It's OK to want to Be Black but not White?

Why can black comedians make fun of whites but not the other way around?

Why do we have BET channel, but if they had a WET (white entertainment television), we would be mad and call it racist?

Why do black girls calls Beyonce and Halle Berry sellouts for having sex with white men in their films and dying their hair blonde and keeping their skin light?

Why is it ok for white people to tan and get darker, but if blacks want their skin lighter (like Michael Jackson), they are seen as sellouts who hate themselves and want to be white?

Why can white kids dress, walk, talk, and act hip hop and it be cool, but if a black kid openly dresses, walks, talks, and acts white, he is a loser and corny?

Why can a black person say they are proud to be black, but if a white person says they are proud to be white, they are seen as racist?

Why can blacks have affirmative action, the NAACP, FUBU clothing, and all this stuff, but if whites had that they are put down? People walk around with black panther fist symbols and African flags, but if a white man has a confederate flag or rebel flag on his car, he is a racist mean redneck...

I feel its like one big kid has been picking on another little kid for years and some adults come and put the big kid on punishment and allow the little one to hit and kick him and the big one isn't allowed to do anything back. Make the little one feel better ya know? That is how I feel it is. Blacks are the little kid and whites are the big one. It is as if America feels guilty for all those years of racism and slavery and feels that if they make being black the "IN thing to be", everything will be okay. What are your thoughts?

 

You know what... many of the questions you have posted have ALL crossed my mind at one point or another. I'm glad you brought them to my attention. Well, I don't have the answer to any of the questions. I have another question that always bothered me...
"Why is it when someone tries to act "black"(as some would call a specific behavior) they're considered "ghetto"???

 

my question is similar to that. why is it that when a white person portrays blackness its always from the standpoint of the ghetto or poor blacks? It seems that so called "acting black" to them is synomous with being poor, thuggish, living in the tough ghetto, violent, doing drugs, ill mannered.

 

Well regarding the whole ghetto thing, I addressed that in another thread a while back. I just said that people need to associate something with a race. Not all black people are ghetto, but when people who do not know much about blacks have to imagine your typical black person, they think of baggy clothes and rap music. It is just nature, its not right.

Does black=ghetto? Does white=preppy? No. But those are the stereotypes. Some say Jews are cheap and Asians are smart and Latinos/Latinas are hot tempered and Irish are all alcoholics and all Italians are in the mafia. We know not all of these races are like this, but those are the generalizations. Those are the traits they are most known for. Thats what the invented. Thats what they brought to the table. They are the best in that category...Make any sense?

 

But back to my original question....why do you guys think that America promotes being black as being "cool", but being white is not? What is America trying to say (especially since most people still seem to think that being black is being a second level citizen still)?

 

Well, I don't think that being "black" makes anyone "cool". It only makes a non-black person "cool" when they are trying to be accepted by other blacks. And the same is true of vice versa: I know that when I was dressing more "white"(as some would call it) and listened to more Rock music, and didn't talk "black" I was accepted much more by whites.

I know many non-black people who think that when a non-black person is trying to act "black", they are making themselves look stupid. For instance, when a person calls someone a "wigger". That term wouldn't exist if they considered being "black" as being "cool". It exists because some people feel that acting "black" is ridiculous behavior, hence, they label it as being a "wigger"(white nigger).

 

Black is the popular culture right now. The non-blacks, who like to act black, don't have to deal with all the bs at the end of the day. They can always take off the baggy pants and be accepted. Black people acting thuggish are still black at the end of the day. White people acting thuggish can take off the clothes and won't have to deal with the problems in society. What I'm trying to say is non-blacks who act thuggish usually are the ones who go to college and get corporate jobs. Black people who act thuggish get into drugs, jail, etc. If it was the reverse then society, media, etc would put a stop to it immediately. So glamorizing the thuggish culture continues to keep the status quo.

 

You're right...

 

watch punk'd with ashton kutcher, also white comedians do make fun of black people as ive seen with all the oj and kobe jokes. btw do you think a black man would ever get away with punk'd as much as kutcher does?


the history of bet tells this, in the past black people were not shown on tv, it did not change the fact that you had black people with artistic souls who wanted to do music and act. they just werent given the opportunity, BET is a direct consequence of this racist mindset that was used against blacks for so many years. its hard to imagine that up until as recently as the early 80's mtv did not show black people. michael jackson of course changed all this with his ridiculos success. but the key to your question is in history.


its unfortunate but alot of black women do not call halle berry or beyonce sellouts. halle berry is mixed her mom is white so she is going to be light skinned anyway, so is beyonce. black women i know call people like taye diggs or tiger woods sellouts but never ever say anything bad about beyonce. the blond hair thing is to do with standards of beauty. these two are seen as examples of black beauty, but when you take a closer look they are among the two whitest black women you will find. it lands a blow to the concept of black beauty. a lot of black women are starting to realise this so are riling up against them. they also hate the fact that black men staring at lighter skinned women reminds them of bmww relationships this is why it is such a big sore point with black women.



michael jackson is an extreme case, as he changed absolutely everything about himself, to look white, including his nose not just his skin. im sure if you get a white person who goes from being a white man to a black man overnight that eyebrows will be raised. and most of these self hatred theories are pushed by black people to the white media who then relays it to a mass audience.


hiphop culture is cool. anyone who acts hiphop is usually seen as cool. but it seems like while you can accept a white person does not have to act like a rockstar or hillbilly to accept them as normal. for a black person you have to act like rapper for people to look at you as a normal person, this has more to do with wm insecurity, they worry that most educated brothas are gonna be independent financially and maybe even go into the office to further their communities maybe even get with ww so they use stereotypes to reinforce ignorance in the black communities. also blame a lot of black comedians for this perception because they perhaps even more than rappers are guilty of pushing these stereotypes.

again the notion of white pride has been hijacked by racist organisations like the kkk, racist site etc. so they have attached stigma to this concept. there fault not black people's.


to ask this question shows a lack of understanding of past events, black people would not get hired in the past, if you had two people a white man and a black man and the black man was marginally more qualified they would still pick the white man. black people would get picked on in the work place have racist grafitti out up around them in some case would get beaten up at work. hence the creation of these organisations. affirmative action was put in place to help prevent this along with quotas for minimum percentages of ethnic employees. but most racists get round this anyway by only hiring black women to satisfy this quota. so go figure.
as for clothing you only need to look at the recent racist statment by tommy hillfigure on the oprah winfrey show about blacks wearing his clothes to understand why companies like FUBU were neccesary in their time. white men do not have a need for these things as their bread is still buttered, people who put up these symbols are in effect cosigning the evils of the past.

blacks are cool my friend, we are a naturally gifted race, if the stereotypes for black men was geeks or nerds then best believe the in thing to be would be geeks or nerds. simply because we are a race of people who can take any scenario and add sex appeal to it. i am proud to be a black man and thats never gonna change.

 

Black comedians make fun of whites about the way they are, and not who they are, that's why.

That actually would be racist, considering all the other WET stations, coded as CBS, ABC, NBC, USA, FX, Lifetime, Spike TV, FOX, and especially, THE WB.

Eurocentricism has many aftermaths today in this country, and with the inferiority complex many blacks have in America about being black, some of it will result in blatant jealousy of one another's successes.

Tanning yourself doesn't necessarily mean someone intends to 'look black' or 'darker', at least not in all cases, and with the previous response I wrote, to answer your previous question about inferiority complexes, that would explain why anyone with darker skin, would suddenly want to become lighter, otherwise, why would they want to be lighter?

Again, you are confusing behavioral patterns with someone who is 'acting' a certain way, to how a specific 'color' of people would, or should. Black will always be the new black. Bottom line.

Many black people in America have no knowledge of their ancestry, and the only thing they have to be proud of when accepting themselves, is simply being black, wherein whites can trace their roots all the way back to the beginning, but will still run around and flaunt their 'privilege' and skin color in our faces anyway. Charming, isn't it?

The confederate flag is a symbol of slavery and racism from the past, and with organizations, such as Abercrombie and Fitch, Eddie Bauer, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Ann Taylor, Victoria's Secret, Express for Men/Women, The Limited, etc. then why not?

Affirmative Action also helps to level the plane field in the work force, despite it's ups and downs.

Your perception about the hypocrisy and contradictions of this nation are impressive, however, there is a reason for them all, even though it only keeps things much more conflicted in this country.

Mr. tony speaks the utmost truth about it all.

 

Preach!

 

Great insight there.

 

Sardonic has said most of what I wanted to, but pey you're also overlooking the vast social differences between treatment of majority and minority cultures. There is something harmless about criticising majority culture which is entrenched but legal protection for minority cultures must be assured - isn't an idea of white supremacy against a black minority infinitely more sinister than black pride resistance against a majority white culture? I think so, anyway.

 

So do I.

 

wiggers call themselves that, no one did that first. also, Cool, was invented by blacks in the Jazz lexicon. It meant the essence of blackness. smooth, easy, controlled, in lingo, in walk, behavior, lifestyle.

 

Another thing I noticed was that us blacks tend to be close minded about alot of things, even though we demand open mindedness and accepting from others. For example, if whites try to stop us from joining any "exclusive" club or group of theirs (a white country club, segregated schools, restaurants, or buildings, etc.) just because we are black, we will be mad. But we are the first to push whites away when they want to join something we have made.

Look at the music industry. They put down Elvis Presley and Eminem for "stealing black music". Elvis played rock and roll but alot of the songs he had as hits were songs made and performed by black artists before him, yet they did not become the big hits we all know them as until Elvis took them and played them. That rubbed alot of people the wrong way. Eminem grew up poor and around blacks and loving hip hop. He has won Grammies and Academy Awards. Many feel he is so famous and so rewarded by the media because he is white. These people fail to realize that he is also arguably the best rapper alive right now (along with Jay-Z and Nas) and maybe he actually DESERVES these accolades. Blacks can be very possessive and sensitive about the things WE created, but we get mad when others do not let us in on what THEY have done. Seems hypocritical to me.

By the way SardonicGenie, you said black comedians only make fun of the way whites are, not WHO they are. Well that is the same thing pretty much and just as bad. We are still making FUN OF them. If white comedians make fun of ANYTHING blacks do we get all defensive. Look what they did to Andrew Dice Clay. Remember him? Yea exactly. Sounds like that old phrase, blacks "can dish it out but they can't take it". Do we think that after all the suffering they put us through that in this day and age we still get to take shots at them and as Dave Chappelle jokes about alot, "demand reparations"?

 

man, i agree with what you said Peyback

 

There are a lot of whites, Latinos, and Asians who are no better, so I fail to see your point.

So, he actually did steal it, especially if he was an outspoken racist, like Eminem. You might wanna research more.

Have you ever thought that maybe all of his success comes from him being a controversial white rapper? All you did was defend white hypocrisy and privilege over and over again, out of denial.

Funny how so many white male comedians make fun of black men for dating and marrying all the 'ugly and fat' white women, but all you can do is defend them, let alone play the race card against other black people, despite the racism you experienced in your life from white people. All you did was prove my points about inferiority complexes. Yours is on fire, again.

I've even seen whites make fun of blacks on Comedy Central several times, but also the other way around, and this is all you could come up with.

If we can dish it out, but can't take it, then why do whites always whine about Affirmative Action, black organizations, Interracial Dating/Marriage, and laws that protect us from hate crimes?

Maybe you should get out more, instead of going on what you perceive to be the truth.

 

The problem is that a number of blacks are still stuck in the inferiority complex/slave mentality. They continue to look at whites as the superior race which is conditioned to them by media, society, etc. Until that mentality is washed away. Blacks will see anyone speaking against whites as a score for the inferior race (within their mindset).

 

Blacks where not the reason Dice clay failed, it was actually white folks you did all the complaining,because at the time he was very controversial. I think that blacks are the most forgiving people around most of this stuff your coming up with is bogus, I don't see anybody complaining about when white folks was running around in black face.