Dreams-Visions
Member
"No."ghst said:
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The Black Culture Thread
- Thread starter U5230
- Start date
BlackNMild2k1
Member
*rolls up to 7-11 with a white friend*
WF: Hey I'm gonna get something to drink, you want something?
Me: sure, just grab something you think I'll like
*White Friend returns with something in a bag*
Me: .... *gives him that look*
WF: Hey I'm gonna get something to drink, you want something?
Me: sure, just grab something you think I'll like
*White Friend returns with something in a bag*
Me: .... *gives him that look*
spindashing
Banned
DrFunk said:
next thing you'll tell me is that you love mayonnaise.
traitor.
Veidt said:
We're just a bunch of oreo cookies. :lol
BlackNMild2k1 said:*rolls up to 7-11 with a white friend*
WF: Hey I'm gonna get something to drink, you want something?
Me: sure, just grab something you think I'll like
*White Friend returns with something in a bag*
Me: .... *gives him that look*
atleast it wasn't grape flavored. I lost my shit just now too :lol :lol :lol :lol
BlackNMild2k1
Member
Veidt said:
Damn, his credit mus be really bad.
Dreams-Visions
Member
damn. condolences.DrFunk said:
when I was a teenager, an "oreo" was a black/white interracial relationship. guess that has changed?spindashing said:
captmcblack
Member
ghst said:
What, because you have friends of all race/ethnicity/sex/religion right?
So do I...in fact, so does every person of every race/ethnicity/sex/religion in this thread, and in this forum probably.
That doesn't make it any less valid that this thread, or the type of discussion in it, exists.
People need to stop trying to figure out what substantiation there is for this thread, and just accept that it is there. Then, you may even want to participate - and better yet, you may even have fun and/or learn something positive or funny!
Black people exist. We're not going anywhere. We like to talk about the things that we experience, in the ways that we experience them and the cultural context those things are filtered through. It would be absolutely fucking awesome if you'd talk with us about them too!
Fair enough. I 'get it'. I'm not sure I like it (because of the other concepts that it gives rise to), but I get it.
I can tell that until the creation of that topic, most black GAFfers thought they were alone but I cannot imagine why they felt that was the case. Nobody is alone here.
Edit: In the spirit of discussion, I'd really like to hear from Black UK GAF, particularly in relation to institutional racism. I'm not naive enough to believe that England is perfect but I feel that we're pretty good. I'd appreciate hearing the other side of the coin.
But I don't really understand why people make that assumption in the first place. NeoGAF is a wildly diverse community and I have never seen it as predominantly (or even noticeably) 'white'. The skin colour of the membership ought not to be relevant anyway.spindashing said:
I can tell that until the creation of that topic, most black GAFfers thought they were alone but I cannot imagine why they felt that was the case. Nobody is alone here.
Edit: In the spirit of discussion, I'd really like to hear from Black UK GAF, particularly in relation to institutional racism. I'm not naive enough to believe that England is perfect but I feel that we're pretty good. I'd appreciate hearing the other side of the coin.
Dreams-Visions
Member
well said. cheers.captmcblack said:
The Faceless Master
Member
dskillzhtown
keep your strippers out of my American football
ghst said:
Your social group is not the world. Try to think outside of your utopia, there is a big world out there, don't be so naive to it. Thinking that your experience or your life represents the world as a whole doesn't work.
Black culture or whatever is something that has a history because people were/are marginalized by race often in the US. Started with slavery, when to Jim Crow laws, seperate schools, etc. So Black people developed their own culture and schools. Alot of the traditionally "Black" foods were foods that they were given by slavemasters. Usually they cuts of meat that they considered waste or trash.
I could go further, but yes there is a Black Culture that has developed. I do think that the "Black" culture is disappearing or atleast being absorbed by "White" culture. Music, fashion and some foods have crossed over and become mainstream. While at the same time, many aspects of Black culture have totally diappeared. Who speaks Jive Talk anymore?
I can see in my extended family a divide happening though. Some who are "keeping it real" and not advancing in life and some who are "selling out" and moving ahead. The ones that aren't open to think outside of their life and experiences are falling behind.
Back on topic...You cannot act like there is no Black Culture when they were forced to develop their own culture due to being seperated from mainstream culture for hundreds of years.
spindashing
Banned
SmokyDave said:
To tell you the truth? I don't either. But it happens. Maybe it is because the general idea in the US is that Whites are in the majority and I suppose that carried over to my perceptions of NeoGAF members. You're right. Nobody is alone here, and while I'm mad at myself for only realizing the existence of a black community through the creation of the last thread, I'm pleased to know we're here.
Imm0rt4l said:
Chappelle shitting out the truth. :lol :lol
See, it's this disconnect that tripped me up in the first place. Is it a global thing, or a US thing?dskillzhtown said:
Something like this...
I just can't see UK Black GAF having this experience (although I expect to get corrected shortly). It seems that many of these issues are viewed entirely through a US-centric lens, a country with one of the most fucked up record on racial politics in the world.The Faceless Master said:
captmcblack
Member
ghst said:
I know I've never had discussion about the idiosyncracies of the barbershop in any thread in my 6 or 7 years posting here - and I've never had anyone actually know what I'm talking about when I had that discussion, either.
I know that I've probably made thousands of posts about baseball...but I can count on 1 hand the amount of times there's been open discussion about the potential issues raised by anti-intellectualism in the black community/"acting white" on GAF before these culture threads.
I know that before we had the awesome LGBT threads, people weren't freely discussing their issues. Shit, I didn't even know we had transsexual people here! Now, we have MULTIPLE users that are not only out and discussing things, but sharing their experiences with their transformations. I've learned so much from these threads, it's amazing.
Like I said, you may have totally been discussing whatever number of things you consider normal, and that's great for you - but it's irrelevant as far as the validity of this thread is concerned.
Dreams-Visions
Member
that's interesting. conflating "keeping it real" with not being successful. I've kept it quite real and am doing quite well.dskillzhtown said:
No, you do not have to be either or. you can be a successful minority and enjoy your minority experience without becoming subject to the negative side of your ethnicity...and you can do it without somehow forgetting/dismissing your heritage.
It is global, I was talking to this Nepali girl just last semester and she told me why she couldn't date me, because I'm black. Even if I am a university student at the same school she's attending, her parents wouldn't have it.SmokyDave said:
Even Oprah has been subject to some bullshit when she tried to shop in high end stores in Europe!
The Faceless Master
Member
wait, doesn't the crowd make monkey noises at opposing black players in football games there?SmokyDave said:
dskillzhtown
keep your strippers out of my American football
Dreams-Visions said:
I agree with that, but some that are keeping it real are only keeping it real with the negative side of things. I should have phrased it better, but I am trying to post and actually work at the same time, lol.
Dreams-Visions
Member
never been a person of dark complexion in Central/South America or Asia I take it? :lolSmokyDave said:
South/Central America is just as fucked up. and we all know how social status in Asia is directly linked to skin color...right?
Fuck man...ask Sammy Sosa.
yea, I think we all have that cousin. :-(dskillzhtown said:
crazy monkey
Banned
SmokyDave said:
Dividing countries by race and religion and telling what is right and what is wrong to other people is what UK did best.
i'm just saying i've never had use for a white/black/asian/brown/hispanic identifier, the lines between people are completely blurred and all i'll i've ever had to know anyone by are their thoughts and how they express them. i couldn't give a single damn what colour anyone's skin is, and have no desire to start contextually framing people's thoughts and conversations based on it.Imm0rt4l said:
The Faceless Master
Member
oh, and i absolutely love kiwi
I remember watermelon being the first (and of the only foods) that I've ever hated as a kid. Always hated it.Imm0rt4l said:
Hell, I damn near threw up in my mouth after I kissed this girl with watermelon flavored lip balm...
No, you're thinking of Spain.The Faceless Master said:
No I haven't but this kinda feeds into what I was saying about geographical lines being the big cultural divider. I honestly doubt that a black man born next to me, that lived next to me would have a significantly clearer idea of what it would be like to dark in Asia. Hell, I don't really know what it'd be like to be White and living in South America.Dreams-Visions said:
:lol I suppose you've got me there. It's a shame that I (and everybody else in my generation) am held accountable for the sins of my father (well, grandfather) but I guess that's just how it goes.crazy monkey said:
captmcblack
Member
Probably the only places on Earth where one's blackness isn't also a general "otherness" are places where black people are the predominant people...like in Africa or in the Caribbean or something.
In America, to understand what it is like to be a black male here, you'd need to live your otherness everyday. It's not enough to just know that everyone considers you different - if only just a tiny, tiny bit - because you are black. You need to be thought of differently, perceived differently. You need to know that when you're in Bloomingdale's with a fitted cap, you will be followed around to make sure you don't steal anything. You need to know that you are not being looked for on OkCupid even if you look like Denzel Washington (whereas you'd probably get lucky if you looked like Macaulay Culkin, lol). You need to know that you're a surprise when you're successful and an expected statistic when you fuck up. You need to know that sometimes, your girlfriend's parents won't dig you specifically because you are black. You need to know that law enforcement in whereever you live at is explicitly trained to observe you and assume - even slightly - that there is a higher probability for you to be up to less than absolute good specifically because you are black.
You need to know that advertising thinks you need to have funkier music in the ads for things that are decidedly un-funky (like McDonald's) because you are black. You need to know that your favorite politicians make a big to-do about going where you live to be seen around you, but not a big to-do about honestly fixing things that suck about where you live because you are black (and you need to understand that the politician's hands are tied because he can't be seen to be giving any racial favoritism, lest his opposition suggest "OH SHIT REPARATIONS WHITE SLAVERY"). You need to know that you will not be able to get a good haircut in 90% of the country, even though a good haircut is simply shaving your head and aligning the hairline accordingly.
These are just an infinitesimal amount of things that make being black, being black.
You don't have to understand what it's like - you just need to know that it exists like this sometimes.
Blackness in America is a perpetual cultural/societal otherness that you learn to live with - and over the last 40 years as a function of centuries of work towards civil rights and de jure equality, it is also something that many have learned to love as well.
In America, to understand what it is like to be a black male here, you'd need to live your otherness everyday. It's not enough to just know that everyone considers you different - if only just a tiny, tiny bit - because you are black. You need to be thought of differently, perceived differently. You need to know that when you're in Bloomingdale's with a fitted cap, you will be followed around to make sure you don't steal anything. You need to know that you are not being looked for on OkCupid even if you look like Denzel Washington (whereas you'd probably get lucky if you looked like Macaulay Culkin, lol). You need to know that you're a surprise when you're successful and an expected statistic when you fuck up. You need to know that sometimes, your girlfriend's parents won't dig you specifically because you are black. You need to know that law enforcement in whereever you live at is explicitly trained to observe you and assume - even slightly - that there is a higher probability for you to be up to less than absolute good specifically because you are black.
You need to know that advertising thinks you need to have funkier music in the ads for things that are decidedly un-funky (like McDonald's) because you are black. You need to know that your favorite politicians make a big to-do about going where you live to be seen around you, but not a big to-do about honestly fixing things that suck about where you live because you are black (and you need to understand that the politician's hands are tied because he can't be seen to be giving any racial favoritism, lest his opposition suggest "OH SHIT REPARATIONS WHITE SLAVERY"). You need to know that you will not be able to get a good haircut in 90% of the country, even though a good haircut is simply shaving your head and aligning the hairline accordingly.
These are just an infinitesimal amount of things that make being black, being black.
You don't have to understand what it's like - you just need to know that it exists like this sometimes.
Blackness in America is a perpetual cultural/societal otherness that you learn to live with - and over the last 40 years as a function of centuries of work towards civil rights and de jure equality, it is also something that many have learned to love as well.
Dreams-Visions
Member
word word.
Mr.Squirrel
Tom
Slavery was a long time ago, get over it.captmcblack said:
Well I wish everyone were like you(if you're sincere), but they aren't unfortunately.ghst said:
I pretty much tried to avoid the fruit, eating other stuff when it was the option. I don't think I've ever really ate the stuff just because I wanted to. Watermelon flavored stuff to me is alright though, because they don't really taste the same to me.DY_nasty said:
BlackNMild2k1
Member
spindashing said:
hmmm
probably the only flavor I haven't had yet.
dskillzhtown
keep your strippers out of my American football
captmcblack said:
Exactly. Like I was trying to get across in my post, it isn't necessarily being born Black that is the difference, it is the way the world treats you that creates Black Culture.
For instance, I applied for a job here at this company I am contracting at. I look at the organization of 48 people. Not one Black person at all. Hell, only 3 people in the group are non-White and they are all women. Let's me know right there I have no chance in hell at that job. Shit like that you have to think about/deal with.
Shopping is a funny one, you get ignored you think that it is because you are Black, if you get hounded every 10 seconds, you think the same thing. :lol
MWS Natural
Member
:lolbdizzle said:
Mr.Squirrel
Tom
Annecdotal evidence but I have a friend from the uk that told me shit is just as bad there.SmokyDave said:
Mecha_Infantry
Banned
Yes and noThe Faceless Master said:
It was bad back in the 70's and 80's. John Barnes regularly got monkey chants and bananas thrown at him when he was on the pitch for England
But now we have lil White and Asian kids with black players names on the back and it brings a tear to my eye
As for racism in UK it still exists. Even the mild hints of it happen to me everyday when I get on the train in the morning with the suits scared to sit next to me because I got some dreds. Even though man is going to work they look at me like ...the fuck? And I know it's nit everyone but I know a handful o people do it to other ethnics on the train too.
Man gets followed by security guards ALWAYS in HMV when I'm earning twice as much as you but you feelthe need to ask man what he wants in the store. I have too many bad stories, but the good far outweigh the bad
I really don't want this fix to come off as smarmy but I'm short of time. I understand what you're saying, really I do. If you read my posts you'll see that I've posited that there is a strong cultural bond between African-Americans due to a shared culture, heritage & struggle. My problem is that people seem to be talking as if every Black Man is an African-American. I really hope that UK-GAF don't feel as hostile towards their country (or, more accurately, the institutions and peoples within). I'd really appreciate some input from Meus, Veidt or any Black GAFfers about how it is to grow up and live in the UK as a Black man.captmcblack said:
Edit: Just noticed the post above. Leaving work now but will read it as soon as I get home.
captmcblack
Member
SmokyDave said:
Explain this.
How are you held accountable for those sins? I know there is no literal accountability (like payments/debts held, or property you had to give up or anything like that), and I can't imagine that there is any societal/cultural accountability (like, you don't have to get up and give up your seat in the front of a bus specifically to black people in the name of Rosa Parks)...so I don't get this.
Are you considered lesser because you are not black or something? Are things more difficult for you in society because you aren't black? Are there things you cannot receive (that do not have an existing more mainstream/superior/non-minority analog) because you aren't black?
I would love to understand this!
[EDIT: I already referenced that my comment is in regards to America, Dave. I can't expound on other countries because I don't live anywhere else. I wouldn't be surprised if things are similar elsewhere, though. Black people aren't exactly historically popular anywhere, heh]
Mr.Squirrel
Tom
No one is trying to make you accountable for anything except for trying to stink up the thread.....SmokyDave said:
captmcblack
Member
bdizzle said:
Easy bro, he's not trying to be a troll or anything - he has legitimate inquiries, so let's try to address them!
I don't want our thread to get owned AGAIN simply by existing.
God, I still can't get over the subtext of that. :lol
ShinobiFist
Banned
You doing it wrong fam. Is not "word word" Is "Word son, Word" Nah mean.Dreams-Visions said: