How many of you ACTUALLY get that joke...not just seeing it as funny ha ha...but REALLY get the depth that is behind that statement?
I didn't for a long time...and even after watching what would become one of my favorite movies...
"Is this what it'll come to one day?"
I love history...I love black history even more because it's not something they teach you in school.
Sure they give you the George Washington Carvers, and the Martin Luther Kings...but they DON'T give you
The Sambos....
The Blackface...
The Pickaninnies....
The Minstril Shows....
The Mammies...
The Uncle Toms....
...they don't give you the information about our past as African Americans that makes them look really bad...they give us the information that makes them look bad...but not as bad as it was.
I'm not trying to preach to you...but you gotta know where you come from to know where you're going...this imagery ran RAPID in the 1800's....if we aren't aware could it happen again?
It's already happening but in much more discreet ways...
A mammy is servant of African descent, generally good-natured, often overweight, and loud....
A pickaninny is a derogatory term for black children...have you ever heard someone say "You're being such a ninny!" or "You're such a nincompoop" See the root word ninny? Pulled from pickaninny...ninny means dull or dumb witted.
Blackface...this picture was from the October or November issue of French Vogue...October or November of 2009...yes...last year...it's not as exaggerated as blackface of years gone by...but that is black face nonetheless
Magic Negros...by use of special insight or powers, helps the white protagonist get out of trouble...
Look at clothing...look at music...look at language...what does it remind you of? Things that we (black people) deemed "cool" years or even decades ago, while we were dancing to R&B and rapping along with the radio, other races were listening to something totally different...a more "calm" version of what we had...now they've merged what we had with what they had to create a new genre called Pop...THAT is what Paul Mooney meant by that statement...everybody wanna be a nigga...but nobody wanna be a nigga.
I just wish that we as black people could REALIZE the power we have and actually USE it!
***steps off soapbox***
4 comments:
Great topic. Lets not forget how many of those same negative images were a main stay in many early cartoons. Bug Bunnys has MANY infamous racist cartoons that I saw coming up but now have been banned from t.v.
I too think it's important for the public to be fully aware of our history as to not be caught unaware of whats happening in the world. I dont worry to much about hollywood as at least now their is power to educate, uplift, employee and give back to the community.
But yeah Paul Mooney was dead on with that comment.
That's why I love Paul Mooney. He's unapoletically in your face in a humours kind of way. He spits real truth in such a way that if you're not ready to receive teh political/life message inside it will completely go over your head.
And Bamboozled is one of my all time favorite movies. I got the message then and it was something that I knew would be lost in translation for most folks.
I did a report about those images you posted. Its so unfunny how those images and ideas are being recycled and merged into mainstream without any protest.
I fucks with you hard for this post.
You would be surprised if you go somewhere that black people are not in the majority or in good numbers. I've lived in some predominately white places being in my profession and I've seen images, jokes, and even comments run wild because they know someone is really in minority.
The black face shit is something that erks me though. Minstrel shows and images like that continue to be the butt of white people's jokes, except it goes with a present day themes.
I constantly hear that people should stop bringing up slavery and it is often compared to the holocaust, but there is no comparison. The slave trade went on for 400 years and the numbers are way more staggering than the holocaust. That's some shit that no one can forget.
Good Post
first off, paul mooney is an idiot. lol.
we can not stray away from that point, even when he's said something that is very true. we can give credit, but make sure to cover basis for someone who'll come back and say it as a excuse why not to trust the comment.
great post. you're right the imagery & the racist stereotypes have never left nor will they ever. once a door is opened, there will always be people who'll stay behind and make sure it's never closed. it's about living & rising above.
as for the comparison of the holocaust to slavery, there is a correlation. you can not lessen one's struggle of injustice. you can only show the difference between & express your own personal angst for the situation. the biggest difference is as african americans we were stripped of our culture & used to reap benefits that are still being enjoyed till this day by "old white" money. something that till this day we still do not have back.
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