[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imY-vSn0b18[/youtube]
They say there are 27. There are actually 28 (the last one was a kinda-sorta joke). They’re ridiculous, and probably hardly worth responding to, but I’m gonna set it all straight, anyway.
*clears throat*
Here we go…
- Why is it so hard to be on time? Like, why does five to ten always become twenty to thirty?
- Wat? Um…that’s a stereotype, partially due to the negative actions of one being generalized to the whole race. So when a white person was late to work, it was overlooked; when a black person was late, people were like, “Ahahahah — black people are always late. So typical.” That’s a side-effect of racism — anything remotely negative one person does automatically reflects on the whole race.
- If you are constantly treated as a second-class citizen, and if you are dealing with greater challenges than everyone else you work and socialize with, then it is more likely that you’re going to be dealing with some bullshit (like getting pulled over for a DWB) and be late. Combine this with the fact that your lateness gets more noticed than a white person being late, and the stereotype gets exaggerated.
- A lot of this reference doesn’t refer to work and events you have to be on time at. It refers to events that start around a certain time. Now, as a black person with a bunch of white friends here in the South, I’ve had countless times when white people have said an event starts at about six and I’ve showed up at 6:03 and been looked at strange by the host because they weren’t expecting anyone to really come until 6:30. I learned quickly, that I had to clarify whether 6:00 was 6:00 or 6:00-ish. And I adjusted. I could see why they did it — the host made it convenient for everyone. If you came in at 8pm, you could still join people — it was a come-and-go event. White people did this all the time, and no one said shit about it. But when black groups do it, it all gets recycled into the stereotype that black people are always late.
- If my dab is on fleek, am I lit?
- The phrase “on fleek” only become popular in 2014 due to a popular Vine video, and the basic meaning of the phrase is that something is “on point” — just right, perfect. A point of pride. And the vine video was done by a black woman named Peaches Monroee, talking herself up and showing body positivity (albeit in an obviously joking manner). Now, if you know anything about black culture, you know that black women have gotten the worst of it when it comes to denigrating their looks. So when Peaches Monroee put up a video saying proudly that she looked good, being body positive, that shit took off like a motherfucker. And the fact that it’s a joke gives it a double meaning — like, you know people think you don’t look good, but you’re not going to give a shit and am going to act like someone who thinks they do look good. That’s what made the term so attractive (and funny) at first. And then the definition of whiteness (aka Ariana Grande) went and put it in a song, and it became even more well known. And I ain’t even mad. You’re gonna take a term that made us black people take pride in the face we look in the mirror after centuries of y’all telling us we’re literally ugly as sin and make fun of it?
- “Lit” has a double meaning. It can me getting high and drunk, but it also means having a good time and feeding on positive energy. It’s more contextual. So I don’t know. Are you excited, having a good time? I can’t read your mind. You know if you’re lit or not.
- On the other hand — if your dab is on fleek — then you’re a pretty decent dancer and should probably be “lit,” whether you are or not.
- Why is it a problem if I like anime?
- It’s not. I mean, it was white people’s domain for awhile, but then Soulja Boy came out saying he liked anime, saying he was a fan, and that was followed by RZA of the Wu-Tang Caln. Samuel L. Jackson plays the voice of a black anime character in Afro Samarai. There’s is interest among black fans in finding black characters in anime, and strong correlations they see between Samarai culture and African- American culture. You can read it here — where several black anime fans are interviewed (none of them say they were disparaged for it by black friends). It doesn’t really seem to be a prominent thing, really, among black people (though it may be a surprise to white people). [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROheAdg3JTY[/youtube]
- Why do black people look at your shoes before they greet you?
- I’m not as familiar with this one, but apparently there’s a common saying that shoes can determine the level of wealth. I thought this was something known universally, but I had no idea it was a prominent thing predominantly black people did constantly. Seeing as how I haven’t really experienced this, it seems like a ridiculous question to me.
- Why are we more likely to engage in the new dance trend than we are to be involved in politics or opening a business?
- Wat? Seriously, wat? Wat? Are you…are you suggesting that black people are not involved in politics? Wat? Man…wow. Politics is what we DO. You’re seriously gonna say that in 2016, when Obama is president and Black Lives Matter is so influential? When black people have recently marched by the thousands and even RIOTED IN THE GODDAMN STREETS to fight against racism and force political change? Wat? I can’t…I’m a bit dumbfounded. When the black vote, despite enormous attempts at disenfranchisement, is the vote that everyone knows is going to make or break an election these days? When it was US who ended segregation, forcing reluctant heads of the nation to take action? And you DO know how hard we worked to end slavery, right? Like…where is this question coming from? I don’t even…wow. Just wow. How ignorant can someone be? I just can’t with this question. Whole new level of ignorant racism.
- The stereotype is ridiculous. But besides that — since when did dancing and politics become mutually exclusive? I mean, have you tried dancing?![youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUcgH1lbNxI[/youtube]
- How did watermelon become our thing? Like, everybody should love watermelon?
- Why are you saying, “Everyone should love watermelon?” like everyone doesn’t? I have met as many people who didn’t like watermelon as people who didn’t like Pizza. Zero.
- Watermelon became “our thing” because everyone DID like it. Do your goddamn research. As The Atlantic notes, slave owners fed their slaves watermelon and expected them to like it:
Slaves were usually careful to enjoy watermelon according to the code of behavior established by whites. When an Alabama overseer cut open watermelons for the slaves under his watch, he expected the children to run to get their slice. One boy, Henry Barnes, refused to run, and once he did get his piece he would run off to the slave quarters to eat out of the white people’s sight. His mother would then whip him, he remembered, “fo’ being so stubborn.” The whites wanted Barnes to play the part of the watermelon-craving, juice-dribbling pickaninny. His refusal undermined the tenuous relationship between master and slave.
- After the days of slavery, black people — who obviously had very limited employment options due to severe racism — began selling watermelon, and did a damn good job at it. Southern whites, resentful that a symbol of their power over black people became something the black people had turned into a symbol of their own entrepreneurship, started to get jealous and resentful, so they turned black people and watermelon into a racist stereotype, making a symbol of black entrepreneurship into, as The Atlantic notes, a symbol of “uncleanliness, laziness, childishness, and unwanted public presence.” Wow. Way to go, white people.
And that’s where the stereotype came from.
.
- Why do you get upset when I don’t like a black celebrity? Race aside, some people are just terrible.
- It’s hard for me to believe a black person asked this question. First, we often don’t. But this is complicated, because the reason why you think a black celebrity is “terrible” says a lot more than the yes-or-no question of whether or not you like them. For example, a lot of white people liked Beyonce, as long as she didn’t seem as proudly white — with blonde hair, and that whole “Illuminati” suspicion. But when she came in and embraced her cultural heritage in the song “Formation” with lines like “I’ve got hot sauce in my bag” — white people went apeshit. Rush Limbaugh said that the song was indicative of the “cultural decay and social rot that is overtaking our country.” Woah. A black person being proud of her heritage does all that? So…if you don’t like the style of the singer, that’s one thing. But if you start talking, as white people too often do, about how you don’t like them for racist reasons (like, you can’t stand Nikki Minaj’s immodesty but remain a die-hard fan of Brittney Spears) — don’t look at me weird if I start suspecting that racism is behind your double standards. So if we’re upset, take a step back and ask yourself, “Did I say some racist BS when I talked about why I didn’t like the celebrity, or was it honestly just about my personal preferences.” And if it’s racist BS and we call you out on it, don’t come cryin’ to us.
- Why do we call each other the n-word, but get vehemently upset when a white person uses the n-word? It drains my soul to hear that word, and I just don’t understand how people who have any understanding of history can use that word.
- Wow. Wow. Wow. I…wow. Did a black person ask this question? Like…OK. I don’t hardly know where to start. This is, like, preschool stuff.
- In a way, this is a weird double-speak. And I hear this. White people will complain about not being able to say the n-word one minute, and then argue that no one should say the n-word the next.
- Considering history: white people said “nigger” for the longest time (like over 320 years before it really became remotely officially improper for them to use it in public). In case you didn’t know, it was a really bad, destructive term, and black people couldn’t escape it or the stereotypes it represented. So we embraced it to change it, calling ourselves “nigga’” which means something completely different — it’s a term that we can control and even use as a compliment. So we took the word and transformed it. The word has done untold damage to us that we’re trying to recover from when white people had it, so we don’t want to give it back to white people because they’ll mess it up again. This change from “nigger” to “nigga” is a stroke of genius to linguists and to scholars of black history and culture — black people have managed to take a word that was used to control their image without their consent, change it, and use it to control the way they are looked at and look at themselves. All that is to say — don’t use it, white people. You had it for about 320 years, and it was a disaster. It’s our turn now, for those who want to use it. Why do you want to use it so bad? Are you really that anxious over black people defining themselves?
- Why is my natural hair, the hair that grows out my head, seen as a political statement?
- This is a question for white people. Not to say black people don’t wonder this or make it a political statement; we do. But more than this is the fact that most white people seem to SEE it as a political statement. It’s kinda a result of the way white people see black hair, not something we completely made up ourselves.
- Black hair has been denigrated by white people for years, so black people tried to make it look more “white.” Due to stereotypes and white-based standards of beauty, it became an increasingly brave thing to do (and it still is) to wear your hair “naturally.” But if you’re proud of the way you look, you can fight against the racist beauty standards. That’s the whole point. The reason we our proud of are hair is because it has seemed offensive, to a lot of white people, to not only grow your curly black hair out but be as proud (or prouder) of it as a straight-haired blonde would be. It’s an act of rebellion, but only because white people have had so much power over beauty standards for so long. I mean, my entire existence as a black person who thinks they have a right to exist in the South is, I’ve found, a political statement, whether I want it to be or not, because of racism. So, again, this is really a question for black people: Why are so many white people so racist when it comes to the way black people look?
- Why do you think people with white skin look better than people with dark skin?
- This is a bit insulting, isn’t it? Just to say that most black people think this…
- Why do you assume that most black people think that? Maybe it’s you. Are you really that much of a mind-reader?
- The people who DO think that…four hundred years of having our looks systematically denigrated in American society has made being proud of our skin an uphill battle. It’s not rocket science. But a lot of us are proud of our skin, in spite of continued racism (including the racism in this video).