What should you call Quvenzhané Wallis, the nine-year-old star of “Beasts of the Southern Wild” (2012) who was up for Best Actress at the Oscars?
That is easy. In America:
- If you do not know her, use her full name, Quvenzhané Wallis, or call her Miss Wallis.
- If you are on a first-name basis or if she says it is all right, you can call her Quvenzhané or a nickname she approves.
- If you do not know how to say her name or are uncertain what to call her, just ask.
- Almost anything else shows disrespect.
Even five-year-olds know this stuff.
Yet not one but at least three people at the Oscars called her something else:
- Ryan Seacrest and others at E! called her “Miss Q”.
- An Associated Press reporter called her “Annie”.
- The Onion on Twitter called her a “cunt”.
The last was meant as a “joke”, as “satire”. The Onion apparently thinks that is just the thing to call a nine-year-old girl for a good laugh. Nor were they alone in viewing her as a sex thing for laughs. The host Seth MacFarlane said:
To give you an idea of how young she is, it’ll be about 16 years before she’s too old for Clooney.
This kind of thinking and level of disrespect does not come out of nowhere.
White American men have a long history of raping black women. Even today they often see black women, even black girls, only in terms of sex, as loose, as always wanting it – the Jezebel stereotype.
White America also has a history of misnaming blacks to demean and dehumanize:
- When blacks arrived in America they were robbed of their names and given “easy-to-pronounce” English ones instead. And even then just a first name, rarely a family name.
- If a white person did not know your name he or she would call you boy, gal, uncle, auntie or nigger. No “Sir”, “Ma’am” or “Miss”.
- Under Jim Crow white people called blacks, even the oldest, by their first names.
- Even today many whites think “ghetto names”, like Jamal or Jamela, are something to laugh at, as not being “real” names.
Many whites have hang-ups about people who are “different” and have a hard time seeing them as fully human. It is called racism.
It has nothing to do with her name being hard to say – you just ask. It is even in the Wikipedia (kwuh-VEN-zhuh-nay). Besides, as sourcedumal on Tumblr points out:
White folks will go out of their way to learn to speak, read and write in elvish, dwarvish, draconic and Klingon, but say that learning how to say ‘Quvenzhane’ Wallis’ is too fucking hard…
Some say “lighten up”, “it was just a joke”, “you are oversensitive”, etc. No. People have a right to be respected. To belittle their feelings about it only adds to the disrespect.
See also:
I’m aware The Onion is a newspaper known for its satirical articles, but it went beyond tasteless to refer to Quvenzhané Wallis as a vulgar term. It amazes some fools even defend The Onion for calling her that word because of her first name. It’s absolutely unacceptable. She’s just a little girl.
I can empathize with Quvenzhané because people don’t know how to pronounce my first name either. It’s ethnic in origin. People always try to shorten my name or use a substitute for it. My name isn’t even as long as hers and yet people seem to find it difficult to pronounce.
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When ever I hear about how young black actrist are percieve I remember the Hunger Games and shudder. We covered that one in media today in my discussion group and I felt like these fans are crazy. Then I read something like this and think the no the media is just as crazy and ignorant.
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I disagree with the concept that names should be associated with a social class. I don’t look down on anyone solely based on their name. However, I do believe her name is long and difficult to pronounce. If I personally knew her I would probably shorten it. Zhane, by itself sounds pretty nice
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It’s a no-brainer that the vulgar name was horrible and I hope her parents have prepared her for the many idiots.
Some children and adults don’t want to have to conduct a phonics lesson in another alphabet system each time to teach people how to pronounce their names. Usually, the other person still won’t remember the correct way to say the name the next time. I don’t tell people my ethnic name because I don’t want to have to go through that every time i run into them or at the next meeting.
I have a cousin who has an ethnic name that starts with a double consonant and he has struggled all of his life with his name, even with other Blacks. He’s just given up now and let’s people call him whatever they want.
I think it’s best to just give a child one of both types of names and let the child or adult make a decision what they’re to be called.
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Yes, call her by the name she was given. Quvenzhané Wallis. I love this girl’s confidence, may she have a prosperous journey in whatever future career Ms. Quvenzhané chooses.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nsAJ1TrwsA)
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The Onion refering to that baby as a cunt sets me off especially since people are trying defend it but I remember a while back Eddie Murphy called Miley Cyrus a little bitch on his radio show in people wear going crazy and he had to apologize
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Sorry not Murphy but Jaimee Foxx
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Sorry not Eddie but Jaimee Foxx
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@ Lifelearner
Based on your link the “n” in the middle of her name is silent?
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Wait…more to come. Blacks are gearing up for some intense mobbing in the near future. Note that Hollywood, which is owned by Weinstein, Spielberg, Redstone and Katzenberg, amongst others, are in the midst of making at least 6 new “slave” films.
How long before someone auctions off a black family “just for kicks”?
How long before a black man/ woman/ child is lynched “just for kicks”?
Please know that these incidences do not occur at random. All are planned stages for our ultimate extermination. What they are doing now is pushing the envelope to see how far they can go with it. Birth of a Nation “prepped” us for certain death.
There are no accidents when demons run the world.
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@ King
Not sure, some of the comments in that link say it’s the wrong pronunciation. So I will have to wait and hear her say it, because I don’t know 😉 but also like this quote from Warsan Shire, “Give your daughters difficult names. Give your daughters names that command the full use of tongue. My name makes you want to tell me the truth. My name doesn’t allow me to trust anyone that cannot pronounce it right … Give your children difficult names, so the world may learn how to unfurl its tongue in the direction of our stolen languages.” -love it!
See more at: http://uptownmagazine.com/2013/02/the-oscars-quvenzhane-the-c-word/2/#sthash.TuNApx7a.dpuf
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She does have a difficult name to pronounce; but out of respect, anyone who addresses Quvenzhané Wallis, refers to her verbally, or in text should refer to her by her given name. I made an effort to learn her name and how to pronounce it after viewing Beasts of the Southern Wild, long before she was nominated for anything. I had already nominated her as a talented actress after viewing the film.
Ignorance is not comical.
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@Truthbetold–
Blacks are gearing up for some intense mobbing in the near future. Note that Hollywood, which is owned by Weinstein, Spielberg, Redstone and Katzenberg, amongst others, are in the midst of making at least 6 new “slave” films.
I hadn’t even heard this the other day when I predicted this.because some Black Americans, with their support of Django Unchained, have given Hollywood the okay to make more slave films where Blacks can hear themselves called the n-word.
Enough Black Americans sent the message with their dollars that they want these films. So Blacks need to mob other Blacks who paid for that garbage first before mobbing anyone else.
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@ Debbie (not Debra) Garrett
Do you happen to know if the “n” in the middle of her name is silent?
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I think you have to separate MacFarlane from the Onion. The latter wasn’t sexualizing , it was more about the perception that she was “uppity”. As we know, BP simply cannot act humble enough for WP.
I note with astonishment this debacle with MO. That gif summed up my reaction.
By the way Quvenzhané’s name does have a diminutive, I just can’t recall it.
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Here is Quvenzhané Wallis saying “Quvenzhané Wallis”
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I was more upset at the fact that they, ( Hollywood ) was asking if she was too, young to be nominated. Now if this 9 year old girl was white, does anyone think they would be asking the question, is she too younger to be nominated?
I think she is the youngest person in history to be nominated?, at least that’s why people were talking about her so much.
I guess its because, white people have to be the first in everything, ground breaking, never a black person, so she is too young.
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Is there something I’m missing? Where did they even get “Annie”? It’s almost like these people will lose something if they call her “Miss Wallis”.
And The Onion thing was low, it’s another instance of mean spirited cowards using the shield of comedy to lash out, it’s O.K as long as you say “it was a joke!”. Question is, why would that even be funny?
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@King
The middle “n,” as she pronounces it, is not silent. It is pronounced: /kwə.ˈvɛn.ʒə.neɪ/; kwuh-VEN-zhuh-nay
Hear her pronounce it at this URL:
http://www.vh1.com/celebrity/2013-02-06/watch-quevenzhane-wallis-teaches-hollywood-and-you-how-to-say-her-name/
dg
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@King
I just noticed at the link I provided where the young actress pronounces her name, the author misspelled it! (SMH)
dbg
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Thank you, Debbie (not Debra) Garrett!
But in any case, there is a pretty standard procedure for difficult names.
1) You try your best to pronounce the name
2) You pause and then wait for the person to say it correctly
3) You apologize for misspeaking their name
3) You repeat the name as they have corrected it
4) You repeat cycle until you can say it reasonably correct
5) You say that it’s an interesting name and then move on.
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@Gen
She’s apparently going to start in a new production of Annie. Still doesn’t excuse the reporter using anything but her name or Miss Wallis, obviously.
Really, I understand maybe not immediately understanding how to pronounce her name upon first reading it, but so many white people are acting like her name is an affront to the Oscars or something. They seem to delight in finding anything they can to attack this poor girl on, no matter how asinine it is.
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Haha!! then you apologize for mis-numbering the steps.
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The Seth MacFarlane joke was a stab at George Clooney not Quvenzhane. The joke is that he is a pedophile, not that Quvenzhane is a slut or something. He didn’t disparage her in any way to get his joke across.
The Onion on the other hand did. I get what they were doing, but the fact that it required them to shoot an innocent bystander, a child no less, to do so is what makes it reprehensible.
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truthbetold,
“Please know that these incidences do not occur at random. All are planned stages for our ultimate extermination. What they are doing now is pushing the envelope to see how far they can go with it.”
Who is this they you speak of? White people,the kkk, hollywood, the jews, republicans, the illuminati?
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Jamal is not a ghetto name. It is an arabic name that means handsome.
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Thanks for this! It is so true!
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Is that a really tan white woman or a black woman who is interviewing her.
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That reporter was dumb to call her annie,that sounds like a slave name.That b@ch just said i’m going to call you annie now,no b@ch you call her what her name is,you wouldn’t like it if i said i’m calling you dumbbishsasquatch from now on.If i was her mother i’d have gotten so upset because that is just like slavery ok Ni@@r we taking you away from your land and calling you toby.It’s amazing how people will not try to understand and learn other people’s cultrue.I tried to learn spanish but failed,but i am understanding of the culture even if i can;t understand the language.
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I know the feeling of having a name that basically reads “not a white person.” Being Nigerian will do that. When people see it on paper, they have to pause and think about it. I think that’s what a lot of people don’t like about names that don’t come out of the English that they’ve been essentially indoctrinated with sense being in this country. I think white people especially don’t like these non-white-typical names because it makes them have to spend more time thinking about an important aspect of that non-white person: their namesake.
Usually, people see my name on paper, try to wrap their minds around it in the short time it would take them to pronounce a “typical” sounding name and their brains just give up and they say, “Umm, how do you pronounce your name?” They probably feel helpless, powerless and vulnerable in the presence of my name. Adding even more insult to their small egos, my name is only 6 letters long. How can a name that’s only six simple letters that they see all the time, when in that combination, in that order, mentally trip them up? That is a question I believe people are asking themselves when they “concede defeat” and have to ask me, this non-white, young woman how to pronounce to them as if they were once again children learning how to read again, how to speak properly again, how to give respect to a person again. Think that’s what’s bugging them. Its their egos, something we all have that gets slighted when confronted with the aspects “other”: Their name, their hair, clothes, vernacular, thought patterns and opinions that are different from the dominant group.
For them, its a matter of their egos influencing their brains to think that I have a difficult name on purpose just to give me “power” over them. They that to defy to me about how to pronounce my name. Its always fundamentally about power or rather how they perceive it to be about power. So after I do pronounce my name, teach them my name, how to say it, some things happen. Either they ask me about it, wanting to know more about its mean and origin and I’m happy to give them that info. They say to correct them again if they mispronounce it again, and I usually do. Or they make a feeble attempt at saying it, their brains or egos just say “nuts to that,” and they ask me if I have a nickname I use (but really the nickname would be theirs to use, not me.) And I always give the same line:
“No, I don’t have a nickname.” Some will go further and ask me if they could give me one, to which I always reply to the “T”:
“You can try to give me one, but I can assure you, I won’t respond to it. I’m just too used to people saying my whole name.”
When people try to give me nicknames (and they always fail because, I only respond to my name and my name only) it is their way of just trying to gain back some of the perceived power they feel they lost for being confronted with an unknown and their egos not wanting to relent and adapt to the different world around it. Their egos just like everyone else’s is just trying to protect its self from the big scary world and it essentially acts like a nervous, tantrum-prone child. But knowing that, I’m not going to coddle people as if they are children when they can’t possibly imagine ever pronouncing my name as I want them. Because they are not children.
I hold them fully responsible to getting my name right because if I don’t, I’m not being responsible to myself in believing I am a person of worth, who is worthy of being here on this earth, of being worthy of being respected at the basic level that everyone is taught how to do, of having esteem and having a spirit that engages with other spirits in a respectable manner. And when I’m not being responsible of myself in that aspect or in any kind of context, then I am not fully loving myself nor them, just as if they are not responsible enough to work at getting my name right, they aren’t loving me nor themselves.
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My name isn;t as amazing as hers but it does take some people a couple of tries to say it right.I wouldn’t change my name for nothing ,because my dad named me.I also like having a name that is unique and the spelling is too.If/when i have kids they will have unique names as well its time we take back our culture.If they don’t like well tough,but the con to that would be they wouldn’t ask you for an interview for a job just based on your name.That is why we need to have our own business again.
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@ uu
I feel the same way, my name is 7 letters and they do try to call me a nickname and i have let them.I will no longer allow that.
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@ mstoogood4yall
This may not change how you feel about it, but I think the reporter was calling her Annie because Quvenzhané was just given the leading role in the remake of Little Orphan Annie. The role was previously played by Will Smith’s daughter, Willow. Will Smith and Jay-Z will continue with the show as producers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/feb/25/quvenzhane-wallis-annie-remake
I think it was more of an entertainment insiders congrats on the new role. Anyway, that was the reasoning behind the use of the name. It wasn’t as random as it might have sounded without further information.
Willow
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@ King
I see that she is going to play that role,but that reporter should have respected her real name not a characters name.To me it was a cop out.IT was the way she said it being all superior like i’m calling you annie now instead of asking her if it was ok to call her that.I notice they mostly do this to black actors they even do it to jamel white who played steve urkel they still call him by his character name.I don’t see them calling tom cruise,and brad pitt by their character names during an interview,its respect which is what they lack for black actors and actresses.
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@uu
I fully agree with you. I don’t do that nickname stuff either. I have a nickname, but it is reserved for family and close friends. It always amazes me how white people think non-white people should have white names. There’s nothing wrong with it if you do but for it to be expected is weird.
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I love her name but is i’m trying to figure out if the last part is janae or zhunay is the z silent
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The Onion is a great paper!I use it all the time when I’m out of toilet paper.
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@mstoogood4yall–
.That is why we need to have our own business again.
But here’s the thing. A lot of loudmouth Blacks out there just like to talk a bunch of hot air about “having our own businesses” (not saying you), but if you were to start a business today selling soap. candles, sweaters, or other common items that people use, hardly any of the loudmouths or even quiet Blacks would patronize your business. I hope Abagond does a post on Black business because this is the major reason why other groups don’t take Black Americans seriously. No amount of ranting about White supremacy is going to make a bit of difference because they all know that after you finish ranting, you’re going to bring all of your money to them.
In a country where there are almost 50 million Black people, there should be lots of Black businesses and these businesses should be able to count on a significant amount of Black patronage. This would enable them to guarantee employment to other Blacks.
Of course, Black business people must offer quality goods and services, but many Black Americans do not believe they’re getting the best when they take their dollars to other Blacks. This is a serious issue.
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About little Miss Quvenzhané Wallis. This is a historical trend, in my opinion where the trend of naming our children shifted away from the notion of “fitting in” with white culture after integration. I can’t say exactly when, but you can see especially in the 90’s, the refusal to assimilate by naming our children with “white” sounding names. We had so much positive imagery in the media, music, TV, lots of black love and it was MAINSTREAM and I don’t recall too many complainers, at the time.
Personally, I feel it speaks to us a a people, not ever fully being excepted as individual Americans, grappling to rebuild our lost culture. No matter how “uncommon” or “ghetto” or “unusual” the names have gotten over the years, it reads as a refusal to succumb to whatever “white” culture demands, starting with our children’s identity.
We’ve become so conditioned to size up ourselves and try to figure each other out in the absence of the face to face meeting,when your “race” or “color” is evident. I hate it at times, it’s sad to me that instead of respecting the parent’s choice, we punish the child by not hiring them, finding acceptable alternatives to make it easier to the person that says your name.
Even some immigrants do this when they come here. Tom Nguyen, Rebecca Yu, it’s a global assimilation that ppl have become so complicit to accept. It’s really no wonder whites find it easy (and not offensive) to make fun of and judge black sounding names for this reason.
***************
Jorbia said:
“But here’s the thing. A lot of loudmouth Blacks out there just like to talk a bunch of hot air about “having our own businesses” (not saying you), but if you were to start a business today selling soap. candles, sweaters, or other common items that people use, hardly any of the loudmouths or even quiet Blacks would patronize your business.”
~This is a broad brush statement and extremely negatively con-notated, at that. It’s inflammatory and sets up the group of ppl being talked about (Blacks) in a lose-lose situation, If you’re quiet or LOUD mouthed, you won’t support Black business, according to your statements.
“Of course, Black business people must offer quality goods and services, but many Black Americans do not believe they’re getting the best when they take their dollars to other Blacks. This is a serious issue.”
Once again broad brushing the negative attributes with the prefaced assumption that Black businesses do not already offer quality, as a default. And where are the facts to back this claim up?
My personal observation of your previous statements, Jorbia is that you seem to bury your solutions for “those” Blacks in negatively lined statements, rattled off as facts. It’s like “Nail? Meet chalkboard.”
********
SK
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Very disappointed in The Onion because a lot of their stuff is absolutely brilliant. I’m sure as a website that has a number of writers, that comment about Quvenzhane would not make it past quality control if it was any other kind of article, but given the instantaneous nature of Twitter, someone in their team managed to be an imbecile for long enough to send it out there.
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@ Jorbia
I agree with what you are saying.I try to support black businesses especially in haircare.Most of them do have good customer service but some of them do slack and act like they are doing you a favor by providing you service.I know some black people do try to get over on someone when they see its a black owned business and will act a fool or want a discount.Some black businesses do need to be more professional especially if their customers are returning customers.At the same time some blacks have been brainwashed into thinking they will get better business at a white business.Someone once told a story about ice.How there was a black person selling ice and a white person selling ice,the black customers went to the white ice seller because they reasoned that his ice must be colder.Sadly some blacks think like this.Abagond please post black business websites or anybody on here who has a black business please post and i will try to buy at least one item from you
God bless.
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Black business is off topic here. Please continue it on the Open Thread.
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So many things wrong with what The Onion did. First off, in what world is it okay to ascribe a demeaning term with obvious sexual implications to a little girl? No one — particularly a major media outlet — would ever call a 9 year old boy dick or prick, not even if he were the devilspawn Damian himself. In fact, I don’t think a media organization has ever referred to a grown man that way, even when they’re worthy of the term. Donald Trump, Rush Limbaugh, Alec Baldwin, Chris Brown, any number of politicians, have all shown themselves deserving of the title, though no media company has “officially” crowned them as such. But somehow it’s okay to do this sort of thing to a little black girl making her debut in show business? Really? GTFOOHWTS!!
Secondly, where’s the joke? There was nothing funny or edgy or humorous about what The Onion tweeted. I get that their bag is satire. But what’s satirical about sexualizing and debasing someone who’s not even a teenager, who, in fact, was barely just out of kindergarten when she made the movie for which she’s become famous? If they wanted to do a send-up of young Miss Wallis, they could have joked about her role as Hushpuppy, where she displayed seemingly superhuman strength as she flexed her tiny arms, proclaiming “I’m the man!” while trying to survive the harsh realities of life in the bayou. There IS something funny about a little girl forcing a stare down (and eventual retreat) of giant, menacing beasts, be they metaphorical or otherwise…
Thirdly, this idea that her name is difficult to pronounce so that gives them license to call her anything is a way to steal her thunder — to strip her of her accomplishments, her talent, and her humanity. There have been numerous actors — known for working in English language films, TV shows, and theater — with weird and hard to pronounce names. They’re not forced to justify or defend their names, nor are they subject to ridicule and persecution because people won’t take the time to learn them. I’m sure Zeljko Ivanek, Siobhan Finneran, Joaquin Phoenix, Saoirse Ronan, Uma Thurman, Ciaran Hinds, Ioan Gruffud, Famke Janssen, Shia LaBeouf, Goran Visnjic, Hermione Gingold, and others have never endured what Quvenzhané Wallis has.
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I knew this would happen as soon as this child gained some noteriety. I knew they the media would be stupid and have a field day at this child’s expense. I know she has a difficult name to pronounce but so what. If she were white and french or someother ethnicity they would learn to pronounce her name. This is a beautiful and bright and talented child. Hell,back in the day they even gave Shirley Temple a miniature oscar. This incident just infuriates me. I try not to think about it too much. I just hope her mother has grounded her and is preparing her for all the evils of that industry (Hollywood). I pray she doesn’t turn out like McCauley Culkin and Lindsey Lohan and all the other casualties that Hollywood ruins. I hope she has longevity in the business. I enjoyed Beasts of The Southern Wild.
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Nothing was funny about calling a 9 year old child a vulgar and disgusting word.Had it been Suri Cruise, trust and believe Tom Cruise would have had who ever tweeted the vulgarities head on a stick.
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They are trying to break her spirit. I think society has a problem with strong confident black women. Just look at all the negative and vile names hurled at Michelle Obama and Serena Williams.
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I haven’t read all the posts here but, from the video where she’s bobbing up and down, it sounds like she’s pronouncing her name as ‘kwuh-VAN-zah-NAY’ Wallis
According to the spelling of her name, my own guess as to its pronunciation was ‘KOO-vin-zahnee’.
Having her name mispronounced…she’s going to run in to that a lot over the course of her life, though I do agree that it was disrepectful to change or shorten her name rather than asking her how it should be pronounced….
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I just noticed that the final ‘e’ in Miss Wallis’ name does have the acute accent mark….
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“Nothing was funny about calling a 9 year old child a vulgar and disgusting word.Had it been Suri Cruise, trust and believe Tom Cruise would have had who ever tweeted the vulgarities head on a stick.”
– – –
I can’t see that happening to Suri Cruise – not while she’s still a child anyway – but I do agree that if it did happen, few would defend it, and Tom — and others, totally unrelated to Suri–would definitely go head-hunting.
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At the end of the day, whites will still wonder until their heads turn red as to why blacks are offended by this and why we end up not trusting them as far as we can throw them. Talk about sociopaths!
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This whole disgusting incident is what the term miccroaggresion is about.
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@ grin and bear it:
not to justify it, but here is my understanding of what the (attempted) joke was.
The Onion was trying to satirise the bitchy nature of the media coverage of celebrities and awards shows, which routinely criticizes stars for their costume choices and plays up the negative aspects of stars’ personalities or appearance in order to generate gossip and therefore more headlines.
The tweet about Quvenzhane seems to be an attempt to mock that media mentality by taking it to the extreme – a satirical/comedic approach which you can see all the time. But this failed because (a) it’s using pretty much the worst word you can call a female, (b) it’s a 9 year old girl!!!!, and (c) the context of the joke was not communicated well enough that people would understand why it was being made. Most people saw it not as a comment about the media but just an out-of-the-blue shot at Quvenzhane.
Btw, I don’t think this has anything to do with race.
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I find it terrible that people could mock a little girl! She is so beautiful!
@Mary
Well said.
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However when many people see Miss Quvenzhane, they see the color of her skin more than anything. I find it sad but true.
Many Americans especially Whites and people of other ethnicities don’t feel comfortable or like people different from themselves. ,
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@ mary
i agree they do hate to see strong black women.They always making dumb threatening jokes about michelle and joked about killing her.I don’t see the humor in threatening to kill someone or calling a 9yr old the c word.If a black woman is weak and non threatening she is a mammy,if she is strong,intelligent,and independent she is a threat[sapphire].They purposely try to get black women to respond to their nonsense to say see they do have attitude.I’m sick of these double standards.If a white girl go missing everybody be lookin for her.If a black girl go missing everybody points fingers at the mother.If a white woman marries a man for money they give her a show.If a black woman so much as even mentions money they call her a gold digger.They keep doing these studies and are finding black women have more confidence than white women despite them being the standard of beauty.They are the standard of beauty,make up majority of modeling&media,and that isn’t enough they want to steal our confidence too.
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Does anyone actually know who tweeted that?
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@Eurasian…excuse me while I cough into my sleeve (bull$#!+)
What does that even mean? Were they satirizing media, the actor, the awards shows, the fashions, what? If they were satirizing media coverage, they should have pointed their daggers at someone like Giuliana Rancic, the E Channel, or the way life comes to a halt in order to glorify celebrities. Plenty of material there. If they were satirizing the actor, they could have poked fun at the role she played, the fact that she’s the youngest person ever to be nominated for an Oscar, the fact that people mispronounce her name, or that she likes carrying puppy purses. If they were satirizing awards shows — well, the award shows themselves offer entire meta-routines that do just that. In essence, for humor to work, the subject of the joke has to be clear and the context universally understood by the audience. If the point of The Onion’s joke was to do as you claimed, then it failed — miserably — on that note alone.
Additionally, humor always touches on a degree of truth. If you’re ascribing some sort of loathsome name or despicable trait to somebody, you and your audience need to recognize that the person in question can indeed be that way sometimes. Nothing that we have seen about Quvenzhané Wallis so far would indicate that she is anything other than a normal young girl making the most of the extraordinary opportunities this film has given her. I don’t get the sense that she’s your typical precocious child star at all. And even if she were, it goes beyond the pale for a major media outlet to refer to her with such a vulgar, sexually charged word. They wouldn’t refer to a young boy as a dick, no matter how annoying he was. Don’t believe me? Compare The Onion’s tone in this story about a young “Romeo,” who’s the same age as Miss Wallis, to the tweet that has so many people up in arms.
Furthermore, your assertion that there wasn’t a racial component to the incident pushes you dangerously close to the broken record department (you see race in everything; you’re being too sensitive; I don’t like your tone), and, as such is inducing major side eye from me. When you can present me proof that any other 9-year old actor has been called a c***, d***, or p**** by an official voice of a major media outlet, or that other actors with difficult to pronounce names, such as the ones I listed above, have received similar “renaming” treatment, then maybe I’ll regard your comment with a little more respect.
Otherwise, spare me and please GTFOOWTS.
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The need to mock, defame and belittle black women is almost a reflex in America. The Seth McFarlane and Onion are using auction block mentality to this child. She is not on display for white men to feed their interracial sexual fantasies. I am glad this young lady has her head on straight and I know Will Smith will do right by her. Cue the white anger about making Annie a black production.
Compare the coverage of Ms. Wallis to the way that Tatum O’Neal ( still the youngest Oscar winner, durn it). She is a hot mess but the emphasis is on her struggle. No one called her derogatory names as a child.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/oscar-winning-actress-tatum-oneal-explores-tumultous-life/story?id=13813355
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I hope the person who wrote the crude tweet is suspended or fired from their job.
In the past, racist Caucasians have called me the n-word. It’s not humor, it’s psychological abuse rooted in hatred towards black people.
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@ King of trouble; Yes Iremember the same similar mess with that young actress in the Hunger Games playing the character of Rue. And those little monsters saying all those vile things about that young actress as well. Microaggression in that case as well.
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Quvenzhané Wallis appears to be in line to be the newest heir to the throne. I’m happy for her. A strong black woman in the making. Ms. Wallis has the potential to rise as have other Black Queens like Alfre, Oprah, Diahnn, Maya, Lena; or maybe Myrlie, Coretta or Betty…within the context of History it’s what we call her that matters and not those who have continued to vie for silly prizes as they play silly games.
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I am not certain about Halle Berry’s role in the movie ‘Monster’s Ball’, but I am pretty certain that this behavior towards a nine-year-old child, particularly one nominated for an Academy Award, is offensive and demeaning. Children are sensitive, particularly young girls. These comments are appalling. They are also rather sexist and disrespectful towards children.
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@ grin and bear it:
you asked what the joke was, don’t get pissed at me for offering you an explanation. I didn’t say it was a good joke, I think it’s terrible, and as you say, if my explanation is correct they failed miserably at what they were trying to do.
I think the reason they chose to make such a comment about a cute and talented 9 year old girl is precisely because it is such an unthinkable thing to say about such a person. As I said above, it’s taking a common media trope (eg. “Madonna’s dress is a red-carpet disaster” or somesuch) and amplifying it to as extreme a conclusion as possible (“Quvenzhane is a c****”). If Quvenzhane wasn’t so cute and impressive and likeable, they wouldn’t have said it.
The Onion’s modus operandi is to satirise popular culture by taking things to sometimes extreme conclusions. It’s modus operandi is not to call black children horrible names just because they hate black children. I find it more realistic to believe that The Onion has tried to make a joke without realizing how shockingly bad it comes across, rather than that they suddenly decided to express their hate for black people.
And I find it weird that while it’s perfectly acceptable for lots of people on here to say it’s racist, if I say that I don’t think it is, that is immediate cause for suspicion. The “renaming” is certainly a symptom of white society’s ignorant approach to people with unusual names. That might be racist, sure. The “c***” tweet is only a symptom of people trying too hard to be edgy in their humour and failing really badly.
Sometimes a white person might behave like a d*ck towards you because you are black. But other times a white person might behave like a d*ck towards you just because they are a d*ck, and not because you are black. The case of The Onion is probably the latter.
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[…] What should you call Quvenzhané Wallis? […]
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Once again, does anyone even know the race of the person who sent the tweet?
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@ Churchs
As far as I know The Onion has not outed the tweeter.
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@Churchs
I don’t think that the race of the person who sent the tweet matters. What he tweeted was rude and disrespectful towards the little girl and it isn’t right.
Hollyweird is an already crazy place but it is crazier for an little Black girl like Miss Wallis coming up in this world today. Hollywood puts out stereotypes in their movies and shows regarding Black women as fat, ugly, Sapphire stereotype, Jezebel oversexed stereotype etc. I really hope that she rises above this negativity and hate towards Black women in the entertainment industry and in America as a strong and beautiful women.
I have struggled with the fact that people automatically see me as less just because I am a Black female of a darker complexion and that I am ”supposedly” not as ”desirable” as White, Latina or Asian girls.
But I know that deep down, I am NOT fat, ugly, or a Sapphire and that is all that matters.
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@ Mary Burrell, I read those tweets a while back and just stared in shock. I at first thought they were a joke but… I remember watching the Movie “Fresh” in College in class again being the only black person in the class it was eye opening to hear with my classmates thought. The discussion had nothing to do about how well Sean Nelson acted. The discussion was much different from Dakota Fanning’s “Bastard out of Carolina” which the class focus on her situation and acting.
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@ Eurasian
I doubt The Onion hates black girls, but I do think the range of possible thought and acceptable comment is different for black girls than for white girls. And some of that range for black girls is pretty sick and creepy and scary.
I agree that the tweeter was probably comparing how sweet and innocent she is compared to most Hollywood actresses – that she is in fact the complete opposite of everything the c-word means. What makes it seem racist is that they apply that word to her in public when they do not apply it to white actresses her age. As if black girls should not be PROTECTED too.
And, of course, this statement did not take place in a vacuum. It came on the heels of MacFarlane’s comment and reporters not even trying to get her name right. And against the cultural background of how black girls do not get the presumption of sexual innocence.
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As far as I know The Onion has not outed the tweeter. abagond
You used that tweet to smear whites and you don’t even know the race of the person who sent it ?
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@ King Of
So like what DID they say about “Fresh”?
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Abagond, that was my point exactly. It was incredibly sexist and racist. No way in the world would they label a young white girl a cunt or pussy. No way in the world would they call a little boy a dick or prick — regardless of his race. No way at all would would any white child actor be addressed with such derogatory, sexualized terms. There are about a million ways to appropriately make fun of children, if that’s what you do. Hurling demeaning, prurient language at them isn’t one of the ways to do it.
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@Churches
Way to miss the point of the article. The race of the tweeter is irrelevant. The fact that he or she — as the representative of a major media outlet — used their public platform to smear a 9 year old girl is the issue. Can you or anyone else point me to where anything like that has been done to any other child actor? Has Kiernan Shipka ever been referred to in that manner? Have either of the Fanning sisters? Has Haile Steinfeld? The Onion has been in circulation for quite a while, and all these actresses have done impressive work, and had splashy debuts within that time frame. They’re all very cute. They’re all seemingly sweet and innocent and the complete opposite of the c-word. But has The Onion (or any other media outlet) EVER felt compelled to label them in such a way?
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The race of the person who tweeted it doesn’t matter. The fact that it was made about an amazing 9 year old black girl in the white supremecist societies we live in makes it racist. The fact that little brown and black girls have their innocence stolen from them; are presumed to be lascivious and ‘fast’ from a young age; are not considered as beautiful, or taleneted and are deemed super threatening when we present as just that. Racialised misogyny in it’s clearest form.
“eurasion sensation. It is amazing how when shit goes down , people can see various isms and deconstruct what kind of humour they ‘thought’ they were aiming at and cannot see the racism in front of their eyes!!! White people and POC who are drunk on whiteness can never see how race affects EVERYTHING. That is the self defending and replicating tenet of white supremacy. It’s adherents keep stating it doesn’t exist, or if it does it is always in someone else. THIS IS FUCKING RACISM AND MISOGYNY PLAIN AND SIMPLE!
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@ Churchs
The tweeter could have been black. I am not ruling that out. Newsflash: Blacks can be racist against blacks too.
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Way to miss the point of the article. grin and bear it
I didn’t miss the point of anything. Abagond used a tweet to smear whites and doesn’t even know the race of the person who tweeted it.
>>
Blacks can be racist against blacks too. abagond
Maybe. But that’s not what your post was about. You wrote a post smearing whites for someone’s tweet when you don’t even know who tweeted it. You need to man up and admit that was wrong.
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@ Churchs
If the tweeter turns out to be black the only thing I need to change in the post is to point out how white racist ideas about black women affect black men too, which unfortunately is true.
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@ abagond
So if whites misbehave its white’s fault. And if blacks misbehave that’s white’s fault, too. That sure is convenient.
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What if a multiracial hawaiian, hispanic, filipina and italian woman said something? Would that be white’s fault, too?
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@ Churchs
The degradation of black women was INVENTED by white men to a) excuse slavery and b) excuse rape. Full stop.
Unfortunately those men founded American culture and have infected us all with their diseased, sick, twisted way of seeing people. Is that “convenient”? Only to people like YOU.
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@ abagond / grin and bear it:
“What makes it seem racist is that they apply that word to her in public when they do not apply it to white actresses her age. As if black girls should not be PROTECTED too.”
your hypothesis is possible, but it’s hardly proof positive. Calling any 9 year old celebrity a c*** is beyond the pale, no matter what race, which is why it was so shocking. But Quvenzhane is not the first black girl to become a child star. If sites like The Onion regular tweeted calling other young black female celebrities c***s and never did it to white kids, I would fully agree with you. It’s only once that this has happened – that the unfortunate target happened to be black is not necessarily more than a coincidence.
Abagond, even someone like yourself who analyzes the racial angle in everything, knows that suffering obnoxious treatment is not the sole provenance of blacks, even if blacks have borne the brunt of it more often than most. People are sh*tty to other people because that’s what people are like, and sometimes it happens to black people for reasons unconnected to race.
And for the record, I’m someone who thinks the opposition to Obama is about 50% due to subconscious racism. But The Onion? That’s just someone being a d*ck.
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@Abagond:
Churches reminds me of our dearly departed no_slappz only more senseless.
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@ Abagond
You got caught in a lie and now you’re throwing a tantrum. Typical.
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Abagond,
One thing I’ve learned is that average white people are sociopaths and they don’t even know it. Yet, they don’t care who they may or will offended as long as they their jollies on. If they have to lie to get it done, they will. If they have to drive you mad, they will get it done.
I would bet anything that if anyone comes up to correct them and tell what they did was messed up, they will either make fake apologies (“I’m sorry if…”) or whine about how it was just a joke. The argument is always that it’s us making a big deal out of nothing (to them) and we should just lighten up. That’s right, we should lighten up and not get all butthurt when they makes snide jokes at the expense of a little girl.
White people like that truly don’t care and won’t own up to anything as long as the society they live in not only doesn’t punish them, but will even pat them on the back.
“So if whites misbehave its white’s fault. And if blacks misbehave that’s white’s fault, too. That sure is convenient…You got caught in a lie and now you’re throwing a tantrum. Typical.”
This is what I’m talking about.
Churchs, most black people, at least from what I’ve seen, whenever they or members of their group, mess up don’t blame white people. Many of them take full responsibility for their actions. One reason is that we have better things to do with our time than to blame the white man. Another reason is that we know that even if there is some truth to it, it won’t get anything done. We know white people hate to be blamed for anything. We know that it’s useless to try to talk to (most of) them about race. And we know that doing so is hazardous to our mental and physical health.
Yet, and I’ve seen it over and over again, when white people mess up, we don’t hear a lot of white people placing the blame where it belongs. We hear some who have and should, but they care usually casted off as the l-word (liberals). And when white people are blamed, they get highly defensive, combative and start scapegoating. Why? Because whites as a whole in this and other white dominated nations where POC originally dwelled have YET to take any accountbility not only for their crimes against POC, past and present, but for reaping the benefits from their plunder without uttering one single word. Why? Why would they want to risk giving up the truckload of delicious social advantages?
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It would not be surprising if the race of the person who tweeted this happened to be white. It’s a c*nty to do. You can quote me on that, Churchs.
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Is noslapz dead or just banned? I first encountered him on Barbara Erenreich’s blog and he followed me with his racist comments to my own space, where I deleted anything he posted, save one post, which was so ridiculous, I left it as a testament to his idiocy. Never knew he was here too, but I should have figured.
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@Eurasian Sensation
You have ruled out the possibility that hatred towards black people was behind the crude tweet, but there’s no reason to rule out animus.
In general, we have given the Onion undeserved attention this week in cyberspace.
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Stepping off the subject a little bit, but no_slappz is no different than Churchs, bliff, lara, brahms, randy, duckduckgoofs, unamused, glpiggy, doug and the rest of the racist race realists rutabagas would try to fool us with their phony intelligent jargon that slightly covers their undying and comfortable hatred for all things black. Those men would laugh and definitely defend the Onion, Seacrest, McFarlene, and other people who used this little girl as a pun for their sick jokes. The words “First Amendment” will be found in their rantings.
Pathetic.
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No_slappz. He typed well-written, novella-length comments that were simply chockfull of revisionistic accounts of history. There were no re-arranged / plagiarized / lifted Wikipedia entries or other sources of info evident from what I could see — and I’ve seen plenty of that sort of thing in blog commentaries and on a variety of message boards.
I actually read through some of his crapola and I’m still amazed at how he would take the time to concoct and write so many lies…lies which could be easily cross-referenced through a search on Google.
One thing is evident: a lot of these white racists are nowhere near as intelligent as their propaganda makes them out to be. Or perhaps it’s that they’re taking their ability to tell a lie at the drop of hat as a sign of high intellect….
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I also realize that Churchs seems more concerned with the honor and reputation of the white race than how those insults are harmful to a little child, especially a child of color. The volumes this speaks of are astounding.
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thank God i’m not the only one who noticed this! i’ve had this exact same issue once. i was talking to a ‘white’ boy i met and we were getting on fine until i told him my name.
he straight away said “i don’t like your name”. i was offended so said either “why, is it too foreign for you?” or “why, is it too arab for you?” he still continued to say “no i just don’t like it.” prick. luckily i never met him again.
that’s exactly how it is in england. ‘white’ people don’t like it when people have non-european names, regardless of length. it’s why asians with names like Shakeel or Ali call themselves Bob or Matt. many 2nd and 3rd generation asians & africans give themselves english names to fit in better, if the ‘white’ people didn’t already give them it. it’s disgusting.
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@ ThatDeborahGirl
No Slappz is banned. He was a Christmas present from Macon D of “Stuff White People Do”.
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@ Abagond, they kept talking about how there was no way a black kid raised in the ghetto could accomplish that. That the movie was akin to blackpolation as being the super ego instead of focusing on the real situation. The situation was too unreal to have a meaningful discussion about it. There was some decoloration on Sean’s head in the movie and it brought up more discussion than the movie. At the end even the Professor apologized to me but I asked him why he would do that, their opinion was after all their opinion.
I actually come from a bad area where you can get sucked into crap like that easy. At least the drug and gang part is very easy to find yourself on in them or on the wrong side of them. If you are a black kid in those areas you had better be good at looking at things like chess, or as I use to say my spidey sense tingled enough for me to know where to stay out of when I needed it. It also help me to get out of bad situations as fast as I could. I think the acting in the movie is great if you haven’t seen it you should see it because the acting was that good.
Could something like that happen, I don’t know I tried my hardest to stay away from gangs and drugs. The discussion on Bastard out of Carolina went like oh that is a horrible situation. How great an actress Jena was. I had to look up the actress, I didn’t find the movie as great but it was Semi bioautographical. In which I thought I have seen a lot of crap but I am glad that I didn’t have to experience that. Our class was focus on kids in horrible situations. Real or imagined which is why my pick had been the Japanese animation Grave of the Fireflies. Which still got better comments then Fresh. I don’t know if you have seen the Pod Cast “This American Life” but they have one on Harper High School, Calumet High is kind of their rival and the school closest to my old hunt. They share similar veins so Fresh kind of hit a spot with me in a bad place to be.
The only thing that got almost the same comments was a film about what the industrial revolution did to kids. Non of the class could believe it was real.
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@ brothawolf
Stop hiding behind that little girl’s skirts.
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Thank you once again Churchs for proving my point. Man, I love being right lol.
But seriously, it seems you have nothing left to bring to the table. So, you resort to childish, grade school bullying. I guess it means I’ve said something that was true.
However, I didn’t say it to feel good about myself, not like you and your ilk say the things you do to convince yourself that you’re correct. The truth is that Quvenzhane Wallis was a victim of childish insults perpetrated by those within the white male dominated media mostly by white people. This and other articles, including the ones I’ve written in my blog, are calling out this fools for what they did which is in plain sight for the world to see. We do not use the little girl as a punching bag or scapegoat. We do not see this little girl as “the problem” the as these grown men and women have.
And believe it or not, if there were black people who’ve done this, I would be just as outraged, because no matter who is behind it, it is pathetic. I’m sure everyone feels the same way. But, in this case white people were behind it, for the most part at least. No matter what or who, this is another page in the chapter of how to demean black women, a horrible and disgraceful hobby and business in this nation. And one has to be seriously screwed up as to not see the problem in that.
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Did they ever called Jodie Foster as… ??
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Hey Sam, there you are!
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Did they ever called Jodie Foster as… ?? — sam
That’s an interesting question. Because if someone had said, “They said it about Jodi Foster, too” Abagond would call it the “arab slave trader” argument and say people were trying to justify it.
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@ brothawolf
However, I didn’t say it to feel good about myself, not like you and your ilk say the things you do to convince yourself that you’re correct.
No. That’s what you are doing. You don’t know who tweeted it but you assume/claim the person was white. You’re trying to hide your racism behind a little girl’s skirts and convince yourself that you’re correct to do so. You’re not.
The truth is that Quvenzhane Wallis was a victim of childish insults perpetrated by those within the white male dominated media mostly by white people.
And there it is again. Once again, you don’t know who tweeted it but you assume/claim the person was white and try to hide your racism behind a little girl’s skirts.
We do not use the little girl as a punching bag or scapegoat. We do not see this little girl as “the problem” the as these grown men and women have.
Who said Q was the problem? No one has said Q was a problem. Everyone has denounced the tweet. No one has defended it. What you are being criticized for is using it to incite racial hatred when you don’t even know who tweeted it.
And believe it or not, if there were black people who’ve done this, I would be just as outraged, because no matter who is behind it, it is pathetic. I’m sure everyone feels the same way. But, in this case white people were behind it, for the most part at least.
I don’t doubt you would denounce the tweet and whoever tweeted it regardless of their race. That’s not what you’re being criticized for. You’re being criticized for using the tweet to incite racial hatred when you don’t even know the race of the person who tweeted it. And let’s suppose the tweeter turns out to be a black man or even a black woman. Would you be using it to smear black men or women? No. You’d do the same thing abagond says he’d do. You would still try to blame whites for it.
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@ Churchs
1. If Chris Rock, say, had tweeted this I would, if anything, be way angrier – because a) he should know better and b) it would be giving a green light to whites who want to do the same since whites so LOVE to excuse their racism by what black comedians do.
Also: If Chris Rock had done it it still would have been racist – unless he calls all little girls regardless of race “cunts”.
2. You are the only one here assuming that the race of the tweeter makes some kind of cosmic difference. Apparently because you seem to think our main motive is to smear whites as opposed to being upset at how badly Quvenzhané Wallis was treated.
3. People on the Internet have defended or played down the whole thing. Even black men.The tweet itself was FAVORITED more than 400 times.
4. Brothawolf worded his comment carefully. It does not assume the race of the tweeter.
5. The Onion is part of the white media – no one sees it as black. So unless The Onion tells us the tweeter was a person of colour, the tweet is perceived as white because white is the default in American culture.
6. If the tweeter turns out to be black then I will likely do another post.
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@ Abagond
1. I don;t doubt you’d be angry if Chris Rock tweeted it. But you wouldn’t have used it to smear blacks. You would have tried to ‘splain how it was really white’s fault.
2. You’ve already said you intend to blame whites regardless. So, yes, that’s your motive.
3. I wasn’t one of them.
4. Who are you kidding.
5. Oh, yeah. I forgot all about the “White Media Association” where everything is assumed to be white unless its specifically non-white.
6. No doubt. See the first point.
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@ Churchs
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@ Churchs
This thing you have about “Abagond just wants to smear whites” is an elaborate ad hominem. It is a derailment, not an argument.
In the post I said why I thought the whole affair was racist. Eurasian did not completely agree and said why. Then I said why I thought he was wrong. And so on. That is a proper disagreement.
What you are doing is questioning my motives. This fails on at least two counts:
1. It causes you to misunderstand me and other posters, like Brothawolf.
2. No matter what my motives that does not affect whether what I said was true. I can be right for the wrong reasons, after all.
But by making it about my motives you seek to a) discredit me and b) avoid the main issue.
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Rofl @ abagond
I think churchs would be the whole dang seven levels of disagreement on the pyramid
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If I had a problem pronouncing this young ladies name I would simply call her , Q. As for The Onion, that tweet was not satirical in any way , shape or form. It was indicative of how whites project their own licentious thoughts onto us. Despicable.
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The truth is that Quvenzhane Wallis was a victim of childish insults perpetrated by those within the white male dominated media mostly by white people.
And there it is again. Once again, you don’t know who tweeted it but you assume/claim the person was white and try to hide your racism behind a little girl’s skirts.
DDC: Know how we know the tweeter was white? Noone lost their job behind it..lol. If a Black person tweeted that the media would’ve released his/her name and address..lol.
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Churchs:Maybe. But that’s not what your post was about. You wrote a post smearing whites for someone’s tweet when you don’t even know who tweeted it. You need to man up and admit that was wrong.
He has the right to assume that the Tweet was tweeted by someone white, we live in a society that makes assumptions about people based on their religion, race and skintone everyday. It’s acceptable. don’t get mad when ur race has to deal with what they dish out every day.
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Churchs
As far as I know The Onion has not outed the tweeter. abagond
You used that tweet to smear whites and you don’t even know the race of the person who sent it ?
DDC: The Tweeter is being protected, he is white. Ur welcome..lol.
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abagond
@ Eurasian
I doubt The Onion hates black girls, but I do think the range of possible thought and acceptable comment is different for black girls than for white girls. And some of that range for black girls is pretty sick and creepy and scary.
DDC: Do U? Do U doubt The Onion hates Black girls? How magnanimous of U. So does a publication that tweets that a little black girl is a cunt. I guess they must love black girls. Ur fence-straddling gets to be very nauseating after awhile.
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Eurasian Sensation
@ abagond / grin and bear it:
“What makes it seem racist is that they apply that word to her in public when they do not apply it to white actresses her age. As if black girls should not be PROTECTED too.”
your hypothesis is possible, but it’s hardly proof positive. Calling any 9 year old
celebrity a c*** is beyond the pale, no matter what race, which is why it was so shocking. But Quvenzhane is not the first black girl to become a child star. If sites like The Onion regular tweeted calling other young black female celebrities c***s and never did it to white kids, I would fully agree with you. It’s only once that this has happened – that the unfortunate target happened to be black is not necessarily more than a coincidence.
Oh come on, first of all who would refer to a CHILD as that word? So tweeting that a little black girl is a c*** isn’t racist because all black child actresses haven’t been referred to as such is just STUPID and no, no white journalist or satirist would refer to a white girl as such because he/she would be out of a job and have a mob with torches after them.When Jamie Foxx referred to America’s precious darling, Miley Cyrus as a “little b****” who needs a gum transplant, white folks damned near went off the deep end. please be quiet and go set down somewhere. Thanks.
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mary burrell
@ King of trouble; Yes Iremember the same similar mess with that young actress in the Hunger Games playing the character of Rue. And those little monsters saying all those vile things about that young actress as well. Microaggression in that case as well.
Guess that wasn’t racist either..Yeah, right.
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Billy Ray Cyrus was spot on.There is no defending the indefensible, white people.. Get over it.
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@ AbagondWhat you are doing is questioning my motives.
No sh1t, Sherlock. My first point was that you’re blaming whites when you don’t even know who the tweeter is. You made my point when you said you’d blame whites no matter who tweeted it. So, yes, your motives are now in question. As if there was any doubt about your motives after 7 years of racebaiting. So now you reference an old post you wrote in which you claim the people who disagree you are wrong. Well whoopty fcking doo.
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grin and bear it
So many things wrong with what The Onion did. First off, in what world is it okay to ascribe a demeaning term with obvious sexual implications to a little girl? No one — particularly a major media outlet — would ever call a 9 year old boy dick or prick, not even if he were the devilspawn Damian himself. In fact, I don’t think a media organization has ever referred to a grown man that way, even when they’re worthy of the term. Donald Trump, Rush Limbaugh, Alec Baldwin, Chris Brown, any number of politicians, have all shown themselves deserving of the title, though no media company has “officially” crowned them as such. But somehow it’s okay to do this sort of thing to a little black girl making her debut in show business? Really? GTFOOHWTS!!
Exactly!!! What makes this so disturbing is that this licentiousness attached to denigrating this little girl seems so casual and I am apalled that anyone in their right mind would feel that this was acceptable. Shows u how deeply ill this society really is.
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I don’t doubt you would denounce the tweet and whoever tweeted it regardless of their race. That’s not what you’re being criticized for. You’re being criticized for using the tweet to incite racial hatred when you don’t even know the race of the person who tweeted it. And let’s suppose the tweeter turns out to be a black man or even a black woman. Would you be using it to smear black men or women? No. You’d do the same thing abagond says he’d do. You would still try to blame whites for it.
U know a white person tweeted this.. But u will still embark on this tiresome argument.
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Here is another gem courtesy of The Onion, and it isn’t funny either..
http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2013/02/the_onion_runs_op-ed_by_alleged_drunken_baby-slapping_racist_joe_hundley.php
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It is pretty racist, though..
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The need to mock, defame and belittle black women is almost a reflex in America. The Seth McFarlane and Onion are using auction block mentality to this child. She is not on display for white men to feed their interracial sexual fantasies.
Amen…
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@ deepdkchocolate:
“Do U doubt The Onion hates Black girls? How magnanimous of U. So does a publication that tweets that a little black girl is a c***. I guess they must love black girls. Ur fence-straddling gets to be very nauseating after awhile.”
Have you read The Onion? I have read and watched their stuff for a long time. A lot of their stuff is close to the edge of what is offensive, and occasionally they go over the line.
And Quvenzhane is one little girl who happens to be black. She is not all black girls, or all black people.
And if by “fence-straddling” you mean “not assuming every bad thing that happens to a black person is automatically racist”, then I’m sorry that nauseates you.
“Oh come on, first of all who would refer to a CHILD as that word? So tweeting that a little black girl is a c*** isn’t racist because all black child actresses haven’t been referred to as such is just STUPID and no, no white journalist or satirist would refer to a white girl as such because he/she would be out of a job and have a mob with torches after them.When Jamie Foxx referred to America’s precious darling, Miley Cyrus as a “little b****” who needs a gum transplant, white folks damned near went off the deep end. please be quiet and go set down somewhere. Thanks.”
Er, I was countering Abagond’s argument that no white child actress has ever been called a “c***” by The Onion, meaning that it must be racist if it happens to Quvenzhane. I think my point makes perfect sense in that context.
Anyway, I don’t get your point. Jamie Foxx referred to Miley Cyrus as a “little b****” and there was an outrage. The Onion referred to Quvenzhane as a “c***” and there was also an outrage. But as far as I know it, Jamie Foxx has not been declared a racist for it by the collective consciousness of the Abagond blog.
Re: Billy Ray Cyrus video:
Yes you are right, it is indefensible. Who is “defending” The Onion’s tweet? I’m not, I think it’s shocking. But that does not make it racist.
Re: The Onion’s post about Joe Hundley:
I agree it’s not especially funny, but just because it uses racist language does not make it racist. It is clearly mocking a racist person by using his language to make him look stupid.
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@ deepdkchocolate:
“Do U doubt The Onion hates Black girls? How magnanimous of U. So does a publication that tweets that a little black girl is a c***. I guess they must love black girls. Ur fence-straddling gets to be very nauseating after awhile.”
Have you read The Onion? I have read and watched their stuff for a long time. A lot of their stuff is close to the edge of what is offensive, and occasionally they go over the line.
And Quvenzhane is one little girl who happens to be black. She is not all black girls, or all black people.
And if by “fence-straddling” you mean “not assuming every bad thing that happens to a black person is automatically racist”, then I’m sorry that nauseates you.
DDC: Why is that the first question whites ask us blacks, if we read The Onion, like a publication like that is over our heads and off our radar? Yes I am quite familiar with The Onion’s brand of alleged satire but it is not to my taste or liking.Quvenzhane is one little girl who happens to be black, and what is ur point? If someone referred to ur daughter or a little girl u knew as that word would u be so ready to dismiss the intent by saying ur daughter isn’t every eurasian or whatever u r? I doubt it, but carry on. These ready made excuses and defenses of white supremacy r tedious not because of the intent to defend and excuse racist commentary and acts it’s more that the excuses are not well thought out or even mired in logic.
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Anyway, I don’t get your point. Jamie Foxx referred to Miley Cyrus as a “little b****” and there was an outrage. The Onion referred to Quvenzhane as a “c***” and there was also an outrage. But as far as I know it, Jamie Foxx has not been declared a racist for it by the collective consciousness of the Abagond blog.
When Jamie Foxx referred to Miley Cyrus as a B**** there was outrage with whites demanding that Jamie be blackballed, prevented from working etc. The attitudes of whites regarding Quvenzhane being called a c-word seem to be poo-pooing the situation and r downright dismissive.Next week whites will be demanding that we “get over it” and move on same as u did so many times before. “shrugs”.
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Re: Billy Ray Cyrus video:
Yes you are right, it is indefensible. Who is “defending” The Onion’s tweet? I’m not, I think it’s shocking. But that does not make it racist.
The Tweet received 400 likes for the hour it was posted. I mean, hi?
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I am so glad I do not watch television.
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Actually, the offensive commentary was brought to us courtesy of Twitter. I really don’t watch television either.
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Re: The Onion’s post about Joe Hundley:
I agree it’s not especially funny, but just because it uses racist language does not make it racist. It is clearly mocking a racist person by using his language to make him look stupid.
Really? As long as U believe that, I guess it’s fine..lol.
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Churchs,
No. That’s what you are doing. You don’t know who tweeted it but you assume/claim the person was white. You’re trying to hide your racism behind a little girl’s skirts and convince yourself that you’re correct to do so. You’re not.
I can only assume it the person was white until it was proven otherwise. My assumption was based on (a.) the fact that the tweeter’s identity is still a mystery and (b.) if this was a black person behind it, there’s a more significant chance that his identity would be exposed.
And there it is again. Once again, you don’t know who tweeted it but you assume/claim the person was white and try to hide your racism behind a little girl’s skirts.
Okay. Now you’re just putting words into my mouth. I said it was perpetrated by a white male dominated mostly by white people. I didn’t say that the tweeter was white.
Who said Q was the problem? No one has said Q was a problem. Everyone has denounced the tweet. No one has defended it. What you are being criticized for is using it to incite racial hatred when you don’t even know who tweeted it.
No one blatantly said that Quvenzhane Wallis was the problem. However, again, certain white people do see her as either a problem or a pun, people like Seth MacFarlane, the Associated Press reporter, Chrissy Teigen and the Onion.
Yet, we see you trying to divert the attention to the problem and turning this into an accusation of racism against whites. You take one point out of the whole topic (the race of the Onion tweeter) and you’ve turn that into an example of a black man’s racism against the white race.
I don’t doubt you would denounce the tweet and whoever tweeted it regardless of their race. That’s not what you’re being criticized for. You’re being criticized for using the tweet to incite racial hatred when you don’t even know the race of the person who tweeted it. And let’s suppose the tweeter turns out to be a black man or even a black woman. Would you be using it to smear black men or women? No. You’d do the same thing abagond says he’d do. You would still try to blame whites for it.
And you doubt it because I’m black and as such I would automatically defend them? We brothas have to stick together, eh?
I am not inciting racial hatred. What’s what you believe. Examining, being honest and outraged about any form of disrespect against a person of color by a white person is not inciting racial hatred. That is something you want to believe in your mind because obviously you have a problem when people of color no longer want to remain silent about the BS whites say and do about us and hardly take any responsibility for it, and you defending that by saying how it is racist against whites is part of the problem.
Here’s the bottom line Churchs, some black people are no longer subservient to the wishes and emotions of white people. Some of us tell it like it is whether it makes whites feel bad or not because frankly, we’re sick and tired of worrying about white people think, white people who already made up their minds about who and what we are. So, why should we care?
Sure, you can call us racist. You can call this blog racist. It doesn’t make what is said here any less true. You’re simply expressing that you hate what it said about whites and the fact that it’s rooted in truth makes you sick. But white people are not the real problem in your mind is it? It is us, the ungrateful black people who have the nerve to think and feel for themselves. That’s what it’s really about, isn’t it?
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It’s funny how this Churchs character has not demonstrated that he is in anyway upset about the tweet regarding Ms. Wallis.
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deepkchocolate
He’s not upset that Ms. Wallis is upset. He’s upset that we’re talking about it. It’s funny how we can blame everything and everyone under the sun, but white people are perpetually and cosmically innocent. lol
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We r racist for discussing it but there is absolutely nothing wrong with tweeting something like that about a little girl. Are these whites demanding to know the name of the individual who tweeted this? Hell No but they sure r present in black blogs and message boards to tell us how we should feel and what we should and shouldn’t say..lol.
White people
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I didn’t realize I was obligated to “demonstrate” how “upset” I am about a tweet. I think it was unacceptable but I haven’t lost much sleep over it. The reason I’m not wringing my hands and gnashing my teeth is that there was an immediate denunciation that caused whoever sent it to delete it and the owner of the company to make a formal and public apology the next morning. If The Onion had doubled down on it then I would have been more upset.
Also, I don’t think the target of the tweet was even Wallis. I think the target of the tweet was Mcfarlane. I suspect it was tweeted to protest the sexism at the Academy Awards ceremony. To understand why you have know how sexist the ceremony was. They made a lot of vulgar jokes about women including one about Q being too young for Clooney.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/hillaryreinsberg/sexist-things-at-the-oscars
I suspect someone at The Onion got fed up with it and decided to make a shocking tweet to point out the sexism. I’m not defending the tweet. What I’m saying is that I don’t think the motive was racism. I think the motive was anti sexism.
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I didn’t realize I was obligated to “demonstrate” how “upset” I am about a tweet.
And ur not obligated to be here denouncing anyone with an opinion as a “racist” but , here u r..
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(continued)
In other words, I think the tweet was a “Poe”.
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@deepdkchocolate well twitter, i have an account but i refuse to participate! I have no followers and follow no one on that platform. And that latest onion debacle is I guess something cut from the same cloth as the Jamie Foxx snippet that has people all a flutter. It’s just starry-eyed people lifted up to a pedastal by the media.
I was, perhaps tangentially, referring to your comment about the ‘deviant white folk’ slavering over Miss Wallis. And I feel that scenario you presented is just a corollary to the over-sexualization promulgated by the mass media, starting about i guess the ‘jon benet’ era. cf the shows about little girls being beauty pageant queens etc. And yes I have a daughter. And also, people’s company is not to be enjoyed virtually.
Personally, I have learned it’s ok to ask people how to pronounce their names, I often have to correct people on my last name and it’s fairly simple lexigraphically.
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I was, perhaps tangentially, referring to your comment about the ‘deviant white folk’ slavering over Miss Wallis. And I feel that scenario you presented is just a corollary to the over-sexualization promulgated by the mass media, starting about i guess the ‘jon benet’ era. cf the shows about little girls being beauty pageant queens etc. And yes I have a daughter. And also, people’s company is not to be enjoyed virtually.
Never made a comment about deviant white folk slavering over Miss Wallis. Referring to a child, irrespective of her race creed or color, as the c-word is pretty disturbing and dismissing the comment as “satire” will not change that. If any human being can look @ a child and refer to him/ her as a derogatory term for genitalia, u r a sick individual. Sorry.
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@deepdkchocolate
eh sorry
“She is not on display for white men to feed their interracial sexual fantasies. “
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And I feel that scenario you presented is just a corollary to the over-sexualization promulgated by the mass media, starting about i guess the ‘jon benet’ era.
Oh so now I am part of the problem, huh? How convenient..Would u leave ur daughter with a male or female who referred to any young girl as the c-word? Then u really cannot lump my commentary in with the same type of people who would actually think it was ok to tweet something like that. But I see ur team is on the defensive and ur more outraged with us for actually having an opinion and not feeling the need to confer with u and urs on whether the tweet and the Onion is racist and misogynistic. It is. And they are.
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@deepdkchocolate
eh sorry
“She is not on display for white men to feed their interracial sexual fantasies. “
I did not make that comment. Oh and btw ur race’s men have a long and sordid history of taking girl’s her age and using them as sex slaves. Oops.Still do it to this day.And boys too.
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Churchs is criticizing Abagond for assuming whites are socially prone to being racist. Churchs then assumes blacks are born bad and destroy the cities they live in as if that’s something whites can’t do. If Churchs thinks it’s okay to make assumptions about blacks, he has no right whining about Abagond making assumptions about whites. If Churchs doesn’t think it’s okay to assume whites call black girls a “cunt”, he has no right whining about America “looking like Detroit” if the power dynamic were reversed. You can’t have it both ways, unless you happen to be a troll.
Churchs, give it up. You’re not fooling anyone.
A paragon of pure hypocrisy.
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@ Thomas Conlon
deepdkchocolate was quoting esherwoman‘s previous comment.
The only non-quoted part of her response was the “Amen” added at the end.
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OK well to just put an end to this one, i see i should have backtracked one poster, and I was just saying that I do not tweet nor watch tv and i guess i shoulda stayed out of this in general. I would be extremely uncomfortable for my daughter or even my sons to be involved with that red carpet madness that proxies for royalty in the good ol us of a. when you say my team, that is a mixed metaphor no pun intended? and it certainly isn’t high-powered media moguls nor corporate culture nor even white people in general de facto, so i was not intending for you to have personalized my reply and i hope that you can see what i am saying. thank you. and wo betide the man put his hand on my kids in a inappropriate manner i dont care who it is. as to history, i don’t have a statement on that. it is considered by some importune to say ‘well my ancestors were picking potatos out of the frozen ground while the civil war was raging’ and on that note i find it interesting that rosewood florida made reparations but that is not my niche of research. with regards to crimes rape in particular of a minor is the worst thing one can do to another
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that’s a good question though, “what is my team?”
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@ deepdkchocolate:
“Why is that the first question whites ask us blacks, if we read The Onion, like a publication like that is over our heads and off our radar?”
LOL. I asked you a simple question (“Have you read The Onion”), and you turned that into a race thing. Well played. Another demonstration of why this discussion is kind of pointless. I asked you that question because you don’t appear to be that familiar with the kind of stuff The Onion normally does. Just to be clear, IT’S NOT BECAUSE YOU ARE BLACK.
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@ deepdkchocolate:
“Why is that the first question whites ask us blacks, if we read The Onion, like a publication like that is over our heads and off our radar?”
LOL. I asked you a simple question (“Have you read The Onion”), and you turned that into a race thing. Well played. Another demonstration of why this discussion is kind of pointless. I asked you that question because you don’t appear to be that familiar with the kind of stuff The Onion normally does. Just to be clear, IT’S NOT BECAUSE YOU ARE BLACK.
Well, maybe ur simply predictable because every convo I have had related to this subject a white person has felt compelled to ask me if I am aware of The Onion and their “raison d’etre”. Anyone with any sort of presence on social media is fully aware of The Onion.And I would think ur line of questioning would have something to do with my race since u haven’t asked any of ur white cohorts if they r familiar with The Onion, now have u? “Smile”.
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King
@ Thomas Conlon
deepdkchocolate was quoting esherwoman‘s previous comment.
The only non-quoted part of her response was the “Amen” added at the end.
DDC: I would think that would be totally obvious..But.. Thanks King.
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I asked you that question because you don’t appear to be that familiar with the kind of stuff The Onion normally does. Just to be clear, IT’S NOT BECAUSE YOU ARE BLACK
I actually posted an “article” from the Onion in one of my earlier posts, so I must be kinda sorta familiar with what they do and what they r about..Duh!
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LOL. I asked you a simple question (“Have you read The Onion”), and you turned that into a race thing. Well played. Another demonstration of why this discussion is kind of pointless. I asked you that question because you don’t appear to be that familiar with the kind of stuff The Onion normally does. Just to be clear, IT’S NOT BECAUSE YOU ARE BLACK.
Well, maybe ur simply predictable because every convo I have had related to this subject a white person has felt compelled to ask me if I am aware of The Onion and their “raison d’etre”. Anyone with any sort of presence on social media is fully aware of The Onion.And I would think ur line of questioning would have something to do with my race since u haven’t asked any of ur white cohorts if they r familiar with The Onion, now have u? “Smile”.
Churchs! We have members making assumptions about folk based on their race! Please show urself and condemn this behavior, thanks..lol.
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As I posted earlier, not too mired in logic now r u? I think ur false sense of superiority may be a major obstacle in that regard.
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@ deepdkchocolate:
“I actually posted an “article” from the Onion in one of my earlier posts, so I must be kinda sorta familiar with what they do and what they r about..Duh!”
Reading something is not the same as “getting it”. And just to be clear, I am not saying you don’t get it because you are black. (I feel compelled to add that in there.)
“And I would think ur line of questioning would have something to do with my race since u haven’t asked any of ur white cohorts if they r familiar with The Onion, now have u? “Smile”.
I haven’t had any “white cohorts” arguing with me, so perhaps that’s why I haven’t asked them that.
But really, if that’s your logic, you are welcome to it. I asked one person whether they were familiar with The Onion, and that person happened to be black. Therefore I’m racist. Great, I’ll send out the memo.
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@deepkchocolate
You are right about Churchs. As a young, Black woman, people like Church make my blood boil because I know that many people like him exist and don’t want me to succeed in life.
I plan on being a famous author one day and nothing is going to stop me!
Sorry if I am going off topic but I find it sad that people could demean Black girls and women just because they feel that we are inferior. Miss Wallis is a beautiful little girl and shouldn’t have to go through unnecessary name calling.
Ironically, I could relate to this.
I was bullied at my Catholic school for being the only Black girl by White girls who thought they were better than me. They hated the fact that I was smart and that I tried to look nice. They called me weird and other crap behind my back and ostracized me from their groups. I had horrible self esteem at the time!
Now, I am almost done with high school that situation has made me a stronger person. At the same time it has harden my feelings and attitude. Before the incident,
White America is always going to find some ways to demean a Black woman at the expense of a Black woman’s feelings. But we, as Black women, have to stay strong.
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@deepkchocolate
I am almost 18 and I didn’t want to seem like I was writing a pity me post.
I remember my mother wearing a shirt when I was little that said, ”The Hardest Job in America is being a Black Woman”. I didn’t know the meaning of the words until now. Now I realize, all the crap, racism, sexism and discrimination that Black women go through in this country make it hard to be a Black woman. .
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@ deepdkchocolate:
DDC:“I actually posted an “article” from the Onion in one of my earlier posts, so I must be kinda sorta familiar with what they do and what they r about..Duh!”
Reading something is not the same as “getting it”. And just to be clear, I am not saying you don’t get it because you are black. (I feel compelled to add that in there.)
DDC: LMAO. Well thanks so much for ur concern and of course u felt compelled to add that in there.
“And I would think ur line of questioning would have something to do with my race since u haven’t asked any of ur white cohorts if they r familiar with The Onion, now have u? “Smile”.
I haven’t had any “white cohorts” arguing with me, so perhaps that’s why I haven’t asked them that.
DDC: So if people of another race argue with u, u feel it is ok to treat them in a condescending manner. I don’t have to know what The Onion is or know what it’s about to discern how truly offensive the tweet was. Sorry.
But really, if that’s your logic, you are welcome to it. I asked one person whether they were familiar with The Onion, and that person happened to be black. Therefore I’m racist. Great, I’ll send out the memo.
DDC: U do that
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I would be extremely uncomfortable for my daughter or even my sons to be involved with that red carpet madness that proxies for royalty in the good ol us of a. when you say my team, that is a mixed metaphor no pun intended?
DDC: The young lady is an actress whose performance in a film got her nominated for one of the greatest awards in cinema. What’s wrong with that?
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Sorry if I am going off topic but I find it sad that people could demean Black girls and women just because they feel that we are inferior. Miss Wallis is a beautiful little girl and shouldn’t have to go through unnecessary name calling.
@ Adeen, I don’t think that “they” think we r inferior it’s more that they want “US” to feel that we r inferior.
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@ Eurasian Sensation
Agree 1000% that there was no racist implication in asking someone if they read a publication or not. There is no reason why anyone should racialize that question.
I looked at your whole thread of replies above and none of them expressed any racial content to any of the commenters.
Perhaps it would have been slightly clearer if you stated that the explanations that the bloggers and some of the commenters suggested are plausible, and might explain what happened, but that there may other explanations that are plausible, or combination thereof. If someone read your comments too quickly, they might assume that you believe that their explanations were not that plausible (even thought that is not what you actually said). Maybe it might be clearer to them (and invoke less knee-jerk reaction) if you acknowledge the plausibility of their assertions first and then suggest other plausible explanations that you think might be more likely rather than jumping straight to your alternative explanations.
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@ Eurasian Sensation
Agree 1000% that there was no racist implication in asking someone if they read a publication or not. There is no reason why anyone should racialize that question.
I looked at your whole thread of replies above and none of them expressed any racial content to any of the commenters.
lmao.
hey conlon, u see, ur a team..lol.
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Gen
Is there something I’m missing? Where did they even get “Annie”? It’s almost like these people will lose something if they call her “Miss Wallis”.
DDC: I wish this dumb heifer would refer to a white actor or actress by the name of a character they played in a film, I wish this idiot would refer to Matt Damon as Jason Bourne or George Clooney as Danny Ocean. So why would this cow do it to Ms. Wallis? RACISM.
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Churchs,
Also, I don’t think the target of the tweet was even Wallis. I think the target of the tweet was Mcfarlane. I suspect it was tweeted to protest the sexism at the Academy Awards ceremony. To understand why you have know how sexist the ceremony was. They made a lot of vulgar jokes about women including one about Q being too young for Clooney.
I suspect someone at The Onion got fed up with it and decided to make a shocking tweet to point out the sexism. I’m not defending the tweet. What I’m saying is that I don’t think the motive was racism. I think the motive was anti sexism.
Even if the motive wasn’t racism, it was still wrong. No matter what their intentions were, people who saw that tweet was outraged, and had every right to be. The degradation of black women by the American public is not only a hobby, but it’s business. And some people have had enough of the industry that reduces black females to punchlines and punching bags.
Also, I will agree that the Oscars was sexist as it has always been on some levels. However, racism can never, ever be ruled out behind the scenes, in reactions or in journalism. Having such a vile word when tweeting about a little 9-year-old girl is not humorous in any sense no matter the “true intention”.
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@DDC: “a team” please explain. And as far as Ms. Wallis goes, it’s great that she got her career off to such a good start, but my views on Hollywood are not favorable in general, that was the gist of what i was getting at. Thanks.
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@ jefe:
I appreciate the comment, but if someone reads my comment too quickly and misinterprets it, then that’s on them, no?
The main issue is that some people commenting here appear to believe in the idea of “racist until proven otherwise”. To merely suggest that something bad that happens to a black person is not necessarily racist, is enough to get me branded as a racist on this blog.
I think it’s certainly possible that The Onion tweet was influenced by racism, but there’s no actual proof being offered here aside from “white America is against blacks”. And given what The Onion does – tries to be funny by pushing boundaries and being edgy and ironic – I think it’s quite logical to assume that the tweet is an example of attempted edgy irony gone wrong, rather than anti-black sentiment from an organisation that has done a lot of videos and articles that mock white racism.
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Communication takes two to tango. A message has to be sent and a message has to be received. A message can be sent back the other way and that too has to be received. If something is misinterpreted or there is some interference, it might not always be the case that the full onus is on the receiver.
Anyhow, we might be jumping to conclusions to assume it was racist, but your sentence does seem to reiterate that you truly believe that it was NOT racist (albeit admitting that it might be), and that those that think otherwise might not be applying logical deduction methods correctly. But you have reached your conclusions based on a set of assumptions also. How about if we say that two or more different conclusions could be reached based on what happened, and each conclusion is based on both actual events and a set of assumptions as well. Until we can know what assumptions apply, any conclusion will be a personal rationale and weighing of the probability of each assumption.
I know you have your own blog discussing some similar issues. But we all should know by now that some things are purely racist, some are not, and many are a grey combination of both. Maybe we will find out, maybe not.
And certainly, deducing that a non-racist explanation is a likely conclusion does not mean that you are automatically racist. That kind of logic makes a whole set of assumptions which, after reading your posts and your blog, cannot quickly assume.
Whatever the case, whatever normally would have influenced an Onion tweeter from making the judgement of what to tweet did not seem to stop him / her from doing so. It could have been because of white racism against blacks, disregard for children, disregard for females, a lower moral conscience radar threshold, failure to apply editorial oversight, failure to check against the Onion’s communication guidelines – any combination of a multitude of causes. Besides this, we don’t know if beforehand, it was intentional or a mistake (maybe the tweeter types something out first (which might be too raucous or vile), then edits it before sending which he forgot to do.
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@brothawolf
“racism can never, ever be ruled out behind the scenes”
Suggesting that non-racism factors were involved in no way indicates that racism was ruled out. I didn’t see anyone rule out racism.
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@king: Hi, been busy.
@churchs; You kinda missed my point there. Like, totally,
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I love that gif! Says it all.
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Anyhow, we might be jumping to conclusions to assume it was racist, but your sentence does seem to reiterate that you truly believe that it was NOT racist (albeit admitting that it might be), and that those that think otherwise might not be applying logical deduction methods correctly
So now an act of racism is determined by applying logical deduction methods correctly? Who establishes the criteria involved in establishing acts of racism have actually transpired.. Hmmmm. Let me guess..White people..lol.
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@ Eurasian sensation.
Nothing happens in a vacuum. We live in societies where the degradation and devaluing of black women and girls is part of it’s founding tenets.So the Onion deals in off brand humour, and they haven’t defamed any other black actresses before then so there is no precedent. The simple glaringly obvious fact is someone chose to make that tweet with the full expectation THAT IT WAS OKAY BECAUSE IT WAS AIMED AT A BLACK GIRL. If it was a white girl, they would have hesitated, checked with thier superiors and all sortsa stuff. they would have questioned it. The fact that that tweet was made is EVIDENCE of racism, because it is considered okay to shit on black women.
It has been explained to you quite clearly and you seem to be willfully missing the point.
The tweeter is likely white as they are being protected, no one has been fired or outed. Can’t have a white person losing their job over insulting a little black girl can we?
Why is is that racism apologists or the simply racist always put the onus of proof on the oppressed? Prove to me that it’s racist? What are the numbers??/
smh
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@Jellybean14
” Why is is that racism apologists or the simply racist always put the onus of proof on the oppressed? Prove to me that it’s racist? What are the numbers??/
smh” ”.
Well said. I am so sick of people trying to excuse racism whether they are unknowingly doing it or not. In this case, I believe the person who posted the tweet knew what he or she was doing, I believe it was intentional. Sorry for my negative thoughts on this since I had a bad day at school but it was intentional.
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It could have been a joke but you can NOT rule out racism out of this at all!Minorities will always find themselves in situations where they are marginalized, looked down on and made fun of by the majority. Especially Black women. I know this because I am a Black women myself and living in a small, racist town, so I really know how it feels to be marginalized daily.
The incident with Ms. Wallis is not a shock to me. Sad to say even some Black men join in on marginalizing and putting down Black women and it is sad but true but Abagond seems to respect Black women and I admire him for that.
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@ jellybean:
“The simple glaringly obvious fact is someone chose to make that tweet with the full expectation THAT IT WAS OKAY BECAUSE IT WAS AIMED AT A BLACK GIRL. If it was a white girl, they would have hesitated, checked with thier superiors and all sortsa stuff. they would have questioned it. The fact that that tweet was made is EVIDENCE of racism, because it is considered okay to shit on black women.
Respectfully, I don’t think it is glaringly obvious at all, simply because white America is not a monolith. What you describe will certainly be true of some people in the way they treat black women. But by the same token, some white people will hesitate about making a comment about black people because it might come across as racist.
And then there is also the reality that not everyone sees race as a factor in every single thing they do.
To say that if it was a white girl they would have hesitated and checked with their superiors is entirely speculation – we have no way of knowing that. And frankly, it goes against the nature of tweeting; the reason there are so many controversies about tweets is because people don’t think enough about what they are writing before it gets posted for the world to see.
Why is is that racism apologists or the simply racist always put the onus of proof on the oppressed? Prove to me that it’s racist? What are the numbers??/
What you are basically saying is that in any case where a black person thinks a white person is racist, we should assume that the white person is racist until they are proven otherwise. Think about that.
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@Bulanik
” I know many, many people who respect women who are black, but should those people be admired for that?”
Great point!
Many people in this world put Black women down and in my small, racist town, I don’t know many people who actually like and respect Black women.
I know I am young and rather naïve but why do people but Black women down so much? What about us that makes others hate us? I am always experiencing hate from mostly White female classmates and some male classmates as well. I don’t even do anything to either.
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So the Onion deals in off brand humour, and they haven’t defamed any other black actresses before then so there is no precedent. The simple glaringly obvious fact is someone chose to make that tweet with the full expectation THAT IT WAS OKAY BECAUSE IT WAS AIMED AT A BLACK GIRL.
@jellybean14….Exactly. And they know this they just don’t want us to figure it out.
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jefe,
Suggesting that non-racism factors were involved in no way indicates that racism was ruled out. I didn’t see anyone rule out racism.
True, but I never said that no other factors were not involved.
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@Eurasian Sensation
“Respectfully, I don’t think it is glaringly obvious at all, simply because white America is not a monolith. What you describe will certainly be true of some people in the way they treat black women. But by the same token, some white people will hesitate about making a comment about black people because it might come across as racist.”
This is the crux of my point. It isn’t glaringly obvious to you as a Eurasian man to see where the antiblack racialised misogyny is. This is the problem with calling out and deconstructing the expressions of institutionalised racism. Unless someone is saying black this, black that or some variant of the N word the vast majority of non-black people as well as kool-aid sipping blacks cannot see, or choose not to see the racism. I am aware that white america is not a monolith, the difference the anti black racism is a tenet of society. the forms and attacks are constantly coded and shift away from obvious forms so that people who don’t want and are unable to see racism when it occurs can brush it away and claim that the oppressed are too sensitive and whining about nothing.
White people and others invested in maintaining the status quo (consciously or unconsciously) will see anything else there APART from what is clearly obvious to those who are on the receiving end. White supremacy continues to flourish in its new ‘hipster’ plausible deniability form because of this. I think this quote sums up what i am trying to say:
“Daily reminder that the reality of a situation is not contingent upon your comprehension.
If you don’t understand why something is problematic, it doesn’t cease to be problematic.”
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@ Churchs Chicken
Maybe my mind is drawing a blank, but do you know of any case of a black person in America publicly calling anyone a “cunt”?
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@ Eurasian sensation
Sorry i missed out some sentences
I am aware that white america is not a monolith, but the difference between the individual expressions of white citizens is still informed by INSTITUTIONALIZED anti black racism which is a founding tenet of society. This makes it possible for some things to be done to black women and girls that wouldn’t be done to white women or girls. Precedents be damned, society is simply hostile to us. I live a life where EVERTHING that do whether I want to or not has to be filtered through the lens of race. I am a black women, my life and happiness depends on it and when I was younger and tried to live otherwise I was constantly reminded otherwise, White people and those suffering from internalised racism (and sexism- gotta love that intersectionality!)have always been quick to remind me of my supposed place. So I have NO CHOICE but be conscious of REALITY.
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@ Jellybean:
I guess what I’m wondering is: when does someone get given the benefit of the doubt, where alleged racism is concerned?
I won’t deny for a moment that black women have it tough in America due to racism. And this makes it easy to see something and interpret it as being part of that spectrum. It is understandable that you don’t feel that the benefit of the doubt should be applied to The Onion.
But does that help you, in the long run?
I’m obviously not black, but bear with me here. Let’s say for argument’s sake, that I have experienced a lot of racism, which has strongly affected my outlook. But let’s say as well that there have been numerous incidents in my life which seemed racist to me, but in truth had some other explanation. Let’s say that I see the hand of white racism everywhere about me, even in places where it might not actually exist. This means that I’m going to make myself more angry with life than I need to be, it means that I’m going to view white people with a more negative lens than perhaps I should. I’m going to question the motives of lots of white people, regardless of whether they are good or bad. In other words, even though life is already fraught with some hostility and racism, I’m making life seem like an even more hostile and racist place for myself than it already is.
If you are not prepared to consider other possibilities other than “It’s obviously racism”, then you are going to find yourself getting angry much more than you need to be. If our goal as humans is to be able to get along with each other, that is going to cause problems.
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I’m obviously not black, but bear with me here. Let’s say for argument’s sake, that I have experienced a lot of racism, which has strongly affected my outlook. But let’s say as well that there have been numerous incidents in my life which seemed racist to me, but in truth had some other explanation. Let’s say that I see the hand of white racism everywhere about me, even in places where it might not actually exist. This means that I’m going to make myself more angry with life than I need to be, it means that I’m going to view white people with a more negative lens than perhaps I should. I’m going to question the motives of lots of white people, regardless of whether they are good or bad. In other words, even though life is already fraught with some hostility and racism, I’m making life seem like an even more hostile and racist place for myself than it already is.
If you are not prepared to consider other possibilities other than “It’s obviously racism”, then you are going to find yourself getting angry much more than you need to be. If our goal as humans is to be able to get along with each other, that is going to cause problems.
DDC: Despite overwhelming evidence that we live in a racist, white supremacist society that benefits people like u , here u r dismissing the racism that people like me experience on a daily basis in this nation albeit the world by suggesting that most of the racist acts we are subjected to very well could be a figment of our imagination..LMAO. And we should overlook acts of racism so we can get along and be “happier’. Potentially the most stupid post in this thread, congrats.
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Maybe my mind is drawing a blank, but do you know of any case of a black person in America publicly calling anyone a “c*nt”?
Yeah. My mind is drawing a blank, too. Then, again, I can’t think of a case of a white person calling anyone a “c*nt” either. — including possibly this one. Which is kind of the point. I’m sure there’s plenty of both. But I don’t keep a list. Sorry.
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Here’s you are.
http://www.eclectablog.com/2012/05/more-misogyny-in-the-michigan-house-of-representatives-rep-frank-foster-calls-union-nurse-a-ct.html
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@ Churchs
John McCain called his wife a cunt in public.
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@ Churchs
I am not so sure of that. It seems like a term whites use more than blacks.
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I’ve always thought it was used more by entertainers, comedians, celebrities, etc. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a regular person say it black or white. At least not in the US.
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It’s also not particularly racial. Its more sexual. Which is why I think it was a “Poe” denouncing the sexism in the Academy Awards ceremony. And why you blew it by making it racial.
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@DeepDark Chocolate
Thanks for putting it perfectly!
“DDC: Despite overwhelming evidence that we live in a racist, white supremacist society that benefits people like u , here u r dismissing the racism that people like me experience on a daily basis in this nation albeit the world by suggesting that most of the racist acts we are subjected to very well could be a figment of our imagination..LMAO. And we should overlook acts of racism so we can get along and be “happier’. Potentially the most stupid post in this thread, congrats.”
@Eurasian Sensation
I keep on trying to explain this to you. I’m actually a born and raised Londoner and my area of east London has become so gentrified over the past 10 years there are old haunts i do not frequent because of the racism i now experience. MORESO than when i was a teen. Wherever you get an influx of white people no matter how yong and better that their parents are supposed to be-here you find racism.
Again, you are putting the onus on the oppressed. I am not angry all the time, i pick and choose my battles, but unlike you, i live i reality and Europe and the US are incredibly hostile to black and brown people, Ill say it one more time: RACE AFFECTS EVERYTHING!!! if i am mistreated in a sly and covet way it is SAFEST for me to assume it is because of my race and gender as i live and move in a society that is founded on hating people who look like me. It really is that fucking simple. and because of this, when i get bullshit from the hands of people who look like me, it is likely to be iINTERNALISED RACISM. Because I as a conscious being have to unlearn the poison i was taught and can see around me everyday.
I am an incredibly whole and spiritually happy person because of seeing and dealing with reality. I know who i am and who truly values me for me blackness and all. It makes things a hell of a lot easier. Once you know how the game is played, you stop losing.
Seriously dude, get a flipping clue!!
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So now you’re going to start googling to prove something???
http://www.datalounge.com/cgi-bin/iowa/ajax.html?t=10103850#page:showThread,10103850
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@Eurasian Sensation
“I guess what I’m wondering is: when does someone get given the benefit of the doubt, where alleged racism is concerned?”
You don’t, not with me. I don’t get the benefit of the doubt when i’m walking around a store, or someone clutches their bag to themselves or checks their pocket for their phone when i sit next to them on the bus. The same arguments that can be applied to men pissed that women won’t give them a nice guy benefit for approaching them on the street because y’know, threats, rape and harrassment and women’s safety being paramount to some guy getting a number – can be applied here.
Until I live in a society where I am not stereotyped, assumed to be inferior and INSTITUTIONALLY OPRESSED along with all the interpersonal daily microaggressions that I face, is the day that I give someones off key statement the benefit of the doubt for being racist
Got that?
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It’s also not particularly racial. Its more sexual. Which is why I think it was a “Poe” denouncing the sexism in the Academy Awards ceremony. And why you blew it by making it racial.
How moronic.
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It’s not a “proof” Church’s it’s called research. If we’re trying to find out if Blacks and/or Whites use the word, what would you suggest… waiting and going to the library to look it up?
All I did was search for the term and found what was on the first few pages. If you find that some Blacks celebrities use it as well, then we are wiser for the search. What we DON’T use Google for is to say ALL or MOST Whites or Blacks do something because I’ve found an example of it. And that wasn’t what I was saying.
Suffice to say that both Black and White celebs have used the term, and we can thank Google for quickly helping us to establish that.
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Churchs:
It’s also not particularly racial. Its more sexual. Which is why I think it was a “Poe” denouncing the sexism in the Academy Awards ceremony. And why you blew it by making it racial.
When addressing race and racism in America please explain to me how one can possibly separate sex from race and how it is used to control and dehumanize it’s victims.Public Enemy # 1 in America today is The Black Woman and all she represents be it mythical, factual, stereotype or otherwise.The slur that was hurled @ Little Miss Quenvanzhanae Wallis was designed to sully and demean her not only from a sexual standpoint but a racial one.If u have any knowledge of the psychology of oppression from a sexual and racial standpoint u would understand that white men justified their raping of black women as young as Quenvanzhanae by blaming “Black female Pulchritude” and the general licentiousness and lasciviousness of all black women.Now, Black women are no longer slaves in America and do have a certain degree of
control over their sexuality and reproductive rights, and that is what makes the twitter doubly disturbing. why is this child being subjected to psycho-sexual and racial dynamics from a long gone era?Things that make u go hmmmm.
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That comment didn’t last very long. It was too real. LOL!
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@ Churchs
It was too personal.
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@eurasian sensation, @Jellybean14, @deepdkchocolate
POCs that are in romantic relationships with white people (called tragic arrangements by counter racists) or the products of such relationships have an outlook on race relations best described by the acronym SADD:
“S”add
SPACE for Non-Racist White people.
For non-white people with a White sex partner, this mandates that they conceptualize Racism in a manner that allows for Good White Folks. The non-white person who has convinced themselves that there is at least one White person who is not complicit with Racism/White Supremacy, tends to find other such White people. These non-white people will be intolerant of any analysis of Racism which assumes or suggests that every White person is a participant in the System of White Supremacy.
s”A”dd
Racism becomes ABSTRACT.
ABSTRACT: [adjective] A) thought apart from concrete realities, specific objects, [PEOPLE] or actual instances. B) expressing a quality or characteristic apart from any specific object, [PERSON] or instance. C) difficult to understand.
ABSTRACT: [verb] A) to divert or draw away the attention of. B) to consider as a general quality or characteristic apart from specific objects, [PEOPLE] or instances.
Non-white people with a White partner are frequently able to admit that Racism persists. However, they will posit that Racism exists because of laws, statues, codes, customs, chance… anything, anyone but the White people they’re seated with and smooching. Sexual intercourse with a White person demands that the non-white person reject any discussion of Racism that implicates White folks
sa”D”d
DEFENDING White people.
Non-white people with a White sex partner, White baby momma/daddy or White mother & father are directly related to Suspected Racists; that is, they cherish an intense emotional bond with a White person whom has been trained to perceive and relate to non-whites as inferior. . Non-white people with a White sex partner, White baby momma/daddy or White mother & father are directly related to Suspected Racists; that is, they cherish an intense emotional bond with a White person whom has been trained to perceive and relate to non-whites as inferior.
sad”D”
“DIVIDED loyalties”.
The non-white person has an allegiance to a White person whom is most likely a Racist. This fragmented commitment erodes the non-white person’s ability to accurately assess the System of White Supremacy. This author has observed these non-white people minimize the impact and pervasive nature of Racism/White Supremacy.
For a better explanation of why some non-white people ask other non-white people to give every white person the benefit of a doubt see:
http://racism-notes.blogspot.com/2010/05/interracial-relationships-are-sadd.html
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@ The Alchemist
Thanks for ‘splaining that to us.
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@alchemist
*applause* Thanks for that! Those were great definitions! I couldn’t agree more. I’ve met many non whites engaged in “tragic relationships” that perfectly fit that definition.
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@ The Alchemist.. Not really sure why that post was addressed to myself and no, don’t really agree with ur assessment but hey, seems like u put a lot of thought into it. To target people who “miscegenate” as the embodiment of all of the acronym SADD ( cant believe I just posted that..lol.) is pretty misguided as their are so-called conscious and pro-black brothers and sisters who do the same darned thing.
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@ Jellybean:
At least I know where you stand. And I know I will not get the benefit of the doubt with you. Just as I did not get the benefit of the doubt from deepdkchocolate when I asked her “Do you read The Onion?” and she immediately assumed that I asked her because she is black, and thus I must think black people are too ignorant to read The Onion or something.
If I can’t disagree with someone without it being interpreted that I’m racist, then the obvious question to me then, is “why bother?”
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@deepdkchocolate
Well that’s the thing. Black people engaging in sexual activity with whites are not truly “conscious” or “pro black” in the first place.lol At best they’re fence-riders who want it both ways. They want to condemn white racism but still sleep with them. WTF?! Where’s the logic in that?lol
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@Eurasian Sensation
Are you reading from a script?
Why is it so hard for you to believe when someone who experiences this type of racism on a daily basis says this is racism?? Really? When it has been patiently explained to you time and time again. I repeat, just because you don’t understand it, it doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. You seem to be doggedly clinging to your notion and seem to think are better able to identify what is racism when ISN’T DIRECTED AT YOU. This will never be your experience as a biracial man. Try and learn from the people who know what they are talking about.
And then the faux ally’s plaintive response when when they are told they’re not quite getting it : “why bother?” This stuff isn’t a game to me, it is my life and lived experiences, not something you get to treat like an abstract exercise and bow out of at the first chance your opinion isn’t holding any sway. You are sounding more racist by the minute.
And to be clear, I wouldn’t extend the benefit of the doubt to you if you said or did something off key. I do not go around ostracizing people from the jump. I give them a chance, one single chance to fuck up and show who they really are. Saves a LOT of heartache. Y’see I learnt this from experience, living my life as a black woman, being open and trusting and getting fucked over on the race front time and time again….geddit?
@The Alchemist
DeepDarkChocolate and i have stated that it isn’t just people involved with white people or biracial people that have that reaction, it is a form of cognitive dissonance affecting everyone who ascribes to whiteness either consciously or subconsciously. All races need apply.
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@Bulanik
”It seems where you live isn’t the easiest place for a black person to flourish at all. YET FLOURISH YOU WILL.”
Yes where I live is a small, redneck and racist town. Many if not most Caucasians here are hostile to Blacks as well as the some Latinos. I know that some Latinos are hostile to Blacks because my mother experienced it and the Puerto Rican chick who loves next door to me just looks down on me because she has fair skin and long hair and I don’t have those features. She has a boyfriend and I don’t. Honestly I know I sound pathetic but I am telling the truth.
It is hard where I live and thanks for believing in me. I plan on being an author one day.
@ KushitePrince
You are right. If you are for your own Black people, then don’t intermarry or date Whites. Honestly as a young, Black woman, I am pro Black and I am for bettering our position in this society and Black unity.
Why don’t us Blacks stick together and unite?
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@JellyBean
Well said. I agree with you but seriously how can you expect people of other races to understand the racism we go through daily?
No, they can’t and don’t understand because they don’t go through as much prejudice, discrimination and racism as much as Black people in this country have!
Yes other races and ethnic groups do experience prejudice and racism but not on the scale as Blacks have in this country.
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@ Eurasian
I agree with Jellybean. Whites are not at the receiving end so they are poor judges of when something is racist. Blacks have to pick their battles so when they do call out racism they are almost always right. They certainly deserve the benefit of the doubt, not whites, who have a long history of racism.
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What it comes down to is that nobody here is a mind reader. NOBODY knows for certain if it was racism or not. That would be impossible to know
If somebody has 100 certainty then please explain how????.
We are obviously all free to make a guess about it, based on our experiences. But our guess (no matter how well informed by our experiences) does not, as a result, become an absolute and unassailable fact. The guess can be wrong, no matter how correct you think the guess must be.
If someone disagrees with your guess—for crying out loud—it’s just a guess! Has the dialog on this blog devolved to the place where we think every poster MUST agree 100% with the group’s conclusions?
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That’s because White racism is a System and not an individual White person. Obviously marrying a person (of any color) cannot define who that person is, or the totality of what they believe.
Marrying a person for the wrong reason is the real issue. If you marry a White person in order to compensate for your own internal racism, or to “get even,” or to prove some point then yes ,that’s a problem.
I am leery of any individual who feels qualified lay down the criteria of who is “conscious” or “pro-black” and who is not. That point alone says much.
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My own guess on the matter is that at least an element of racism was involved (consciously or subconsciously) I simply believe that the threshold for this kind of “mistake” is a lot lower for little Black girls than for little White girls. I don’t think it was meant literally, but I believe that the thoughtlessness of the “joke” ties into a greater reservoir to thoughlessness that is still reserved for Blacks in our society. You see this kind of thing demonstrated most clearly on online Newspaper comment sections. In New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, and even San Francisco, just lower the cloak of internet anonymity and the racist comments begin to flow. Not everyone, but enough that you understand that the old beast of racism is yet unslain.
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@ King
Very well said on so many levels.
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@Adeen
Thank you sista. It’s always good to have strong and positive sistas like you in the struggle for freedom and liberation. I understand your frustration. Since we live under white domination we have a false consciousness. We are not in our right state of mind. We have been taught to mistrust one another. To hate those that look like us. We are possessed with an European mindset. Once we cleanse ourselves from negrophobia and white worship—we can begin to heal. Then we would be able to put aside our petty differences and unite as a collective force against our oppressors. None of us are perfect . We’re all a work in progress. Stay strong queen. And don’t lose fair. You’re on the righteous path.
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@Kushite Prince
Yes I am very frustrated at everything going on in the world right now. There is so much self hate and chaos in the world today.
You are right, we need to learn to love ourselves and unite as one!
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@King
”Marrying a person for the wrong reason is the real issue. If you marry a White person in order to compensate for your own internal racism, or to “get even,” or to prove some point then yes ,that’s a problem”
True. I don’t want to bring this up but many Black men marry non Black women for the wrong reasons because they feel bad about themselves and want to ”get back” at Black women like me. I had to bring that up because it frustrates me why many of these Black men put non Black women on the pedestal.
If you marry out, marry for love and respect for the person regardless of race. I am not against interracial marriage but I am against Black men, Black women and others marrying outside their race for the WRONG REASONS.
Sorry to go off topic but I really wanted to bring this topic up for discussion.
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Eurasian sensation:
At least I know where you stand. And I know I will not get the benefit of the doubt with you. Just as I did not get the benefit of the doubt from deepdkchocolate when I asked her “Do you read The Onion?” and she immediately assumed that I asked her because she is black, and thus I must think black people are too ignorant to read The Onion or something.
DDC:I base my retorts and assessments based on how people come at me if ur dumb enough to ask me if I read The Onion when I actually posted an article from The Onion prior to u asking me that, Hi?
Eurasian Sensation:
If I can’t disagree with someone without it being interpreted that I’m racist, then the obvious question to me then, is “why bother?”
DDC:Exactly, u may go now and leave ius blacks to our discussion but u won’t leave now wil u. Ur condescending and really It is actually amusing because ur not that bright.This was ur reesponse when i mentioned that I was actually familiar with The Onion as I had posted an article from it in my prior post.
Eurasian Sensation:
Reading something is not the same as “getting it”. And just to be clear, I am not saying you don’t get it because you are black. (I feel compelled to add that in there.)
DDC: I mean, lol..
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@deepdkchocolate
Well that’s the thing. Black people engaging in sexual activity with whites are not truly “conscious” or “pro black” in the first place.lol At best they’re fence-riders who want it both ways. They want to condemn white racism but still sleep with them. WTF?! Where’s the logic in that?lol
No, it just seems like u feel the need to pass judgment on all people who choose to miscegenate, that is not the case at all but we all have our axes to grind.U would need evidence to make such an assessment and i am 100% positive u have done no research into the matter, just because miscegenation and people who miscegenate bother u , it doesn’t give u the right to make sweeping generalizations in that regard.A lot of black people go outside their race because most black people have deep-seated issues that demonstrate themselves in passing judgment on “non-conscious blacks” and the such and usually when they take a look in the mirror that is where the most “unconscious black person” is, looking right back @ them.This ridiculous notion that people who miscegenate or that products of miscegenation cannot be conscious is patently absurd since some of the most conscious revolutionaries were products of miscegenation i.e. “mixed” people who have done more for the struggle, laid down their lives for the struggle have done way more than a bunch of latent neegroes talking smack on the internet. K?
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@ Adeen
Oh, I completely agree. I have little patience with people who think they’ve got some kind of prize because they’re hitched to a White person. But I also have very little patience for people who make blanket statements about EVERYBODY who ever married a non-Black person. If I wanted to have discussions about “bloodlines” and “racial purity” I’d be reading Stormfront.
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Oh, I completely agree. I have little patience with people who think they’ve got some kind of prize because they’re hitched to a White person. But I also have very little patience for people who make blanket statements about EVERYBODY who ever married a non-Black person. If I wanted to have discussions about “bloodlines” and “racial purity” I’d be reading Stormfront.
I have known black people who have dated and married outside their race , because , let’s face it many black americans r more pathological than whites. So quick to judge and malign yet they go out and do the same damned thing. maligning people for being mixed-race but if that mixed-race person is eligible and comely all that “black power” crap goes right out the window, seen it too many times. throwing bottles and accosting IR couples but if a white person gives them the time of day three weeks later they r married to them and don’t say anything about it to them. Hypocrites! Most black americans are suffering from acute mentacide and quite frankly need to concern themselves with dropping some weight bringing down their cholestrol levels and finding and raising their own kids than worrying about who is marrying who. Oh and is a black man who doesn’t pay child support and cannot raise his kids “conscious”? If he dates a sister with hair purchased in India and nails purchased from Koreans, conscious? LMAO.
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@King
I wasn’t trying to say all Black men but many. I don’t want to generalize all Black men though because I love my Black men. I don’t think I could ever date a White man especially a White American man. Black men mean too much to me!
I don’t ever read Stromfront. Too many racists for me to actually want to read that filth!
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Kushite Prince
@deepdkchocolate
Well that’s the thing. Black people engaging in sexual activity with whites are not truly “conscious” or “pro black” in the first place.lol At best they’re fence-riders who want it both ways. They want to condemn white racism but still sleep with them. WTF?! Where’s the logic in that?lol
Where is the logic in being dependent on whites for ur food, clothing and money? Ur so conscious, if the white ,man cut off ur food and water supply tomorrow, would u be able to feed ur family? Do u have 5 years of food supply? If he ceased to employ u would u be able to feed ur family? if u were not dependent on the white man’s housing would u be able to build a home on ur own land and be independent? Can u grow ur own food or r u dependent on the white man’s supermarkets and fast food restaurants to eat?Don’t require an answer but there is a lot more to being “conscious” than worrying about who is having sex outside their race.”Smile”
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I’m not trying to offend anyone, but is that an actual name or one of those ghetto created names?
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I’m not trying to offend anyone, but is that an actual name or one of those ghetto created names?
What difference does it make? That is her name.
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@deepdkchocolate
Well I agree with your statement that black folks suffer from menticide. Many of our people have totally lost their minds. I can’t disagree with that. There are many issues that plague our communities. It would take awhile to list them all. But in regards to interracial relationships, I don’t think black people benefit in the long run. I don’t see progress being made by sleeping with our open enemies. I’m not making a blanket generalization on ALL people who marry/date interracially. I’m talking about specifically those that claim to be “conscious” and about the empowerment of their people. I think it’s ridiculous to claim you love African culture,African heritage,nation building,African spirituality—- but then marry a white person?? That’s insanity!! The most important bond in a community is the family unit. If you’re not at the very least willing to marry and procreate with a black person—-everything else is irrelevant. My beef is with the fake conscious folks. I have members of my own family that have married whites. But I have no problem with them because they don’t claim to be conscious or pro black. They’re not pretending to be something they’re not. I say let the sellouts and Uncle Toms do their thing.lol. But if you can somehow convince me that “tragic relationships” are progressive and pro black,I’d love to hear your argument.
As far as looking in the mirror,I’m comfortable with who I am. And I’m my own man. So that little reference doesn’t offend me at all. Since it doesn’t apply to me.
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Black Hillbilly behavior.
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So, I just watched the video where she explains the origin of her name. It actually a combination of her family members initials and what appears to be the Slavic word for Jane (zhané). She says it’s Swahili. I doubt it.
Original? Yes.
Very ghetto sounding? Unfortunately, another yes.
Maybe it’s just a pet peeve of mine, but such names grate on my nerves.
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Hahahahahaha! But true!!
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@ Adeen
I only read Stormfront to cheer myself up.
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If a family of mice are menaced for many generations by a family of cats-why, dear God why-would anyone be so delusional to assume the right to lecture a traumatized family of mice on the merits of giving any member of the habitually menacing family of cats the benefit of a doubt? Non-white people, specifically black people, live with race based traumatic stress. A “healthy cultural paranoia” is very justified in a system of complex and systemic domination.
Racism and Psychological and Emotional Injury: Recognizing and Assessing Race-Based Traumatic Stress, Robert T. Carter, The Counseling Psychologist, 2007
“There are many aspects of racism at its various levels (individual, institu- tional, and cultural) that render encounters and resulting manifestations as negative, uncontrollable, and sudden. Yet, it is also true that, given the cen- turies of racist practices, some elements of racism can be considered pre- dictable and constant but not in a way that permits a sense of control. Most forms of racism constitute assaults on one’s sense of self and do so in ways that heighten tension within and between its targets (Bulhan, 1985). While it may be known that racism exists in many areas of life in the United States, it is not possible to know when or how one may encounter specific racial incidents or what emotional or psychological impact the encounter will have. In this way, being vigilant, or relying on “cultural paranoia,” may help potential targets to prepare for a racial affront. Nonetheless, vigilance may not help one to know when an event with considerable emotional or psychological power will occur. The inability to predict when or where such events may occur or to prevent them from occurring renders such events sudden and uncontrollable.”
Essed, P. (1991). Understanding everyday racism: An interdisciplinary interdisciplinary theory. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
“Everyday racism is a coherent complex of oppression continuously present and systematically activated personally through encounters, vicariously through the experiences of other Blacks (or people of Color), through the media and through the daily awareness of racial injustice in society. ”
@ any black people on this thread:
Never allow a menacing cat that has a mouse’s tail hanging from its mouth to con you into giving it the benefit of a doubt. You are justified in having a “healthy cultural paranoia”.
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@SomeGuy
Looking it up you might be right….
Zane is swahili for well-born or noble
But Zhane is slavic….
There is an arabic phariant of Jenae
And apparently a Zhane that is of american origin.
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I will concede that regardless of how silly I find her name, she still has a right to be called by that name without accidental or purposeful distortion. However, will her oppressors see it that way? I doubt it.
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omeGuy
So, I just watched the video where she explains the origin of her name. It actually a combination of her family members initials and what appears to be the Slavic word for Jane (zhané). She says it’s Swahili. I doubt it.
Original? Yes.
Very ghetto sounding? Unfortunately, another yes.
Maybe it’s just a pet peeve of mine, but such names grate on my nerves.
DDC: Wow, who cares?
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@ deepdkchocolate
Can I not express my opinion as you have expressed yours on many an occasion this day?
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Kushite Prince
@deepdkchocolate
Well I agree with your statement that black folks suffer from menticide. Many of our people have totally lost their minds. I can’t disagree with that. There are many issues that plague our communities. It would take awhile to list them all. But in regards to interracial relationships, I don’t think black people benefit in the long run. I don’t see progress being made by sleeping with our open enemies. I’m not making a blanket generalization on ALL people who marry/date interracially. I’m talking about specifically those that claim to be “conscious” and about the empowerment of their people. I think it’s ridiculous to claim you love African culture,African heritage,nation building,African spirituality—- but then marry a white person?? That’s insanity!! The most important bond in a community is the family unit. If you’re not at the very least willing to marry and procreate with a black person—-everything else is irrelevant. My beef is with the fake conscious folks. I have members of my own family that have married whites. But I have no problem with them because they don’t claim to be conscious or pro black. They’re not pretending to be something they’re not. I say let the sellouts and Uncle Toms do their thing.lol. But if you can somehow convince me that “tragic relationships” are progressive and pro black,I’d love to hear your argument.
As far as looking in the mirror,I’m comfortable with who I am. And I’m my own man. So that little reference doesn’t offend me at all. Since it doesn’t apply to me.
That wasn’t directed @ U, per se, Kushite Prince I am just saying I get so tired of hearing Black folks get on their soapbox and talk crap.I agree with u but i will not judge and really miscegenation isn’t so ridiculous as related to being conscious because so many black people are plagued with self-hate.I don’t need to be with a black man to prove my “consciousness” or “black pride” that is as phoney asblacks who marry white to get a better credit-rating. Black people r irritating, let’s face factsI lived in europe for many years to avoid the nonsense that is the american, specifically the black american mindset.Black Americans spend a lot of time getting riled up over things that r MEANINGLESS in the long run the only thing the black american is prolific in is self-loathing. we used to be the greatest race on earth but mentacide has brought us to our knees as well as our dependence on the white man for food and shelter and the white man knows this and exploits us from that angle we eat his filth and live in his hovels and talk about how “conscious” we r. Yeah, ok..lol.
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@ deepdkchocolate
Can I not express my opinion as you have expressed yours on many an occasion this day?
U just did, and again, who cares?
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Well, I’d like to think that at least some people on this blog would like to hear what I say regardless if they agree with me or not. I mean, this is a public blog is it not? Isn’t it a place where people can come together and share ideas, opinions and thoughts? “Who care?” is a very odd response.
But since I feel this is going to turn into an argument and not a discussion, I’d like to ask if you have an actual opinion other than “who cares”.
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Well, I’d like to think that at least some people on this blog would like to hear what I say regardless if they agree with me or not. I mean, this is a public blog is it not? Isn’t it a place where people can come together and share ideas, opinions and thoughts? “Who care?” is a very odd response.
But since I feel this is going to turn into an argument and not a discussion, I’d like to ask if you have an actual opinion other than “who cares”.
I’m not trying to offend anyone, but is that an actual name or one of those ghetto created names?
DDC: ghetto created names r actual names , why do u feel the need to differentiate whether her name is “real” or “ghetto-created” how is this impacting ur life? what possible difference could that make? I live in a community full of silly white people and u should hear the messed up names they give their kids, and? Names like Ocean just because they aren’t “conventional” names do i have the right to dismiss these people? no.So there u go.
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@ deepdkchocolate
I do agree with you that White folks do name their kids after some very silly things. I’m not saying that people don’t have the right to name their children whatever name they desire. I’m just saying that people should think of the child’s sake and that he or she will have to live with that name for a lifetime. Choosing a name that you know darn well will stigmatize that child isn’t the smartest move. Not that anyone should care what his or her oppressor thinks, but it’s a sound idea not to give ammunition to your enemy. Not at this stage of the game anyway.
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Names don’t stigmatize people, people stigmatize people. K? And white kids with effed up names are not being “stigmatized” But black kids with effed up names are. “shrugs:.
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Yes where I live is a small, redneck and racist town. Many if not most Caucasians here are hostile to Blacks as well as the some Latinos. I know that some Latinos are hostile to Blacks because my mother experienced it and the Puerto Rican chick who loves next door to me just looks down on me because she has fair skin and long hair and I don’t have those features. She has a boyfriend and I don’t. Honestly I know I sound pathetic but I am telling the truth.
It is hard where I live and thanks for believing in me. I plan on being an author one day.
God bless u sweetheart. I live in a place similar to where u live and it’s tough. Keep ur head up u r a nubian queen and never trust them fence-straddling hispanics.
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Who decided those names like Vanessa or Ashely were legit? Not being white is ammunition enough, they will find a way to dehumanize you, I’m glad her parents did not conform. As pointed out before, if she was white, the name would likely make her intriguing not “ghetto”(read zero value). I think the name is cute, a little bit of a mouthful but cute.
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We are doomed. I’m just trying to get a taste before the final curtain. Now, if you will excuse me…I need to decalcify…
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Gen
Who decided those names like Vanessa or Ashely were legit? Not being white is ammunition enough, they will find a way to dehumanize you, I’m glad her parents did not conform. As pointed out before, if she was white, the name would likely make her intriguing not “ghetto”(read zero value). I think the name is cute, a little bit of a mouthful but cute.
DDC: Come to think of it there is an actress named Q’urianka Kilcher, she is south american but supposedly related to the singer Jewel she appeared as a young girl in a film with Colin Farrell and Christian Bale she portrayed pocahantas @ no time did i hear white people moan and groan about her name being difficult to pronounce or “ghetto”.
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White people are fascinated with Native Americans and they probably thought she was one too. Of course they wouldn’t say anything.
And this isn’t just about the White community, plenty of African Americans I know think those names are ghetto as well. And names don’t stigmatize people, people do? Don’t play semantic games.
The whole world laughs at African Americans and our buffoonish antics.
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White people are fascinated with Native Americans and they probably thought she was one too. Of course they wouldn’t say anything.
And this isn’t just about the White community, plenty of African Americans I know think those names are ghetto as well. And names don’t stigmatize people, people do? Don’t play semantic games.
The whole world laughs at African Americans and our buffoonish antics.
DDC:
And the fact that u care what the world thinks is indicative of ur mind-set. i could care less what the world thinks about me or my race.If i meet a person with an exotic or difficult to pronounce name i don’t automatically assume the name has no meaning or is “ghetto” I don’t have to do that , i am better than that. And don’t get cute with me. people stigmatize people people make things negative where there is no need people judge and stigmatize other people about their weight , hair texture, skin tone gender names etc. Ok? black people have been stigmatized about features for centuries that everyone is coveting now, so don’t hand me that nonsense, ya dig? And a beautiful girl like Quenvanzhanae is being stigmatized by morons who want to know if her name is “real” or “ghetto” HOW STUPID.
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@Eurasian Sensation
I agree that people should be innocent until proven guilty, I agree that is the way to deal with people fairly.
Like someone else commented communication is a two way street. If someone patronizes another person’s comments by saying (you might be angry or you’re too sensitive) they are not engaging in real communication with that person.
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Gen
Who decided those names like Vanessa or Ashely were legit? Not being white is ammunition enough, they will find a way to dehumanize you, I’m glad her parents did not conform. As pointed out before, if she was white, the name would likely make her intriguing not “ghetto”(read zero value). I think the name is cute, a little bit of a mouthful but cute.
DDC: And Vanessa is a “made up name” I read awhile back that it was a name made up by Fyodor Dostoevsky but these days it is being attributed to the writer Jonathan Swift.
Vanessa is a feminine given name, especially popular in the United States. It was invented by the Anglo-Irish writer Jonathan Swift for Esther Vanhomrigh, whom Swift had met in 1708 and whom he tutored. The name was created by taking “Van” from Vanhomrigh’s last name and adding “Essa”, the pet form of Esther. Swift may have also derived the name from the ancient mystic goddess Phanessa.
In 1726 the name Vanessa appeared in print for the first time in Cadenus and Vanessa, an autobiographical poem about Swift’s relationship with Vanhomrigh. Swift had written the poem in 1713, but it was not published until three years after Vanhomrigh died. Vanessa has been adopted later as the name of a genus of butterfly by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1807.
Does the fact that Vanessa is a made up name with no meaning make it “ghetto”?
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Her name may sound silly to me, but I still value her life as a human being. I separate the two in such a way that, I personally, do not allow any judgement to override reason. I wish this was the case on this planet with everyone, but I’m too old and jaded to believe that we African Americans can make it as a people without separating ourselves from the American majority. Maybe these names are a part of that separation. I don’t know.
Change is a good thing, just rough for most folks.
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You can separate quotes into blocks with blockquote and /blockquote, but you need to encase each word with . I done goofed.
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Lol.. we have danced around each other, I can chat with u if u ask , don’t have a problem with that.And yes, I can talk with u as an adult, since u have made an appeal. I doubt if anyone who has lived the miracle of bringing a child into this world would turn around and name them Dookyface or Stinknads. Let’s be real.I am a tribal human being i do belong to a tribe and sometimes names come to women and men “on the wind” or via spirituality,I have two kids and neither one of them has a “conventional” “anglo-christian” name,many people ASSUME that my children have made up ghetto names because such is the perception, that perception overrides independent thought.Its just easier to assume negative and dismissive things about people than to ASK a person and attach value to them. We r so used to dismissing and devalueing people.And sometimes this can be based on a name like Kishwana or Timeeka . Everyone has a story everyone has a meaning and i am not ready to dismiss or devalue any human being because of their name…Or weight..Or skintone…Or socio-economic status. Sorry.and i think Quenvanzhanae is a lovely name. It is a unique name for a unique young lady, It’s obvious her achievements and who she is as a human being may have been determined by her profound name. Ponder that.
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Deleted an unedifying exchange between DDC, SomeGuy and Cornlia.
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Good hope Cornlia figures out she needs to stay on topic..lol.
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Wow and here I thought I was having sex because I like carnal pleasure. I am not going to defend every person I know but I rarely if ever just pick a person because of just skin color. I pick a person because I have to think and hopefully they enjoy my presence.
I have been called white my during my childhood. I have been beaten with fist, bats, and different objects supposedly by the same people I share skin tone with. If I were a mouse I should be weary of other mice but that isn’t going to happen. I don’t like every black person I meet I don’t like every white person I meet. If we get along, you can handle meaningful converstations are can handle yourself in an argument then we stand a chance to be friends no matter what your color happens to be. I happen to feel I am better than the KKK or anyone else that tells me I can only like a person because of their skin color, One reason I stayed clear of Bob Jones University, I hate being put in a box. As I have stated I grew up in some racist areas my friends are those who stood beside me.
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@ SomeGuy
Why is it you think they laugh? The “ghetto” names are just an excuse.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the name Quvenzhané.
NOTHING.
It is beautiful. It is original. The fault lies not in the name but in the NEED of some to find ANY excuse to put down, disrespect and laugh at blacks. If it was not her name, it would be something else. Like, say, making her the object of sick jokes.
If she were a nine-year-old white French actress you can best believe that every single reporter would get her name right and say it IN FULL – that is, if they want to remain employed, because part of their JOB as reporters is to get names right. And they would being falling all over each other saying what a beautiful name it is.
Because it would have that Special Magic Fairy Dust of French Culture, aka the seal of approval of a prestige culture – prestige that in the end comes from the barrel of a gun.
More:
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@abagond,
“There is absolutely nothing wrong with the name Quvenzhané. ”
100% agree. 🙂
@ES
Regarding this statement from DDC ” … we live in a racist, white supremacist society that benefits people like u , here u r dismissing the racism that people like me experience on a daily basis … ”
Reading what you have written here and on your own blog, as a non-white person yourself (who has even been accused of being black) I never got the impression that you benefit greatly or directly from the white supremacist society (maybe in some indirect ways). I believe you more likely have been on the receiving end of white racism much more often than not.
And it is a stretch to claim that the white supremacist society in America is benefiting you (someone of SE Asian descent) much in Australia.
Also, I don’t think you ever dismissed the racism that people experience on a daily basis. (Suggesting that other factors may also be involved does not dismiss the other factors such as racism.) However, it seems that some of the commenters dismissed the white racism that you probably experience on a daily basis. By accusing you of not understanding their experience, they have completely dismissed yours. 😛
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jefe:
Reading what you have written here and on your own blog, as a non-white person yourself (who has even been accused of being black) I never got the impression that you benefit greatly or directly from the white supremacist society (maybe in some indirect ways). I believe you more likely have been on the receiving end of white racism much more often than not.
And it is a stretch to claim that the white supremacist society in America is benefiting you (someone of SE Asian descent) much in Australia.
Also, I don’t think you ever dismissed the racism that people experience on a daily basis. (Suggesting that other factors may also be involved does not dismiss the other factors such as racism.) However, it seems that some of the commenters dismissed the white racism that you probably experience on a daily basis. By accusing you of not understanding their experience, they have completely dismissed yours.
DDC: If someone is vehemently defending white supremacy and dismissing people who have lost jobs , been brutalized by law enforcement , railroaded by the judicial system , lynched, denied housing in the area of their choice,denied adequate medical attention, called the n word etc. and their experiences with racism in a racist society …I canonly surmise that this “person” is benefiting from the white supremacist power structure. I don’t need anyone to tell me that racism in America is a “figment of my imagination” Or if I let acts of racism to roll off my back,I’d be a happier campier.If someone of SE Asian descent were chronicling their history of racism in Australia, i certainly wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss that.
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abagond
@ SomeGuy
“And this isn’t just about the White community, plenty of African Americans I know think those names are ghetto as well. And names don’t stigmatize people, people do? Don’t play semantic games.
The whole world laughs at African Americans and our buffoonish antics.”
Why is it you think they laugh? The “ghetto” names are just an excuse.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the name Quvenzhané.
NOTHING.
It is beautiful. It is original. The fault lies not in the name but in the NEED of some to find ANY excuse to put down, disrespect and laugh at blacks.
DDC: Bingo.
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@Bulanik
“Question: Why are those accusations, dismissals and assumptions made?”
I can’t speak definitively for other people. I can only guess. And I would guess that some people read more into it than I did.
All I read into it was this:
– Racism may be a factor. However, other factors may be at work (at play? ), and those other factors *may* (but not necessarily) have played a greater role to explain the behavior. The Onion often is lewd in its behavior, and this could find its origin in a variety of factors. In any case, it was disgusting behavior, (esp. given that it was a young child, a female, a black person, one that was respectful of others and an extremely talented and gifted one at that).
Some of the commenters retorted that they can tell immediately that racism was the glaringly obvious and primary cause for the behavior.
Then it seemed to escalate into accusations and dismissals.
My personal view is that Racism was likely involved. It certainly *feels* that way. Other factors were also likely involved (including sexism, since those terms are pejorative terms applied to women). However, I personally do not have enough information to ascertain which factors were involved and calibrate and rate the exact weighting of each of the factors. Observers will personalize their observation to come up with their own set of explanations.
I did point out that ES might be mis-interpreted. He did dismiss my observation that he did not see any need to clarify if the receivers of the message misunderstood. I didn’t agree with that. But that does not mean that I can accuse him of things I cannot confirm or dismiss his experience or the experience of the others. But it appeared to me that the others dismissed his experience more than he dismissed theirs.
I was born into segregation and it has left an indelible mark on my consciousness. And I can easily trace family history back to my grandfather who grew up without a father because his father was lynched by whites. I have so many personal bad memories, that I have to break out in tears from time to time – and the problem in the USA was certainly a factor in my leaving. Yet, people dismiss and deny my experience and my identity all the time. Even my parents did that. You might recall those exchanges we had a couple months ago? I will try not to do that to others (and you can remind me if I do).
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SomeGuy
Her name may sound silly to me, but I still value her life as a human being.
If u valued Ms. Wallis’ life as a human being u would not have to question wherther her name is “real” or “ghetto”. Oops.
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@DDC
“If someone is vehemently defending white supremacy and dismissing people who have lost jobs , been brutalized by law enforcement , railroaded by the judicial system , lynched, denied housing in the area of their choice,denied adequate medical attention, called the n word etc. and their experiences with racism in a racist society ”
–> I didn’t see ES dismiss any of that at all. In fact, he repeatedly confirmed and concurred that racism is a major factor causing all of those effects (here and in other places). Can you point out where such a dismissal occurred?
DDC:”I don’t need anyone to tell me that racism in America is a “figment of my imagination” ”
-> He didn’t do that.
He repeated many times that it is glaringly obvious in America, both here, other blog threads and in his own blog, and it is not a “figment of imagination”. That was not his point at all. He never said people were imagining things. He said something else may have been at play (which he believes), and that can still be true without dismissing any of your experience.
I do agree, however, that he did not express himself well all the time and felt no need to apologize for it. Also, it does not mean either that I would agree with him 100%.
DDC: “I’d be a happier campier.If someone of SE Asian descent were chronicling their history of racism in Australia, i certainly wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss that.”
–> He does do that. Have you read through parts of his blog? He has even mentioned in some of the other posts on this blog.
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@DDC
“If someone is vehemently defending white supremacy and dismissing people who have lost jobs , been brutalized by law enforcement , railroaded by the judicial system , lynched, denied housing in the area of their choice,denied adequate medical attention, called the n word etc. and their experiences with racism in a racist society ”
–> I didn’t see ES dismiss any of that at all. In fact, he repeatedly confirmed and concurred that racism is a major factor causing all of those effects (here and in other places). Can you point out where such a dismissal occurred?
DDC:”I don’t need anyone to tell me that racism in America is a “figment of my imagination” ”
-> He didn’t do that.
DDC:
Eurasian Sensation posted this..
I’m obviously not black, but bear with me here. Let’s say for argument’s sake, that I have experienced a lot of racism, which has strongly affected my outlook. But let’s say as well that there have been numerous incidents in my life which seemed racist to me, but in truth had some other explanation. Let’s say that I see the hand of white racism everywhere about me, even in places where it might not actually exist. This means that I’m going to make myself more angry with life than I need to be, it means that I’m going to view white people with a more negative lens than perhaps I should. I’m going to question the motives of lots of white people, regardless of whether they are good or bad. In other words, even though life is already fraught with some hostility and racism, I’m making life seem like an even more hostile and racist place for myself than it already is.
DDC: LMAO.
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I don’t see how in anyway he suggests that racism is a figment of anyone’s imagination. In fact, the premise is “Let’s say for argument’s sake, that I have experienced a lot of racism, which has strongly affected my outlook.”
Therefore, the primary premise is that the person has been affected by racism and it is NOT AT ALL a figment of their imagination. So, clearly he states that it is not a figment of imagination and racism is a very real phenomenon that has affected the person’s outlook.
His statement says that when another incident occurs, there may be times when an factor other than racism might explain the behavior or the phenomenon. Racism might be the explanation. . . . or in some cases it might not be. Or it might just be part of the explanation.
Sorry, I read that passage 100 times and I cannot see where anyone has dismissed anyone’s experience of racism — in fact, it is directly acknowledged in the basic premise of the argument.
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I don’t see how in anyway he suggests that racism is a figment of anyone’s imagination.
DDC: And u know what? U don’t have to see it. Many other posters here saw it and checked “Eurasian Sensation”
In fact, the premise is “Let’s say for argument’s sake, that I have experienced a lot of racism, which has strongly affected my outlook.”
DDC:Ok, and?
Therefore, the primary premise is that the person has been affected by racism and it is NOT AT ALL a figment of their imagination. So, clearly he states that it is not a figment of imagination and racism is a very real phenomenon that has affected the person’s outlook.
DDC” That statement does not confirm that this person has experienced racism, the ides has been presented for the sake of discussion. Reading comprehension, people.
His statement says that when another incident occurs, there may be times when an factor other than racism might explain the behavior or the phenomenon. Racism might be the explanation. . . . or in some cases it might not be. Or it might just be part of the explanation.
DDC: Well when ur a black american u travel this path and try to make urself believe it isn’t racism when it actually is
orry, I read that passage 100 times and I cannot see where anyone has dismissed anyone’s experience of racism — in fact, it is directly acknowledged in the basic premise of the argument.
DDC: Great, so? read it 100 more times doesn’t matter to me how u feel and what u perceive has 0 bearing on how i feel and what i perceive.
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On the subject of Black solidarity, and whether a Black person can love, marry, and procreate with a White person and still appreciate their culture, heritage, and fight systems of injustice against Blacks, here is a veryshort list of prominent Black activist men and PanAfricanist male leaders who married interracially and most often to White women. You can decide whether these men are or were “conscious” or “pro-black” or not.
*Pan-Africanism is an ideology and movement that encourages the solidarity of Africans
1. Cornel West
2. Henry Louis Gates, Jr
3. Amiri Baraka, Black activist and 2nd most widely published Black writer of his generation.
4. Frederick Douglas’ last wife was White
5. Cheikh Anta Diop author of “The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality and Precolonial Black Africa” and historian, anthropologist, physicist, and politician who studied the human race’s origins and pre-colonial African culture.
6. Richard Wright, author of “Native Son” & “Black Boy”
7. Julian Bond, elected to several terms as the chairman of the National Board of the NAACP
8. Vernon Jordan, activist and leading figure in the Civil Rights Movement
9. Harry Belafonte, performer and Black activist in the 1960s
10. Frantz Fanon, author of “Black Skin, White Masks”
11. James Farmer, the pioneer of the civil rights movement’s nonviolent direct action against racial discrimination and segregation
12. Mark Mathabene, rose to prominence in the late 1980s because of the anti-apartheid struggle. He wrote “Kaffir Boy” which elevated him to international status.
13. Sidney Poitier, actor and activist
14. Dr. Martin Luther King, reportedly almost married a German woman while in graduate school
15. Ishmael Muhammad, grandson of NOI’s Elijah Muhammed married a Mexican woman although his grandfather preached to Black men:
“You and I may go to Harvard, we may go to York of England, or go to Al Azhar in Cairo and get degrees from all of these great seats of learning. But we will never be recognized until we recognize our women.”
Elijah Muhammad, “Message to the Blackman,” pgs. 58-59.
SOME Panafricanist/ African leaders who married interriacially
16. Angolan President Jose Eduardo, married a White woman and their daughter is the first African woman billionaire: Isabel dos Santos (according to Forbes magazine). She is the richest woman in Africa.
17. Senegal’s first president, Abdoulaye Wade, married a White woman
(ALL first ladies of Senegal, except one who was a light Lebanese woman, have been White women, prior to now.)
18, Nigeria’s first president Nnamdi Azikwe, has a daughter by a Welsh woman
19. Amilcar Cabral, a Panafricanist who devoted his life to the liberation of Guinea-Bissau from Portuguese colonialism, married a White woman.
20. Ivory Coast president, Alassane Ouattara, is married to a White woman
21. Botswana’s first president, Seretse Khama, married a White woman
22. Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkurumah married a White Egyptian woman
And about those Black Panthers:
When it came time to pick a female leader, one who would represent the Black Panther woman, they chose the lightest, blue-eyed member, Kathleen Cleaver, who was or later on became the wife of Black Panther, Eldridge Cleaver
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DDC: “I’d be a happier campier.If someone of SE Asian descent were chronicling their history of racism in Australia, i certainly wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss that.”
–> He does do that. Have you read through parts of his blog? He has even mentioned in some of the other posts on this blog.
DDC: Not interested in reading his blog. What is the matter with u people?
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Oops! The Angolan president’s whole name is Jose Eduardo dos Santos
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@Adeen
I’m sorry to hear about the bullying you are experiencing. I have been bullied and left out because I am black and it’s rough. The key is faith in Christ because God’s love for us is greater than hatred coming from ignorant people.
The mistake I made was to internalize their rejection of me. Don’t make that mistake. You are unique, you are beautiful maybe they are envious of who you are.
Growing up they (including black girls) made fun of my hair, I wore my hair natural back then.
I was not a Christian when I was in grade school, I didn’t have the strength to withstand their abuse. Today natural hair and afros are in. So sometimes you need to ride out the storm.
Also, just like you fill your car up with gas, get a support system who will cheer you up even if it’s small so you can be around people who celebrate who you are. If you are able to, you need to step away from the draining people who make you feel like you are in an episode of the Twilight Zone.
You are not the only one who has been through bullying, take care of yourself.
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@Jorbia
I’ll let the readers of this thread decide for themselves whether or not black male “revolutionaries” could have benefited from some therapy for their deeply ingrained slavery induced worship of white femininity. All right people here we go, deep inside the mind of the black male “revolutionary”:
Eldridge Cleaver, former Minister of Information of the Black Panthers and author of “Soul of Ice”
In Soul on Ice Cleaver made negative references to African American women as “bitches” “amazons” and etc. “There’s softness about white women” he explained “but a nigger bitch seems to be full of steel….The white women is like a goddess …. I worship her. I love white women’s dirty drawers.” Cleavers fixation gave way to calling himself a self professed rapist that targeted white women that arose after “practicing” on his own kind. Cleaver solely believed that this was caused by madness as an act of revenge by the means of accumulated racial injustices. “After 400 years minus my balls, I have the right to proceed any white women I desire.”
_____________________________________________________________
Frantz Fanon -Martinique -born French-Algerian psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary
“I wish to be acknowledged not as Black but as white . . . who but a white woman could do this for me? By loving me she proves that I am worthy of white love. I am loved like a white man. I am a white man. Her noble love takes me onto the road of self realization—I marry white culture, white beauty, white whiteness. When my restless hands grasp those white breasts, they grasp white civilization and dignity and make them mine.” (1952:188) — Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks
______________________________________________________________
The League of Revolutionary Black Workers: A Historical Study By A. Muhammad Ahmad
“Male chauvinism was rampant in the League. Sisters would be asked to give It up sometimes when coming to the Cortland office. Discipline began to break down in the ranks after Dowdell left. Some workers had serious drinking problems. Rather than address themselves to solving these problems, the B group (Watson, Cockrel, Hamlin and Forman) spent more and more of their time addressing the left and chasing white women.
Hamlin spent a lot of time organizing League input in the “Control, Conflict and Change” book club organized by the Motor City Labor League. Less than two percent of the approximately 700 members were Black. Forman was attacked by the A group for having left a Black wife for a white wife. He denied ever having been married to a Black woman. Hamlin and Cockrel lived in the same house with their white concubines. Watson, though he was married, would “jam” white women at League parties and would openly admit he had a “Jones” for white women. Sisters In the League would .watch the B group In disgust. The B group In fact was acting out REVOLUTIONARY INTEGRATIONISM, something that many Panthers were doing in the same period.”
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@The Alchemist–
That was a very short list. I could have made it a lot longer and more detailed, but as I said, these men are considered some of the “giants” in the realm of Black leadership and freedom fighting. I could have included some interracially involved or interracially married Black women freedom fighters/leaders too.
Some of these activists and others like them were constantly under attack for their politics; others lost job opportunities, their freedom, and in some cases, their lives fighting for the advancement of Blacks.
IMO, they are all to be given heaps of credit for doing what they did. Many of us owe them a lot.
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@ mary
i agree they do hate to see strong black women.They always making dumb threatening jokes about michelle and joked about killing her.I don’t see the humor in threatening to kill someone or calling a 9yr old the c word.If a black woman is weak and non threatening she is a mammy,if she is strong,intelligent,and independent she is a threat[sapphire].They purposely try to get black women to respond to their nonsense to say see they do have attitude.I’m sick of these double standards.If a white girl go missing everybody be lookin for her.If a black girl go missing everybody points fingers at the mother.If a white woman marries a man for money they give her a show.If a black woman so much as even mentions money they call her a gold digger.They keep doing these studies and are finding black women have more confidence than white women despite them being the standard of beauty.They are the standard of beauty,make up majority of modeling&media,and that isn’t enough they want to steal our confidence too.
mstoogood4yall:
I agree, so much truth in this post that only black people in particular black women can understand and relate to.
I once read a great quote about how ethnic minorities feel in comparison to white people. It stated that minorities always put themselves in the shoes of white people when they open up a magazine or turn on the TV, but white people never put themselves in the shoes of minorities for example the creator of the hbo show ‘girls’ stating she wouldn’t be able to represent other races without turning them into caricatures. Funny how when ethnic minorities watch Friends or Sex and The City they don’t have to think about the white people as being caricatures.
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This is the quote:
“People of color know how to default to white. We know how to fade to white in our minds. We can, and do place ourselves in white people’s shoes. Effortlessly. Too bad our shoes don’t fit anyone else but us.”
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@ Adeen, I would think a lot of people marry for the wrong reason. I only married because I said damn this woman is interesting and I want to keep a hold of her.
I love black women hell some of the best times I have ever had in my adult life has been with them. Although a lot of black women don’t last long in Japan there are a few that do. 10 years ago down in Osaka we rocked this city. We had some blacks from all over, hell of a time. One of the great times in my adult life.
However, when I was a kid it was a different story. If you told me I had to be in an all black crowd I start to sweat. My stomach would turn because I knew the white boy comment was coming, the adults would say oh isn’t it ashame that he’s going to marry a white girl or make “Hey Joey or Mikey comments within earshot.” As if I spoke that way.
Their kids would spit and hit me and then mock me for sounding so white. I hadn’t found 100% my confidence, I had confidence mainly because of my parents but it was not enough. Two people helped me out the first was a white girl who grew up in a very racist home. We were often put in the same group at the YMCA or Park District.
We fought a lot because I have know her since I was 7 till 19 (she is on a list of friends who killed themselves before twenty). She had it hard coming up but she use to say, If nobody like me then f-them I am my own. In High School we finally buried a lot of the hatched and it was fun. She took some beatings from her dad when he found out we were hanging but she defied it to be my friend.
The second girl was black, and she was one of the strongest forces in my High School. We didn’t get along at all at first because she use to call me whitebread. However, our bus got carbon monoxide poisoning. Sitting in the same hospital just a room apart we got to talking. She realized that I may not be on her road but I was definitely on her street. I have only the highest respect for my ancestors, if all their hardships the outcome was me then I can feel their strenght all the way down the line. Strong, unbending, not giving up til they produced me. I feel that way about most african americans I see. I believe we are a very strong people, no amount of ridicule, mockery, lies, or hatred can taint that strenght.
If you don’t have a boyfriend today go out and have fun. Women can hypnotize men when they themselves seem like life is flowing out of them. Your neighbor just cast her troll looking butt out of your mind. Much like on a blog she needs not to exist to you. Don’t let worms into eden and if she is just relying on her looks the day will come when she is hagged and if looks was all she had then…
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@Abagond
“There is absolutely nothing wrong with the name Quvenzhané.
NOTHING.”
Yes and no.
The idealist in me thinks you are right. Objectively, there is nothing wrong with it. A person’s name shouldn’t matter anyway.
The realist thinks you are being naive. A name can greatly affect a person’s life and when you are picking a kid’s name it’s simply unreasonable to ignore the society’s perception of the name. In this particular case the society clearly thinks the name is weird and that’s not really a surprise, is it?
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@ eco
In this particular case the society clearly thinks the name is weird and that’s not really a surprise, is it?
The attitudes of a handful ,or less really, of entertainment journalists hardly qualifies as even a gallop poll on what society thinks. To put it mildly.
___________________________________________________
@ All
Quite frankly, I think this post of Abagond’s falls under the category of much ado about next to nothing. Almost 300 comments now. The post is based on the carelessness of two (two!) reporters: AP and Ryan Seacrest. And an imbecilic jest by some humour rag. Is this anything to get up in arms about?
The day this post went up, I went on youtube to see how many media examples I could find of media getting Wallis’ name correct. Guess what? I also found maybe three correct examples. What was interesting was I found many approximations to the correct pronunciation. By black and white media people.
kwuh-VEN-zhuh-nay
• A lot of people say “kuh” instead of “kwuh”.
• Also a lot of people say “VON” instead of “VEN”.
The troll Churchs has recently charged Abagond as wanting to “smear white people.” Churchs is a troll, no doubt, but even a busted clock gets the time right once every 12 hours. I think (I need to recheck thread)Abagond, said that to look at his motivations is basically an ad hominem; well I don’t agree. Motivations are often relavent. I don’t think Churchs is completely correct, I think he, in his charge, was onto something though. Of course, we should, none of us, dismiss Churchs motivations either!
Abagond has a thing in his own head, not mine, not yours, his own, about trying to exorcise the concept of “white is right”. I’m sorry Abagond, but as long as that concept is locked up in your head, it’s going to lead you to make trivial posts like your Quvenzhané post. It’s racism because you think and you say it’s racism? It’s racism because Jellybean14 and others like him/her foam at the mouth and yell,”LOOK, LOOK, RACISM!!! ARRGHH!” Well, I do not agree.
American culture has a strain of casualness that runs through it. William becomes ‘Bill’, Charles becomes ‘Chuck’ that sort of thing. Like it or hate it, it happens to be an aspect of the culture to feign relaxed relations by informalizing one’s speech. Bush made a whole career out of it by faking his diction during his presidency. That bastard went to Yale, he had to be faking his bad English! Why can’t the defaults that Seacrest and the AP reporter stooped to be put down to some of that American casualness?
Also, people can get flustered during live events. An AP reporter under time constraints to flip from one celebrity to the next and a producer in her ear giving her, ad hoc instruction, from minute to minute, might stoop to an unacceptable default without being a disrespecting racist. The same AP reporter might act like a much more classy, decent, intelligent human once she is off the job, we don’t know.
Abagond’s post has less to do with racism this time and more to do with his own problem of having to see racism often, often, often.
Here is some random reporter from blackfilmweb. Call me crazy but I’m guessing their business model hinges on focusing on people of colour in Hollywood film. He butchers Wallis’ name. Ok, so he’s a racist too? Good grief!
Notice, Quvenzhané Wallis does not even correct him. Probably because the mispronunciations are frequent; correcting everyone would tire her out. So, what to conclude from that? I know! Ding-ding-ding!! The whole world is racist!
Again, good grief!
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Except…
The issue isn’t “casualness.” The issue is that a nine year old child has been reduced to an extremely vulgar sexual term, supposedly disguised as satire. And to further add insult to injury, people’s justification for debasing this child is because her name is so “unique.” I’m sorry. But that goes way beyond “casualness” or “relaxed relations.”
The Onion has existed since at least the early 90s. Twitter has been around since 2006. The last few years have seen an explosion of talented, young performers who’ve endured every manner of media scrutiny from unbridled enthusiasm and rave reviews to scorn and derision when they become overexposed. Despite that, not once has any major media outlet felt “relaxed” enough to label these superstar children as titty, ass, pussy, cunt, prick…or even dick (even, for example, when Richard is a given name).
I can think of at least two specific examples of young actresses who have made splashy debuts, received numerous accolades and a great deal of attention for giving stand-out performances during the time period the Onion has tweeted its brand of “humor.” Like Miss Wallis, they also have unique, hard to pronounce names. But unlike Quvenzhané, people have made an effort to learn the names of Kiernan Shipka and Saoirse Ronan. As adorable as they both are, no one has felt the need to “satirize” them by calling them cunts. No one has claimed that their names are made-up or ghetto. No one has called them by their character’s names when they’re not in character. No one has called them cocky or sassy, even though they’re both quite precocious. No one has “feigned relaxed relations” with them enough to do that. Why is that, do you suppose?
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grin and bear it,
I was very clear. The casualness I spoke of is to do with Seacrest and the AP reporter. The Onion’s vulgarity I referred to as imbecilic. I separated The Onion from Seacrest and the AP reporter because, in this case, the Onion is in it’s own class of stupidity. The rest of what I said went on to discuss Seacrest and the AP reporter because although they behaved badly they are not in a special category of ‘dumb’ like the Onion is.
I pointed out how the thread and the original post is based on two examples of bad etiquette and one example of plain idiocy. And now you want to narrow the issue to the one example of idiocy by the Onion. You can do that if you like. And, apparently, the comment may not have been editorially approved by the Onion, but instead uttered by a lone idiot. I don’t have the inclination to get to the bottom of it because either way. I think their are way more important things to be concerning myself with. But, those of you who want to include this episode in the ever growing canon of black American victim hood please go right ahead. We’ve all got our free will and each of us can do whatever he or she pleases, with it.
Maybe I’ve got a problem. Maybe I have wrong priorities. Maybe I just don’t understand how fruitful a discussion about the evils of Ryan Seacrest, an AP reporter and a humour rag could really be. Maybe I just don’t see that an exhaustive discussion of how racist they are will:
• ameliorate and reverse the black male incarceration rate.
• ameliorate and reverse the black drop out rate from high school
• ameliorate and reverse the low post secondary graduation rate of black males
• dismantle the school to prison pipeline
• improve a host of other quite serious domestic and foreign policy issues that are causing harm to the US public and people abroad.
So, please continue your fruitful discussion. 300 comments. 400 comments 500 comments, et cetera. I’ll stay out of it and let you shining crusaders reach some grand solutions for the ailments of US society.
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@Legion
“The attitudes of a handful ,or less really, of entertainment journalists hardly qualifies as even a gallop poll on what society thinks. To put it mildly.”
Good point. I think that the reaction Quvenzhané faced is a symptom of something much larger, much more widespread, and not just limited to a few journalists, but I can’t prove it, so I have to accept your point of view even though my intuition tells me you are wrong.
You caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting that part of my comment to be challenged on this blog. You undermined Abagond’s reasoning too. In this blog post he also assumes that what happened to Quvenzhané is an element of something bigger.
I think my reasoning (previous comment) works just fine in that bigger, vaguer context. The claim, that we do know what society thinks about ‘Black names’ in general, is much stronger than a similar claim about Quvenzhané’s particular situation.
In the general context stuff like this can be used as evidence:
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-201_162-575685.html
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@ eco
The general case of “black names” is in fact a real issue, I agree with you on the general case. King raised the issue in the American racism against blacks thread.
I along with Jorbia had a less than popular take on how to deal with what everyone agreed was a problem. If you read my comments in that thread, you’ll understand why I did not attack your view of the situation. A view that I’d label as pragmatic. I had the same sort of pragmatic view. Many other commenters did not see it as pragmatic or if they did see my view as pragmatic, did not think that was the way to go.
My view was very narrow, tightly defined: because black people will need to seek jobs in the labour market they should not marginalize themselves by selecting names that will out them as black before even getting to the job interview. My view was falsely restated by Abagond (co signed by Kwamla) as blacks changing their name to make whites comfortable. My position was inseparable from the need to participate in the labour market, ultimately I don’t care about whites being comfortable. I care about navigating the social terrain that is before me to gain my own comfort.
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@Legion
“King raised the issue in the American racism against blacks thread.”
I haven’t read that thread and unfortunately I don’t have enough free time to do it now. It sounds very interesting.
Let me guess, you were criticized for supporting eurocentrism, for blaming the victims and you got a few straw men implying that you are self-hating? That’s the kind of stuff I would expect.
IMO, essentially this issue is about what a person sees as the better choice:
being an idealist and fighting a battle you are not likely to win in the foreseeable future or being pragmatic and choosing a somewhat conformist stance, from which you are likely to benefit.
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@King of Trouble
Thanks for your insight. I really liked it.However I am shy around guys and get nervous around them.
@Legion
Good points! I really enjoyed reading your posts.
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@ eco
Let me guess, you were criticized for supporting eurocentrism, for blaming the victims and you got a few straw men implying that you are self-hating? That’s the kind of stuff I would expect.
I mostly conversed with King and it was a good discussion, respectful. Just two people differing on opinion, arguing firmly but nothing below the belt.
Kwamla just had to make Jorbia out to be sinister. And then call her integrity into question. Fucking ridiculous.
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@ Adeen
Thank you dear.
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LOL, THIS is the thread where Churchs goes into the “smear whites” thing and Abagond says it’s not relevant to look at his motives.
Of course it is relevant to look at a persons motives.
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@Legion
I agree with the viewpoint that we do not know enough to accurately gauge how much racism was involved. Thank you taking the time to articulate your reasoning.
Re: Abagond, even if he sees racism in so many things (some of which are spot on, some of which might be a stretch), it is still a service to bring it up and discuss. I still think that race is the white elephant in the room in the USA that no one wants to bring up in social company or on the national discourse.
Certainly, there are more serious things out there than the subject of this post.
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@ jefe
Well, it’s just not a service to bring it up [discussion of racism] when he is stretching. It feeds a victim hood complex. And also brings out the wingnut black martyrs; rebels who don’t have a mature, well thought out, reasonable position.
Thank you taking the time to articulate your reasoning.
Well, thanks for appreciating that I was carefully laying out my thoughts.
I still think that race is the white elephant in the room in the USA that no one wants to bring up in social company or on the national discourse.
Jefe, US society is unjust period! Social problems are many. If one wants to choose racism as an ill to combat, fine. But be smart! As an example: pick racism and corruption (inescapable link) in the police forces and work at that with a social justice group and in social justice coalitions and lawyers and whistleblower cops. Demonstrate, write letters to papers et cetera. You’ll get plenty of discussion about the elephant and be breaking up systems of power.
Kvetching about microaggressions is, well, kvetching.
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@ abagond
This is honestly not a serious issue to me. It’s a minor skirmish in a greater war. You have your opinion, and I have have mine. I disagree with you, but that’s life. Not everybody on the same team is going to agree with everything.
Not really sure about the logic of that statement, but OK. Do your thing.
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Here’s an original thought. Why not just call her by the name her mother gave her Quevenzhane’ Wallis.
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I don’t think I completely agree with this article, but I think it’s worth reading:
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“The Onion was spot on. That’s satire. The fact that she’s an innocent girl is what makes the point even more poignant. One of the reasons you don’t like it is because somewhere deep down, you know that’s what you are and you’re being called a bad person because of it by that tweet.
So, be upset all you want but don’t say it wasn’t a joke because it was. And a very effective one.”
– – –
So, let me get this straight, according to self-styled “comedian” daveanthony, anyone who takes umbrage to a child being called a “c–t”, is himself or herself also a “c–t”, and actually KNOWS deep down that he or she is a “c–t”…?
Uh, yeah, that is Complete and Utter BS, daveanthony… nice attempt at playing amateur psychologist, though.
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eco
@Abagond
“There is absolutely nothing wrong with the name Quvenzhané.
NOTHING.”
Yes and no.
The idealist in me thinks you are right. Objectively, there is nothing wrong with it. A person’s name shouldn’t matter anyway.
The realist thinks you are being naive. A name can greatly affect a person’s life and when you are picking a kid’s name it’s simply unreasonable to ignore the society’s perception of the name. In this particular case the society clearly thinks the name is weird and that’s not really a surprise, is it?
DDC:And what a perfect way to reject and transcend these “societal constraints”.
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Fiamma
“The Onion was spot on. That’s satire. The fact that she’s an innocent girl is what makes the point even more poignant. One of the reasons you don’t like it is because somewhere deep down, you know that’s what you are and you’re being called a bad person because of it by that tweet.
So, be upset all you want but don’t say it wasn’t a joke because it was. And a very effective one.”
DDC: Read it and weep..
The Onion’s CEO Steve Hannah did issue a rare apology on Monday morning, writing on Facebook that “no person should be subjected to such a senseless, humorless comment masquerading as satire.” The statement continues:
“Dear Readers,
On behalf of The Onion, I offer my personal apology to Quvenzhané Wallis and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the tweet that was circulated last night during the Oscars. It was crude and offensive—not to mention inconsistent with The Onion’s commitment to parody and satire, however biting.
No person should be subjected to such a senseless, humorless comment masquerading as satire.
The tweet was taken down within an hour of publication. We have instituted new and tighter Twitter procedures to ensure that this kind of mistake does not occur again.
In addition, we are taking immediate steps to discipline those individuals responsible.
Miss Wallis, you are young and talented and deserve better. All of us at The Onion are deeply sorry.
Sincerely,
Steve Hannah
CEO
The Onion”
Please get over urself..And stop trying to tell people how to think and feel.
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Fiamma
“The Onion was spot on. That’s satire. The fact that she’s an innocent girl is what makes the point even more poignant. One of the reasons you don’t like it is because somewhere deep down, you know that’s what you are and you’re being called a bad person because of it by that tweet.
So, be upset all you want but don’t say it wasn’t a joke because it was. And a very effective one.”
DDC: Apparently the CEO of the onion doesn’t agree with u.
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@ fiamma
So, let me get this straight, according to self-styled “comedian” daveanthony, anyone who takes umbrage to a child being called a “c–t”, is himself or herself also a “c–t”, and actually KNOWS deep down that he or she is a “c–t”…?
That wasn’t dave anthony’s point. The tweet was satire designed to point out and mock the sexism of the award’s ceremony. They had spent the whole night degrading women. The tweet’s point was more powerful because it was said about a little girl. But realize the point was to point out the sexism.
Dave Anthony is saying that TMZ, E!, Joan Rivers and the media in general get often degrade and humiliate people. And that the people who enjoy it are horrible people. He’s not saying the people who are angry about Q being called a “c_nt” are c_nts. He’s saying they are angry because the tweet calls them out for their own role in that culture.
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Definition of SATIRE
1
: a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn
2
: trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly
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I found a wonderful quote from a London based Kenyan born Somali writer. Her name is Warsan Shire. “Give your daughters difficult names. Give your daughters names that command the full use of tongue. My name makes you want to tell the truth. My name doesn’t allow me to trust anyone that cannot pronounce it right. This is very approps to this thread post.
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I watched the youtube link of her saying her name.
I admit the selling is difficult, but how it is to pronounce.is not at all difficult.
She seems like a cute little girl.
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[…] What should you call Quvenzhané Wallis? […]
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[…] What should you call Quvenzhané Wallis? […]
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[…] it is not okay to unilaterally rename a woman or child of color because you cannot be bothered to learn, remember, or properly pronounce their given […]
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[…] might have addressed her with a respectful ‘Miss. Wallis.’ Or politely asked how to pronounce her first name. Or best of all, they might have done […]
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