even interest in love, dating, etc is strange. Especially if they are the only characters portrayed that way (we learn about whites’ love lives but not their).
The other common way to go is to say a black character is married. But we never see his or her marriage life, and the spouse, if shown, is a placeholder character. What I find interesting is that the spouse (and the main black character) will always be portrayed as perfect, classy, etc. The “never wear blue jeans” type.
Also true:
They are never from a particular country, just from “Africa”. Because, you know, Africa is a country.
It is assumed that audience knows nothing about Africa (except Egypt, maybe) so just stating a continent is enough. We don’t want to confuse people with country names, languages and accents. After all, black people are all the same, aren’t they?
They do show West Indians but nearly all of them are heavily stereotyped Jamaicans played by Americans.
Oh yes. There’s only one way to portray a Jamaican person. If you don’t make him (it’s usually him) pot loving Rasta how do you expect people to realize he’s Jamaican?
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Clearly no one opining here has actually tallied the number of blacks on TV shows or evaluated the characters portrayed by black actors.
In other words, you are guilty of making sweeping generalizations about this medium without the slightest analysis. As usual, hoist by your own petard.
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I just rememebred about the black best friend trope. The sassy black friend that is safe for white audience becasue they play into that sassiness sterotype. We don’e see their family often or at all we don’t know much about them but they are the black friend of the white main character They are usually the token PoC. They may have sometype of love life but we only hear about it, it’s harldy ever shown
I watching “Not another teen movie” which is a spoof of teen movies and the only black guy in the film kept on going on about how he was the only black guy in the movie and had to only say snappy things like “Dayumn” “Sheet!” and “That’s whack.” so yeah the comic relif.
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“They never seem to have children”
haha LOL from someone who is halfrican.. let me tell you this stereotype makes no sense because it is opposite of the truth!
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Okay, full disclosure: I’m a JA’n, living in the US.
I tried, but I couldn’t stop myself from coming back to add that America’s popular image of “Jamaica” makes me homicidal. I don’t even know how it’s possible, but on this subject, Hollywood somehow manages to be doubly clueless and offensive.
Not only do they take a tiny handful of things and blow them entirely out of proportion (Rastafarians, reggae, jerk chicken)… not only do they put on these godawful accents… not only do they clearly not realize that the national language of Jamaica is ENGLISH*— the proper kind, mind you, not this USian version… the thing that really puts me over the edge? They ALWAYS say “Jamaica,” but what they describe is ALWAYS some pastiche of multiple islands. As soon as they claim they’re in Jamaica, I start counting down to the mention of voodoo and/or calypso. And I’m sure there’s some confirmation bias there, but seriously, I honestly don’t remember it ever not happening. Every damn time, they throw in random, incorrect details. It’s the Caribbean version of calling all of Asia “China”— apparently, all of the Caribbean is “Jamaica.” I mean, WTF? Does Hollywood not have Google, or what?
Dear Hollywood: we are not famous for voodoo. That’s Haiti. We are not famous for calypso. That’s freakin’ Trinidad! If you’re going to reduce us to a caricature of two or three details, you could at least get those details right. For the record, we’re reggae, and obeah— yeah, I know you’ve never heard of it! Dumbasses!
_____
*If one more overenthusiastic white person asks me (demands, really) that I “say something in “Jamaican”! Say ‘hey mon!’ Say it! Say it!” I will need bail money. I just want to scream, “English mf’er! WE SPEAK IT!!” [Again: what the hell? I know for a fact they teach social studies in America. How do people not know we’re a BRITISH Commonwealth??]
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Bottom line, if one relies on the television or other sources of media to tell one how black people are, the person is an idiot.
That’s all I have to say, like it or not.
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Jack has a point with some of what he is saying. Blacks are either completely upstanding or cirminalistic. They are supporting characters – bosses or colleagues of whites and are almost always black males. I’ve also noticed that in dramas when there is a black woman she is never the young, sexy detective, DA, etc. She is almost always middle aged, fat, or ugly. Maybe I’m just thinking of law and order LOL.
The “pretty” black woman is always light complexioned and/or mixed race.
It’s also very true that there are no dramas in which blacks are main characters and that most “black shows” are comedies.
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Oh, bottom line: more blacks need to write and produce their own movies and television shows. Other POC do too. I would love to see a drama or TV show about an Asian family. Hollywood is missing out on some interesting stories by just showing the white point of view ALL THE TIME.
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Oh, bottom line: more blacks need to write and produce their own movies and television shows. Other POC do too. I would love to see a drama or TV show about an Asian family.
Amen to that.
Hollywood is missing out on some interesting stories by just showing the white point of view ALL THE TIME.
Yup, yup…just look atFlashForward, for example
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I’m from the USA. I’ve lived around blacks my entire life. From my PERSONAL observations/analysis I have deduced the following…
With all things being equal, “african-americans” are more likely (and at dramatically higher percentages by the way) to…
1) Score at the lowest levels on standardized tests.
2) Be criminals (1 out of 3 blacks in the USA is a convicted felon).
3) Be an illegitimate child (i.e. bastard). 70% of black children are born to out-of-wedlock parents.
Sorry folks, these are irrefutable FACTS.
In addition (IMHO), they are generally incompetent at their jobs, lazy, obnoxious in public, hateful, possessing a sense of entitlement, myrmidons to the Democrat party (consistently voting for Democrats at levels of at 75%, usually dramatically higher numbers like 90%-95% though). Politically they seem to prefer the concept of the “nanny-state” as oppressed to the free market. They appear to weak-minded and possess a ‘herd-mentality’ (i.e. “Groupthink”). Just some observations for you.
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You apparently do not know many black people because if you did you would know that Irrefutable Fact #2 is way off.
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And given that everything you said is standard white stereotype and spin it is ironic for you to say blacks “appear to weak-minded and possess a ‘herd-mentality’ (i.e. “Groupthink”). “
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@Woodchuckbill
What the funk did your comment had to do with the post?
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I am reminded of that show Friends. The cast is all white and you did not see a POC among them. Then pretty actress, Aisha Tyler, became the token black person for the time being. Hollywood does this time and time again.
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Sorry folks, these are irrefutable FACTS.
No need to apologize! Comical breaks are needed when sober issues are being discussed from time to time! Satire is KING! Or should I say QUEEN?!
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What a crock. Anyone watch “criminal minds”, NCIS, or any other crime show lately? After a few months of watching you would think that blacks NEVER commit any crimes, and are only the victims of law enforcement or whites. You would also think that whites are the only group of people who are violent criminals. This is the complete opposite of reality, as everyone knows just by watching the 6 oclock news. Check out “The Color of Crime”…which is a compliation and summary of government statistics on crime, and who commits them.
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One more thought…even commercials always show blacks (and women for that matter) in a better light then the poor old white boys.
woodchuckbill, sadly I agree with you. I was not raised around blacks, in fact the first black I met was after I graduated from college. I had no conditioning or predisposition, race just wasn’t an issue when I grew up in a northern state. After moving away from a rural setting and living among them, I’ve seen more violence, rudeness, racism, and downright trashiness from blacks then any other group. Individuals break the stereotype all the time, and a person can be as fine as his heart, mind and will allow him or her to be, regardless of color. I actually feel sorry for decent black people that have to live with the stigma created by so many of their race. But stereotypes exist for a reason. And one has to wonder why every place on earth where blacks are the majority is either completely undeveloped or a downright hell hole. Africa and Haiti are the first two that come to mind.
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Bill:
You said:
“I had no conditioning or predisposition, race just wasn’t an issue when I grew up in a northern state.”
But if you watched television then you did have conditioning and a predisposition in regard to race.
You said:
“And one has to wonder why every place on earth where blacks are the majority is either completely undeveloped or a downright hell hole. Africa and Haiti are the first two that come to mind.”
And you know about Africa and Haiti how? If it is mainly through television then you are using television stereotypes to prove television stereotypes. That is circular reasoning.
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Bill said:
“What a crock. Anyone watch “criminal minds”, NCIS, or any other crime show lately? After a few months of watching you would think that blacks NEVER commit any crimes, and are only the victims of law enforcement or whites. You would also think that whites are the only group of people who are violent criminals. This is the complete opposite of reality, as everyone knows just by watching the 6 oclock news.”
So you just proved my point – based on television you think blacks are the violent criminals, not whites.
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Abagond,
Your list is priceless!
A little off topic but I have to share this joke (story) with you–it does involve TV…
I was watching the World Cup with a co-worker, who is German…Ghana was playing Serbia…so she says to me, “Serbia is not playing so good, yah, the African team is better…that’s because black people have warm blood, Africa is hot country, so it’s good that they play in South Africa, yah, they have die Kraft (energy)”…
Of course, I looked at her like she was crazy and said, “You know that South Africa is south of the equator, right…so it’s Winter, it’s about 40 degrees (F) right now, everyone is wearing jackets…so based on your theory, Serbia should be kicking Ghana’s butt since they come from cold country”…
Ahh, ignorance is bliss
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Woodchuckbill: “(1 out of 3 blacks in the USA is a convicted felon).”
Hey, Woodchuck, that’s just downright stupid. If you actually believe that then you definitely:
“1) Score at the lowest levels on standardized tests.”
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@ Linda
LMAO, SMDH at that foolishness. People think Africa is all on big “country” with the same weather. Absolute foolishness. Right now there are literally to different season in Africa. My uncles went to SA for the World Cup and were shocked by the change. They came from Nigeria (which is basically hell on earth) to South Africa where its snowing off and on.
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abagond…unless you consider the “Brady Bunch”, Magnum PI, or the Three Stooges racially prejudiced, the TV I watched had no impact on my upbringing.
Yes, having been in the military and seen both places, I can tell you they are hell holes. Tell me, why don’t we see anyone wanting to move there? Are you seriously claiming that the standard of living in Africa or Haiti is anywhere near that of Europe or the U.S.? Get real.
My point is that based on modern US television alone, people would think blacks never committed crime, or at least very rarely did, and whites are much more violent. Again, I refer to NCIS, Criminal Minds, and your typical commercial. But we all know this is untrue. Again, turn on the TV 6 oclock news and see who is being arrested for robbery, rape, and murder? 3 to 1 the face on the tv is black. Now if our society was 75% black and 25% other races, that would be expected. But it isn’t. It is only 12%(?) black. What does that say? Let’s be honest enough here to at least ask the question.
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Bill said:
“Again, turn on the TV 6 oclock news and see who is being arrested for robbery, rape, and murder? 3 to 1 the face on the tv is black.”
You just made my case for me: the six o’clock news is A PART OF TELEVISION and it persuades you that blacks are more violent and given to crime than they are.
If you doubt me then look up the FBI numbers on arrests – the very thing you are talking about: as racist as the police are, blacks still do not account for 75% of the arrests for rape or murder or robbery. Not even close. Look it up. You are being LIED to, just as I said.
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as racist as the police are, blacks still do not account for 75% of the arrests for rape or murder or robbery. Not even close. Look it up. You are being LIED to, just as I said.
It would appear that a lot of these white folks get their information about blacks from watching television. ‘Bill’ appears to be teed off as blacks on television series are not shown in as bad a light as they should be, based upon six o’clock news. ” I saw it on t.v.”! This is a refrain I have heard many a time. When you ask them if they have read academic works on racial topics, they will look at you as if your nuts or something, after all, they saw it on television! It has to be true! I am led to wonder if they believe cartoons are real also.
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so the entire television industry is biased against black? Some grand conspiracy in which real-time news shows that mostly blacks commit violent crime, but pre-written tv shows only show whites commiting crime? Come on, get real. I’ve looked up the statistics…you could start with “The Color of Crime”
The 6 oclock news, statistics, and prison population demographics only reinforce what everyone already knows by walking down street, going to the grocery store, or driving home from work. you can happily remain ignorant, but the problem has no chance of being resolved until it is acknowledged.
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And I’ll also say this, if you are black, you are doing a disservice to your race. One of the finest and most dignified human beings I’ve known was an old black man. Maybe his character came from the sufferings of living in a culture that once enslaved his forefathers. I don’t know. I know that slavery is gone. I know I came from a very poor family with nothing, joined the service to get out of it, and made something of myself. And I know that if I can do it, anyone can. I know that pretending a problem with blacks and crime in our culture is some crime or conspiracy is a crime and conspiracy in and of itself. You need to face reality…it’s the only way you will ever move from just complaining to really make a change in this world.
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Bill said:
“so the entire television industry is biased against black? Some grand conspiracy in which real-time news shows that mostly blacks commit violent crime, but pre-written tv shows only show whites commiting crime? Come on, get real. I’ve looked up the statistics…you could start with “The Color of Crime””
Television is not reality. It is a creation, made mostly by white men, most of them racist.
Everything you see on television was put there on purpose. Someone, somewhere makes the decision of what gets shown, when and how. Even the news – there is a news editor who picks which stories to cover.
Almost all of these decision makers are white men. So television winds up presenting their view of the world. And since most of them are racist, it winds up showing a racist view of blacks, the one outlined in the post. These white men think enough alike there is no need of a conspiracy.
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You need to face reality…it’s the only way you will ever move from just complaining to really make a change in this world.
What reality is that? The Bugs Bunny Road Runner hour? After all, it’s on television. Who’s complaining? This is a discussion on the state of television in regards to how blacks are portrayed on it, not statistics on crime. Let me ask you a question. Why in Hades do you care? What solutions would you offer. Don’t give out the” pull yourself up by the bootstrap” clarion call either. Things don’t occur in a vacuum. The complexities involved are overwhelming, that is why there is a whole body of scholarship dealing with racism. You aint gonna find scholarly information watching television that’s for sure..
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@ Bill –
What branch were you in? I was looking for some input from other service men on other threads here. I was in between 1990 and 1994 – Army. Ever serve in Germany? I was looking to corroborate some experiences I had while stationed there.
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Abagond…are you really that delusional? So you actually believe that when a white commits a heinous crime, it is somehow covered up by some vast conspiracy…from the victims family to the cops to the reporters to the television stations…nobody talks about it…it just simply vanishes? …but when a black commits a crime, it’s all over the 6 oclock news just because he’s black? What about the fact that over half (some estimates over 60%) of the prison population is black? I suppose in your mind they are all innocent?
Herneith…the reality that blacks are much more violent than other races. I shouldn’t care? Maybe you’re only concerned with your race, but good people care about these things. It’s a shame to watch an entire race stew in poverty, crime and self-pity. The answer is…yes, pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Nobody else can or will. Surely not the government whose handouts have only kept people dependent. Take responsibility for your actions. Be more than a sperm donor and raise your children. What happened to one of the only men with the gonads to stand up and say these things? His own kind tore him down. No, that’s wrong…not his kind. Life is complex…quit using your “overwhelming complexities” to justify and unjustifiable situation. And once again, TV paints a much BETTER picture of blacks then reality, IMHO.
My early life was no better than any of the poor ghetto kids. Like them, I had nothing and nobody was looking out for me. I received a waiver for my past troubles, enlisted in the service and worked my tail off, received an NROTC scholarship and was commissioned an officer in the USMC. Don’t tell me those kids can’t do the same, or choose some other positive path in life that lifts them out. And for their sake, don’t tell them your racist B.S. that does nothing but demoralize them and keeps them thinking they have no options, because they do.
Color…I stopped in Germany once on a flyover….that’s army territory for sure.
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Yes, Herneith, you heard the man: be more than a sperm donor!! 😉
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Heinous crimes…? Bill, most folks aren’t in jail for heinous crimes. Sorry.
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Bill:
No, I do not think there is a conspiracy. I even said so in my last comment:
“These white men think enough alike there is no need of a conspiracy.”
If you think blacks are arrested 3 to 1 then, yes, the six o’clock news is overreporting black crime and underreporting white crime. Because the FBI numbers are nowhere close to that.
Television cannot show ALL the crime committed. They just pick the most “interesting” stories. Like it is more “interesting” when a black man rapes a white woman than when ANYONE rapes a black woman or even when a white man rapes a white woman – which is by far the most common case. It is more “interesting” when a pretty, young white woman goes missing than when anyone else goes missing. Most missing persons are MEN. You are seeing what NEWS EDITORS, aka white men, find “interesting”. What you see is all true, but it is not even half the picture, not even close.
As to black men in prison:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2010/05/14/the-mass-incarceration-of-black-men/
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@ Bill
My early life was no better than any of the poor ghetto kids. Like them, I had nothing and nobody was looking out for me. I received a waiver for my past troubles, enlisted in the service and worked my tail off, received an NROTC scholarship and was commissioned an officer in the USMC. Don’t tell me those kids can’t do the same, or choose some other positive path in life that lifts them out. And for their sake, don’t tell them your racist B.S. that does nothing but demoralize them and keeps them thinking they have no options, because they do.
Color…I stopped in Germany once on a flyover….that’s army territory for sure.
Yeah, spent a couple of years in Mannheim. (Not far from Ramstein AB unless you flew through Frankfurt (Rhein-Main) – which is more than likely.
Like you, I also put myself through college by utilizing the military – and I have a lot of Black brothers who did the same. (Especially from Illinois. Thank God for the policy that state has towards its returning Veteran residents)
Anyway, keep in mind that this blog operates under the premise of “White Priviledge” – of certain biases within the media – societal advantages/disadvantages based on racist history. In actuality, it is an exercise in being honest and trying to honestly reflect on that perspective. – Not taking anything away from you or myself, just adding my $0.02. (if its even worth that.) There is no doubt the accomplishments ANYONE can achieve through perserverance, dedication and hard work. I don’t think anybody is arguing that. If you are like I was when I first came across this blog, I had a knee jerk reaction to many comments on this blog until I started to really read the posts and process what people are/were saying. There is a middle road here. Most people here are completely rational (albeit passionate) and of course – open for debate.
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There is no doubt the accomplishments ANYONE can achieve through perserverance, dedication and hard work.
Yeah, you ever hear about Aristotle Onassis?
In 1923, he went off to Argentina with 60 dollars in his pocket. He worked and he worked and slowly rose up in society… and then in 1925, with help from his millionaire father’s fleet of ships, he made a mint importing tobacco into South America.
Sure, hard work gets you more than no work. But there are BILLIONS of people on this planet who work very, very hard and get sweet f***-all for their efforts. And most wealthy people on this planet still inherit their wealth.
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@ Thad –
But there are BILLIONS of people on this planet who work very, very hard and get sweet f***-all for their efforts.
I agree with your statement 100% Thad.
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Bill said:
“It’s a shame to watch an entire race stew in poverty, crime and self-pity. The answer is…yes, pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Nobody else can or will. Surely not the government whose handouts have only kept people dependent. Take responsibility for your actions. Be more than a sperm donor and raise your children. “
Man, you are like Stereotype City. You are worse than television – now I can see now why you think it presents a BETTER picture of blacks than what you think is true.
You said the “entire” race is stewing in poverty – yet the black poverty rate in 2004 was less than a fourth. Half are middle-class. Most do not commit crimes and, as far as I can tell, few stew in self-pity.
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Yes, Herneith, you heard the man: be more than a sperm donor!!
I could use a sperm donor right about now, this conversation is making me horny!
It’s a shame to watch an entire race stew in poverty, crime and self-pity.
Who’s stewing in self-pity? I sure as hell aren’t! Racism is complex and it can’t be dealt with with in a simple manner. I must say though, I sure appreciate your stereotypes, it validates many of the posts here, especially the ‘ how to argue like a white person’ one.
What happened to one of the only men with the gonads to stand up and say these things?
He died in the 1850s’ or there about. His name was Uncle Tom. If I recall correctly, he was beaten to death by a white man called Simon Legree.
quit using your “overwhelming complexities” to justify and unjustifiable situation.
Is that an order colonel?
I’m with Thad on this one, people work two, three, maybe more jobs and work they do. Most wealth is inherited. What’s these people, who work several jobs to make ends meet, excuse? Why aren’t they all wealthy, or have moved into the middle-class at least?
Be more than a sperm donor and raise your children.
I am a female so unless I can impregnate myself, being a sperm donor would be biologically impossible. If I could impregnate myself, maybe I could become wealthy exploiting the situation. I wouldn’t be one of these shiftless Negroes, sitting in some run down tenement pitying myself with a bottle of liquor in one hand and a banjo in the other. If you are going to use stereotypes, I prefer the more antiquated ones as they have more of a je ne sais quoi air about them.
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Herneith said:
“I could use a sperm donor right about now, this conversation is making me horny!”
LMAO!
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I know that pretending a problem with blacks and crime in our culture is some crime or conspiracy is a crime and conspiracy in and of itself.
Uhhhh…say what, now???
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If I leave my house, get educated, work hard and still have people like Bill think they can lord over me and “tsk” me over my horrible race “stewing in poverty”, I don’t think it’s a matter of “bootstraps”, it’s people who have selfish reasons for believing stereotypes they see even with the evidence that continues to dispute them.
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This post does not reflect american television. I’m sorry, but it really isn’t as bad as you make it seem…
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All very true, and that it why it burns me so much when people try to dismiss those who comment on this, by saying, “It’s only entertainment”, or “You people try to make race the issue in everything.” This is easy to say by people who can watch myriads of television shows representing any and all aspects of the Euro-centric lifestyle, and go to a “new” film opening every weekend that will more than likely show show some white person in an heroic light, confident, loving etc displaying “universal” human conditions. The sub-conscious is always teaching us and informing us how the world operates. What we tend to see repeatedly tends to get incorporated into our world view. So the negative/non-important portrayal of PoC in general is harmful on two fronts. To those of that group who begin to believe those untruths and the mainstream society who acts accordingly based on them.
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I am not surprise about the comments that are made above about the black race. Someone should right a book about the true nature of the white race. How did the white race come to believe that they are superior to other races., When? We all die, and return back to the brown dirt we were made from. We all bleed red blood, have 1 heart, 2 ears, a month and 2 eyes, etc. Its Skin, and depending on what part of world come from. To have that much hate in your heart. Or many its becuase black blood is so powerful that it can whipe out the white race, maybe thats why some are more afriaid. Mmmm
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I won’t debate specific points. Many I agree with, some I don’t and some I think overstated.
All I will say that this is not confined to any one group, such as black and brown people. Look at how the English are portrayed by the American media. They are either cheeky cockneys, toffee nosed nobs, floppy haired metrosexuals or silky voiced villains who should really be stroking a fluffy white pussy cat. Almost all of them are white too. Americans too often assume that all British and Irish people are white, despite Idris Elba and others like him. Americans also often confuse London with the whole of the British Isles.
There are of course cheeky cockneys, toffee nosed nobs, floppy haired metrosexuals and silky voiced villains in England. Just like the presentations of black people in the US media there is a grain of truth in the stereotypes, they are just far too selective and do not represent the mass of people in any one group.
The answer of course is to have an independent media which makes programmes for the particular group which is making the show and doesn’t pander to other groups, which many British rom coms do when they recycle British cliches to sell them to an American audience.
Any race, nationality, religion or social class can only be sure that they are represented fairly if they represent themselves. Of course they are likely to be just as guilty as everyone else at portraying others unfairly outside their own group. After all, when we don’t have the token glamorous American female lead in a British show or film to sell it to the Yanks we generally portray all Americans as loud, fat and stupid.
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That is the stupidest crack I’ve ever heard first of all people get their opinion a black from television. and none have actually ever visited a ghetto. And they are whites. Who live in the very same ghetto. In Harmony. And most of the things you hear about the ghetto as propaganda incited by Whites they always villainize blacks. Yet they don’t speak on the fact that they colonize people. Whites I have slaughtered each other since the beginning of time then they started using other races to slaughter they created the atomic bomb they’re the ones working on biological weapons to wipe us all out. And try to make everybody copies of themselves. Oh yeah and Jesus Christ was not born in Europe he was born in the Middle East another life portrayed by the White. And also black with the first people on this planet. AND God don’t take seconds
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