Filed under: AvB Instant Classics, AvBro GuestPost, Barry 4 Prez, PoliTricks as Usual, That Sh*t Is Racist, White Men Gone Wild
[Editor's Note: I don't usually like using other folks posts without getting pre-approval, but this was too good to not use as a guest post. Tim Wise is a white guy whom the MSM hates because he tells it like it is, especially as pertains to white privilege in America. I've constantly harped on the outlandish double standards seen throughout this year's campaign, but Wise breaks it down to the very last compound. Digest and discuss, you know where.]
For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.
White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.
White privilege is when you can call yourself a “fuckin’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you’ll “kick their fuckin’ ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot shit” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.
White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.
White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.”
White privilege is being able to say that you support the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance because “if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me,” and not be immediately disqualified from holding office–since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the “under God” part wasn’t added until the 1950s–while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.
White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.
White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you’re black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.
White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do–like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor–and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college–you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.
White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a “second look.”
White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.
White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.
White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a “trick question,” while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.
[Editor's Note: Black privilege is being able to say "the N-word" with reckless abandon, telling "white folks are sooo..." jokes on Comic View, and.... and.... uhmmm, that's about it.]
White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a “light” burden.
And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain…
White privilege is, in short, the problem.
Question: Do you agree with Tim Wise that the double standards confronting Obama are prime examples of white privilege?
More from Tim Wise [TimWise.org]
* Props to DP for sending this along.
[Editor's Note: My peoples at BlackAndMarriedWithKids have been on a roll lately, getting name dropped by everyone from Mo'Nique to Judge Lynn Toler. Don't hate, appreciate. Today, TheMom and TheDad weigh in on whether or not it takes male genitalia to raise a boy. Be nice hosts and show some love you-know-where.]
TheMom says: Did you see the movie Boyz N the Hood? The character played by Angela Bassett drops her son off at his father’s house, Laurence Fishburne, and tells him to teach him to be a man.
I have heard at least two times recently that a woman can not raise a son to be a man. That only a man can truly raise a boy into the man that he needs to be. I heard this topic being discussed a while back on the Michael Baisden radio show and I also heard someone say it during the State of the Black Union.
I do not totally agree with this statement. I think it may be harder for a woman to raise a boy into a man, but I do not think it is impossible. There are many good men out there that are good citizens, good husbands and fathers…and they were raised by single mothers. There are also good men out there that had fathers in the home that were there, but were not really there… meaning they worked a lot…or they just did not spend time with the kids.
TheDad says: My view is that a mom can raise a boy to be a man so the answer is yes but this is not without conditions. A lot depends on the strength of the mother, the strength of the child and the environment. I grew up in a single parent home 1 of 3 sons that my mother raised and we all turned out well without our father being in the picture.
Not having a father there in the house there are some things you’re left to discover and learn on your own that you would have picked up earlier on by seeing it done or being taught it by a man but you can overcome this. Personally I think the most important part for women raising sons is having a positive male role model somewhere in the picture.
For me this person was my grandfather. I got a chance to see what a hardworking man that took care of his family looked like. I also got the love from him I may have been missing from my father. Now I didn’t see him everyday so I still had to figure some things out but I feel between seeing him and watching the mistakes and accomplishments of my brothers I was able to be molded into the man I am today.
Question: AverageBro readers, what do you think? Can a woman raise a son to truly be a man?
[You folks already know I don't get out much, let alone to the movies. Thankfully, fellow bloggers like my cyber-homegirl Thembi actually do see movies in the same year they're released. She caught the somewhat controversial Tropic Thunder last week. I'm livin' vicariously. Show some love you-know-where.]
Any movie featuring MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” before the basic plot has even been outlined is destined to be a problem, but mostly in a good way. Tropic Thunder was just that. Continuing the lowbrow and nonsensical brand of comedy that Ben Stiller has become well-known for, Tropic Thunder is a send-up of the Hollywood movie machine that strokes moviegoers’ pre-existing perception that everyone involved in the industry is ultimately ridiculous. The tasteless early trailers for Tropic Thunder caused a stir among black folks and disability groups thanks to the over-the-top “blackface” of Robert Downey Jr. and the repeated use of the word “retard” (which, FYI, is also now known as “the r-word”). I wish that troubling our sensibilities was the worst of Tropic Thunder; while it was laugh out loud funny at some spots, in the end it was just “ok.”
Tropic Thunder is best thought of as a movie within a movie. After a series of fake movie trailers introducing each of the characters, we’re brought to the set of the true-story action flick “Tropic Thunder,” billed as “the biggest war movie ever,” which is already extremely over-budget thanks to a group of vain, limelight-seeking actors and crew. I’m not a fan of real war movies (or war itself, for that matter), so from the start the jokes spoofing that genre may fall a little flat. As the plot progresses, however, the familiar ground of the Hollywood machinery taking itself too seriously occupies center stage. The real action begins when the actors end up in the jungles of Southeast Asia fighting off a real drug gang led by a little pre-teen scoop of lychee ice cream simply called “Tran”. By this point, the disabled, blacks, and Asians could easily be offended, but everyone else also gets theirs throughout the course of the film. There’s mockery and then there’s satire; the humor in Tropic Thunder, when taken properly in context, is clearly satire.
Ben Stiller’s obliviously retarded facial expressions and endearing disheveled Jewishness are so cute and funny to me that I’ve seen almost every other movie he’s made. He’s like a Buttered Popcorn Jellybean – so wrong that he’s right. In the ridiculousness department, Tropic Thunder picks up where Zoolander and Dodgeball left off, a feat that seems mainly thanks to Stiller’s cheekiness as fallen-from-grace action star Tugg Speedman. Robert Downey, Jr. gives an unexpectedly sophisticated performance as Australian character actor Kirk Lazarus, who himself spent the bulk of the movie immersed in the black character Sergeant Lincoln Osiris, saying “I don’t drop character ’til I’ve done the DVD commentary.” Once I realized that his “blackface,” was part of the plot and that role couldn’t have gone to a black actor, I thought that the portrayal was brilliant. Within thirty minutes I was irritated by Downey’s speech patterns, which were intentionally over-the-top depictions of rough Negrospeak. Within an hour, I was driven crazy by his protruding prosthetic lower lip, which reminded me of a butterflied breakfast sausage that had been burnt on the edges. I guess that’s just me being black and sensitive, but it was definitely a unfortunate buzzkill that threatened to make me start playing with my BlackBerry instead of following the action.
Jack Black is usually good for some laughs, but his depiction of drug-addicted fart-humorist Jack Portnoy was so lowbrow that it lacked awareness. Granted, there is nothing actually funny about coming down off of that her’on, but to engage in that kind of pre-rehab coonery with recovering addicts Robert Downey, Jr. and Nick Nolte on set? This sort of recurring self-awareness miss made the “biting the hand that feeds it” aspect of the satirization of Hollywood less than seamless. On the flipside, I was impressed and entertained by the fresh faces of Jay Baruchel and Brandon T. Jackson, the latter of which played “Alpa Chino,” a less-than-representin‘ rapper with his own energy drink, “Booty Sweat”. I’ve noticed that black actors rarely get that much of a career boost from appearing in this type of movie, but I’m hoping that Jackson can parlay the success of Tropic Thunder into more roles in the future. Otherwise, he’ll spend the rest of his career being “that black guy in Tropic Thunder“, because Lord knows he was the only one. A barely-recognizable Tom Cruise and redneck hottie Matthew McConaughey were added treats, and other cameos included Toby Maguire, Jon Voight, and Jason Bateman.
At times labored and immature but certainly welcomingly lowbrow, overall Tropic Thunder is a great way to pass the time and get some laughs, but I certainly won’t be picking up any zinger catch-phrases from this movie to repeat amongst my friendship group.
Final Verdict: The ticket was $9.00 and what Thembi would do (if she could) is ask for $3.50 back (3 of 5 stars). Sixty-percent is a great score considering about 80% of the laughs are in the first ten minutes and in the trailer, which you can check out below.
Question: Did you see Tropic Thunder? Was it worth the $40? What did you think of Downey Jr.’s blackface role?
Tropic Thunder Official Website
What Would Thembi Do? [BlogSpot]
[Editor's Note: My cousin HotAirBalogger is finally back on his grizzly after taking a few months off. I have no idea where dude disappeared, but I'm glad he's back with his blend of observational humor and Negro Nonsense. Today, he goes in on Jamie Foxx's magical preceding hairline. Show him some love you-know-where.]
I couldn’t sleep the other night, so started flipping channels. I ended up on one of the 27 different HBO channels out now (what the hell happened to just plain HBO? Now we got HBO comedy, HBO Signature, HBO Chirren, HBO Urban-where all shows are 47min late…i keed i keed)
But anyway, an old Jamie Foxx comedy special is on. All of sudden I realize….Something ain’t right?
My eyes see this….
But my mind remembers this….
Has Jamie discovered the secret to the Receding Hairline epidemic?
This dude is actually able to grow hurr where there ain’t no hurr.
I am not tripping…Check out Wiilie Beaman
Now check out Ronald Fleury…
Ray Charles….
Look at all dat fo’head!!!!
And now this…
Is somebody pinching this n*gga’s forehead together?
I’m not hating on his style. He is still a great actor. But you can’t just expect people not to notice your hairline.
[Editor's Note: I'm not hatin' either. I've got another good 10 years of hairline, then it's over. I'd like to know how dude pulled this off too.]
Maybe he is trying to get this out of his system.
I know what’s going on, though.
My cousins in Philly used to use this black shit around their hairline to make it look razor sharp. I never tried it because I never understood it. Some people’s hair color wasn’t that dark. So you ended up looking like you had electrical tape around your head.
I don’t know if that’s what Jamie is doing. All i can say is “Let it go brother”. Your hair ain’t bad…
uh….anymore.
Editor’s Question: What the heck is up with Jamie’s hairline? Personally, I don’t think he’s using that hairline pencil stuff them Philly cats use (which is just stupid, BTW). Any idea what’s going on here?
More From HotAirBalogger [Full Of Hot Air Blog]
[Editor's Note: My cousin HotAirBalogger is finally back on his grizzly after taking a few months off. I have no idea where dude disappeared, but I'm glad he's back with his blend of observational humor and Negro Nonsense. Today, he goes in on Jamie Foxx's magical preceding hairline. Show him some love you-know-where.]
I couldn’t sleep the other night, so started flipping channels. I ended up on one of the 27 different HBO channels out now (what the hell happened to just plain HBO? Now we got HBO comedy, HBO Signature, HBO Chirren, HBO Urban-where all shows are 47min late…i keed i keed)
But anyway, an old Jamie Foxx comedy special is on. All of sudden I realize….Something ain’t right?
My eyes see this….
But my mind remembers this….
Has Jamie discovered the secret to the Receding Hairline epidemic?
This dude is actually able to grow hurr where there ain’t no hurr.
I am not tripping…Check out Wiilie Beaman
Now check out Ronald Fleury…
Ray Charles….
Look at all dat fo’head!!!!
And now this…
Is somebody pinching this n*gga’s forehead together?
I’m not hating on his style. He is still a great actor. But you can’t just expect people not to notice your hairline.
[Editor's Note: I'm not hatin' either. I've got another good 10 years of hairline, then it's over. I'd like to know how dude pulled this off too.]
Maybe he is trying to get this out of his system.
I know what’s going on, though.
My cousins in Philly used to use this black shit around their hairline to make it look razor sharp. I never tried it because I never understood it. Some people’s hair color wasn’t that dark. So you ended up looking like you had electrical tape around your head.
I don’t know if that’s what Jamie is doing. All i can say is “Let it go brother”. Your hair ain’t bad…
uh….anymore.
Editor’s Question: What the heck is up with Jamie’s hairline? Personally, I don’t think he’s using that hairline pencil stuff them Philly cats use (which is just stupid, BTW). Any idea what’s going on here?
More From HotAirBalogger [Full Of Hot Air Blog]
[Editor's Note: The Uppity Negro is a frequent commenter and avid member of AverageNation™. He sends me quite a few story leads, and even though he talks extra reckless about my home county, he's a generally good dude. I feel a bit embarrassed to admit that I only recently discovered this excellent blog, The Uppity Negro Network. Peep his different PoV on the Obama candidacy, and show some love you know where.]
I actually think the answer is quite simple as to why we are giving Sen. Barack Obama a pass. We want to have a black man in office. But the question I pose is at what cost do we want a black man in office?
None of us would vote for a Clarence Thomas and Alan Keyes would receive a resounding “Hell emphatically naw” from most of us if he were running. We might think about a Colin Powell, but even if it were Condolezza Rice, we’d want to vote for her simply because she’d be a black woman, and a smart black woman, regardless of her politics. But, again, some of us would be willing to look past her very tainted track record with the black community just to have stake in that historic inauguration day where this country saw the first black woman as president.
I think it first begs the question as to whether or not this country is ready for a black man to be president, and I think it’s clear that the answer is no. This country is merely ready for a president, who happens to be black. This is what Michael Eric Dyson in his book Is Bill Cosby Right? calls “incidentally black” is evidenced when he said, “I’ve said publicly that I do not subscribe to the notion that the painfully slow response of FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security was racially-based. The ineptitude was color-blind….I see no evidence of active malice, but I see a continuation of passive indifference on the part of our government towards the least of these.”
Moreover, for the record, it was Hillary Clinton, or should I say, That Woman, who publicly called for the resignation, or firing, of then FEMA head Michael Brown.
The more national that Obama has become, the more that he has distanced himself from the so-called “black events.” Yes, he’s kept a relationship with the NAACP and the National Urban League, but during the primaries, he was quite sure that he stayed away from certain colorized events. I just think that its interesting that we live in a country, and participate in a system that allows for a Sen. John McCain to stand in the pouring Memphis rain amidst hecklers and boos on April 4th, 2008 commemorating the 40 year assassination of Martin Luther King and Barack Obama has to be somewhere in New Mexico talking about illegal immigration so as not to come off as the black candidate.
“Just until he get’s elected” is what most people’s rationale is. I think that’s a cop out and it screams a disengagement of intellectualism. Are we really willing to give him a pass for some issues just because he’s black? I mean, this guy gave up his pastor and his church—is he beholden to himself, or is he only beholden to the system? I think at the end of the day, he’s going to be no better for blacks than Bill Clinton was. It’s not the end of the world, but somehow blacks are really expecting this guy to push us over in the campaign season and then all of a sudden come out for us on some key issues when he gets in office.
Blacks are giving him this pass in the campaign season simply because we want to see someone with our skin color in office. It’s really that simple. We’ve collectively (not necessarily individually) thrown out all forms of criticism and labeled them as hateration: from Rev. Jesse Jackson to Tavis Smiley who was quite clear in The Covenant that we must hold our elected officials accountable regardless of race. (Again, another instance, we gave Obama a pass on the State of the Black Union two years in a row, but if Hillary Clinton hadn’t shown up, then black folks woulda been up in arms.) Newsweek reported in 2007 that Cornel West has told Barack Obama concerning a statement in his 2004 Democratic National Convention speech that “You have to be true to yourself, but I have to be true to myself as well.” And this was following West’s remarks at the 2007 SOTBU asking him “what are you willing to sacrifice for.”
So far it’s only clear that he’s only willing to sacrifice for the presidency and not specifically for black Americans. And that many blacks are willing to sacrifice intellect and critical thought on more levels than just Obama is concerned just to justify getting a black man in office. It also appears to me that we, the black community will only be, yet again, the vicarious recipients of decent education and health care policies; we won’t be the primary targets, but rather “as a result of…” then we benefit, existing merely as an afterthought. Are we only happy with scraps from the massa’s table?
It’s a conundrum that we as black folk face, at least those of us who are incidentally black or intentionally black. But Don’t get me wrong, I’m voting for the guy because I agree with most of his policies and yes he is a breath of fresh air even for liberals, but he still doesn’t have the bite, it seems so far, to challenge the system. I think Audre Lord was right, and I think it’s apropos: “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.”
Keep it uppity and keep it truthfully radical, JLL
Question: Does Obama get a free pass from the Black Community or do we need to put more pressure on him to represent our views?
Filed under: AvBro GuestPost, C.Y.I.N., Judge Joe Brown Says : "DO BETTER.", NBA = Nuthin' But Africans, Nigga Nonsense, That Sh*t Is Racist
[Editor's Note: No, those aren't mugshots, they are actual real-life colored baseball players. And no, CJames isn't a blogger, but he's an active member of AverageNation™. As my college roommate and one of my bestest friends, he's one of the few commenters here who actually knows me in real life. So when he shot me his recent experience and observations from an Atlanta Braves game, as well as some general ruminations on the state of America's Pastime, who was I to turn a brotha down? Ironically, I just took AverageToddler to a Nats game yesterday, so I can relate to some of what he's sayin' here, even though I still hate baseball. As usual, show our guest some love you-know-where.]
Although most Black folks couldn’t care less, Baseball is truly America’s pastime. Long before our athletic heroes played football or basketball we were enamored by baseball players. Arguably, the best players in baseball came out of the Negro Leagues. For my non-baseball readers you have to understand that all of the best Negro athletes played baseball. It’s hard to imagine how good the Negro League baseball teams must have been. With the likes of Josh Gibson (The real home run king), Cool Papa Bell (fastest man on two feet), and Satchel Paige (Greatest pitcher of all time) the Negro leagues must have been a spectacle to see especially at Greenlee Field which was one only a few completely black-owned stadiums.
Fast-forwarding to the present day it somewhat saddens me that more of our people don’t enjoy our national pastime as often as they should. My son is only two years old and I have had the opportunity to take him to 9 major league games in his short lifetime. One thing is abundantly clear from going to watch my hometown Atlanta Braves at Turner field, we don’t know how to dress for baseball!
As much fashion savvy as the average black person has it doesn’t always translate in the baseball stadium. Now granted, there weren’t a lot of black patrons to begin with but the ones I saw were dressed atrociously. Besides my son and I there weren’t any other black people wearing shorts. That’s right shorts. I saw two or three Corporate Negroes there (sorry AB). They were dressed like they had just come from work. I would normally let this slide but the Corporate White Dudes that they were with were all dressed in shorts. And Atlanta Braves caps. Go Figure!
[Editor's Note: WorkPlace 101 - How To Handle AfterHours HangOut Invitations, coming soon.]
Then I saw two sisters who were dressed up. Heels, full make up, hair. Give me a break ladies. It’s a freakin’ baseball game! But I was happy to see them because this was the first time I had ever seen two black women at a baseball game by themselves. Think of how rare that is. White women do it all the time. I have observed several groups of white women at the baseball game, looking like they had a ball. This is just something to keep in mind ladies when it seems that black man strays away to women of other races. This is a topic for another blog but clearly pieces to the puzzle. I digress.
[Additional Editor's Note: CJames' comments are CJames' and CJames' alone. But for the record, he's married to a beautiful and intelligent black woman. So don't bomb him out too badly.]
The next three negroes are what took me over the top and are the inspiration for this piece. Negro #1 is wearing Sean John sweat pants, an extra long white T-Shirt, some multi-colored, straight-billed baseball cap, and high top sneakers. Looking every bit the part of the average nigga. I think to myself ,”Negro, This is Atlanta. It’s 93 freakin’ degrees! What in the hell are you thinking?”
By the way, as an aside to this AverageNation™, white folks don’t wear high tops. High-tops, fried chicken, and watermelon appear to go hand in hand. Anyway, the next negro has on a Philadelphia 76er’s jersey. Now the braves ARE playing the Philadelphia Phillies but damn, if he could spring for a 76’ers jersey couldn’t he get a Phillies jersey also. I almost let him pass also but the negro had on some hot assed, oversized jeans…..and some high top sneakers. UGHHHH! The last dude just took the cake. He has on an L.A. Rams (Not St. Louis) jersey on. Complete with the obligatory, matching, straight-billed cap, oversized jeans, and high top sneakers.
High top sneakers = Timberlands.
No Black people have on any Atlanta Braves paraphernalia other than me and my son. Oh and Legions of Negroes working at the ball park. Good Gracious! You would think they didn’t allow white people to work at the park. Maybe that’s why white folks love it so much, from the time you drive up to the park until you leave you are being served by black folks.
Which leads me to my last observation and the reason why as the AverageNation we have a mission to elevate our younger brothers and sisters. Because to some white folks…you’re still just a nigger.
So my son and I are sitting there a few seats above the dugout and a group of twentysomething white chicks are behind us. He’s playing with their foam tomahawks and they play peek a boo, blah, blah, blah. My son has a sippy cup and one of the ladies says, “What are drinking, some Grape Kool-Aid?” At that point I was on the verge of a Nigga Moment. I gathered my thoughts and replied, “Now, out of all of the possible beverages that are available in this stadium, Why would you think he would have Grape Kool-Aid?” In a very public relations, defensive voice she said, “I didn’t mean anything by it”.
Then one of the other friends chimed in with, “I like Grape Kool-Aid” which loosely translated means, “I Love Obama. Some of my best friends are black.” Nothing else was said but I noticed the other white folks around us took the usual “That’s an outrage!” look, but did nothing.
Anyways, here’s the question.
Question: What are some of the reasons that baseball has died in the black community? Should I have slapped that chick silly?
[Editor's Note: I am sorta hooked on BlackAndMarriedWithKids if you can't tell. TheDad and TheMom explore the million and one different facets of modern day family life, yet keep it breezy and humorous. If you still haven't peeped this site, you have no idea what you're missing. Since TheDad is taking requests, and mega-child support agreements are what's hot on the streets right now (Russell Simmons, $40k/month), I figured who better to go in on this but BMWK? Show some love you know where.]
Let’s talk, open and honest and whatnot about child support. Now I know off the top just the mere mention of the term has some of you squirming around in your desk chairs but let’s talk about this. I’ve been asked is child support fair for the brothas?
Well…. I think it depends on what brothas you’re talking about. It’s probably viewed as too tough for men that do the right thing and too relaxed for men boys that don’t. So instead here are 10 random observations from yours truly for you to digest:
1. Believe it or not I think even though you never hear about them there are a lot of mothers and fathers who come up with something that works for them and more importantly the child. They both realize how important the roles they play are in that child’s life so they make it happen. Like I said you don’t hear about them most of the time because the ones taking the spotlight are the deadbeat dads who have to be drug into court and forced to handle their responsibilities or the mothers who abuse their support. We never hear about these other folks but a lot of them do exist.
2. A female coworker of mine was talking about how women that receive support should have to document or show how they use the money…. uh, I don’t agree with that one, who has the time to go through that mess because a small percentage of women are acting a fool.
3. It seems like the guys that go out of their way the most to do what’s best for their kids are the ones that get abused the most by the system and the mothers at times, while on the other hand these dudes walking around making babies like running water seem to get all the breaks and the chances to do the right thing from the mothers and the courts. I’ve seen it happen many a time.
4. Listening to Steve Harvey last week I heard him drop some knowledge on a guy that had called in and was talking about the money he was paying and how he wanted it to be used. Steve mentioned this to him… When your kids opens that refrigerator door, it costs money, the showers they take cost money, that prescription medicine when they get sick costs money, that couple dollars to hang out at the mall, or go to the school dance- you guessed it – money. I think some cats are under the impression that the money they send should be set up in some kind of trust fund or something or given directly to the child but that kid is running up a tab everyday that the person they live with has to handle.
5. Ladies – if he’s not taking care of the rack of kids he already has around the city, why chance having sex with the dude? Really…
6. Fellas – if she is a candidate to be on Maury Povich one day trying to explain why “You Are The Father” keep it in your pants. BBD said it best, “Never trust a big butt and a smile”
7. I’ve heard a bunch of guys talk about how there is so much more for a man to provide than money to a child which is true but none of these guys I’m talking about would stiff their own kids so why do they feel obligated to make the argument?
8. If you pay child support but don’t make an effort to spend time with your kid – you suck.
9. If you’re a tennis shoe daddy buying Jordans at Christmas and Birthdays but won’t show up for your kids games and recitals your weak.
10. If your kids father is doing the right thing and you know it but you won’t let him see the kids because he won’t be with you, you need to get a life.
Question: Should a man be able to see his kids if he doesn’t pay child support? Should a woman have to show what she does with the money? Do you have any particularly bad child support stories you’d like to share? How would you change child support?
Kimora Lee Simmons Gets Sole Custody of Children [People]
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Filed under: AvBro GuestPost, Crap Music, Nigga Nonsense, TeeVee Sux, Web Junk
[Editor's Note: Anyone who's been around here for some time knows I frequently swagger-jack my cyber-homegirl Thembi. Those We Owned The 80's lists? Check. 13 Debits. Yup. Those MultiMedia Exposés? You betcha. So when I saw this thorough analysis of the Black sitcoms the other day, I couldn't help but bring it over to you guys, out of respect to the architect of course. Enjoy Responsibly, and show some love you-know-where.]
Why is it that almost every black sitcom has had at least one “talent showcase” episode, while such episodes on mainstream sitcoms have been few and far between? I’ve certainly never seen anyone seriously throwing on costumes to sing and dance on Friends or Seinfeld, and the “talent showcase” in black sitcoms certainly pre-dates reality shows like American Idol. Ever since I learned that “coonery” is one of the search terms that has brought people to WWTD, I’ve been thinking a lot about our tendency to cut a rug and start up some showtime just for its own sake.
I believe that random talent showcasing on black sitcoms is due to two factors: first, black sitcoms have so many multi-talented performers that can do more than just act. Secondly, black folks DO coon it up, making any plot-twist requiring an impromptu jig absolutely realistic. Perhaps the stereotype of singin’ and dancin’ black folk has some merit, and if it ain’t broke, let’s not fix it!
Since I consider it a defining characteristic of black shows, I’ve put together a collection of such showtimes.[1] Enjoy.
227
Lord have mercy. That hair and those outfits! Rose, aka Alaina Reed Hall, is singing like she’s still waiting to be discovered in this clip of her, Jackee, and Marla Gibbs doing a number by the Pointer Sisters. As if things couldn’t get any more 80′s, Sherman Helmsley breaks in with his classic jig towards the end.
Good Times
My favorite episode of Good Times is always changing. This month, Rent Party takes the cake. It contains what I consider the most cooneriffic moment in black sitcom history, which I’ve posted in the past, and Michael’s oh-so-sassy dance number. Take note of the hip-pops towards the end of this clip, the epitome of “good old-fashioned entertainment” unfettered by the burdens of male hyper-heterosexuality. What you may not know is that Ralph Carter, who played Michael, released this song as a single in 1975 and was dead serious with it, too.
And I can’t leave out Thelma, Flo, and Wilona’s attempt at a Supremes impression without simultaneously marveling at the contrast between the extraness of Bernadette Stanis and the old-lady cuteness of Esther Rolle.
A Different World
Speaking of female trios, doesn’t it seem a little over-the-top for three distant acquaintances to rent costumes and put together a dance number for you as you’re being deployed to the Iraq War? Blair Underwood is fine and all, but Kim, Whitley, and Jaleesa giving him this little salute was clearly written into the episode for showboating purposes. As usual, Whitley steals the comedic stage while Jaleesa tries her hardest to break it down.
Martin
Martin exemplified coonery left and right, but can we take a second to recognize how hard Gina and Pam are SANGIN’ in this clip? And can we also remember the fact that Yo-Yo, a Grammy-nominated rapper, graced this show with her fabulous presence in full-on Cross Colours gear? And can we also remember that singing any gospel song like you mean it will always save the day, even if you’re wearing a polyester pinstriped vest? R.I.P Lawanda Page.
Bonus: The Cosby Show
I know that if the word “coonery” and a Cosby Show video are in the same post I may get a letter in the mail threatening legal action, but how can I responsibly talk about black American singin’ and dancin’ and not include a Cosby family lip-syncing clip?
Question: Can you think of any favorites of yours that I left out? I know that I sing and dance with my family and friends at the drop of a hat – do you? Please let me know in the comments section.
Peep More Random Silliness at What Would Thembi Do?
[1] Yeah, we know. “Where’s Bubblin’ Brown Sugar”? Neither Thembi nor I could locate an embeddable version. If you’ve got a link, please pass it along.
[Editor's Note: At BlackAndMarriedWithKids.com, my man TheDad and his wife TheMom explore the his/hers PoV of various relationship issues on the daily, which isn't really a perspective you get to hear very often. The site's all about uplifting the black family, which as you might suspect, AB is all for. In today's GuestPost, they go in on the whole "Angry Black Woman" issue surrounding you-know-who. Show some love you-know-where.]
This is a very interesting term for a very interesting time. Me and TheMom go back and forth about this all of the time. She hates the idea of an angry black woman with every seething ounce of angry black blood in her body…. woops I mean she really doesn’t agree with that POV that black women are angry and she’ll let you know about it. At times I’ve joked to her that she’s the advocate of angry black women around the globe.
If I really want to mess with her and make her chase me around the kitchen for a few laps I’ll joke with her that something she says sound like a comment from an angry… and thats as far as I get before I get “the look” then it’s time to lace up my track shoes. (Now TheMom is not innocent you guys, she does counter my ABW advocate mess by telling me I’m the spokesperson for Tired Ass Black Men) but whatever, we (or should I say I. LOL) are joking most of the time and tripping off of these perceived stereotypes that not only exist in MSM but are perpetuated in our own communities.
But after seeing how they’re trying to flip the script on Michelle Obama (BMWK favorite) I’ve told TheMom I’m burying the term ala the NAACP and the “N” Word (hows that working out for ya NAACP?). What really did she do to deserve that? Everytime I see her she’s smiling and seems like one of the nicest women on earth. I was just telling TheMom this morning that I think Barry married up on this one. While taking that long DC commute into work this morning I heard Steve Harvey in regards to another topic say on his radio show that there are plenty of angry white women out there too, just ask the white men that are divorcing them.
Anyway check this out, a group of non-black people discussing the plight of Angry Black Women. Amazing that this is what the presidential race is all about. Someone must have missed the memo that there’s 4 dollar gas out here.
Question: Whats up with this Angry Black Woman crap? Tell us about how the media is painting Michelle as one then tell us what you think about the term in general.
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