--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Nelson" <nelsonriddle2...@...> wrote:
> I was a bit surprised that the person recounting the story is about> the same color as Mr. Obama and, that he chose not to see it as an insult. Black people can make fun of black people in ironic terms of the racist past of our history. It IS different when they choose to do it. I also believe it is unwise just as I oppose the use of the N word among black people. Now I understand the context better. > It is your choice to see something as an insult and be uptight but,> in our case we had a good laugh. If you were in on the joke I can imagine laughing for lots of reason including the irony of a black person using past racist terms. In your case I probably would have laughed too and felt as though he was treating me more of a racial insider who would get the joke. > People that don't laugh at themselves in these PC times are a sorry lot.> It isn't laughing at yourself that we are talking about here unless you are black. The term PC has become a backlash term for oversensitivity. We all have to choose our own lines here. Athough I am an advocate of my POV, I am not saying your laughing was inappropriate. Repeating it got a rise out of me without any context. I just finished a great novel by Bebe Campbell, "Your Blues Ain't Like Mine." It was one of the most subtly nuanced discussions of race issues I have ever read, set in Mississippi through the eyes of most of the players including the "White Trash", entrenched elite and many layers of the African American community. She falls just short of Tom Wolf's ability to animate specific social groups and make their conflicting POVs come alive. (But then he spent 10 years writing his masterpiece "A Man in Full") Anyway I appreciate your dialoging on the issue here. I live in an African American dominant community, so I am always finding my own way on a daily basis with these issues. I am also often presenting African American dominate audiences with their own musical history so I am constantly thinking about how I can best represent my place without offense. I recommend your reading a bit about the Minstrel Era in theater history to understand why any reference to its images makes someone familiar with its uses want to speak up against it. OTOH I appreciate the context that you heard it and a chance to discuss it. > You are right that expecting Mr. Obama to fix the worlds problems > right away is not logical- he is dealing an unprecedented mess. > I do wonder however, that, with the people he has appointed for high> offices, how it will play out with Chicago politics on a national scale. We'll have to see. I'm still glad he is taking a crack at it. He may fail miserably. With the partisan wrangling going on now, with no reference to what may help the rest of us, I fear that once again politicians will fight to the death over our graves. > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" > <curtisdeltablues@> wrote: > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Nelson" <nelsonriddle2001@> > > wrote: > > > > > Overheard in the diner, "I just received my stimulus package- a > > big> package of watermelon seeds and two chickens"> > > > > Oh I get it now. In the minstrel era of racist American history black > > people were associated with eating watermelons and chickens so they > > would seem to be a different (lower) type of human from white people > > (who coincidentally also eat watermelons and chickens.) > > > > And Obama is half BLACK! > > > > I totally get it now, this is a fantastic joke because it links the > > color of Obama's skin with a disagreement about a complex policy > > stimulus package that is attempting to solve a problem that the > > world's best economic minds totally missed! > > > > And if he doesn't instantly magically solve all these problems and > > figure out every detail in his fist few weeks in office even in the > > case of things he has no real control over... > > > > we can call him a watermelon and chicken eating black person because > > that is a way that we can make fun of him for being black and not > > solving all our economic problems at once in his first few weeks in > > office. > > > > Do I have that about right? > > > snip, > I was a bit surprised that the person recounting the story is about > the same color as Mr. Obama and, that he chose not to see it as an insult. > It is your choice to see something as an insult and be uptight but, > in our case we had a good laugh. > People that don't laugh at themselves in these PC times are a sorry lot. > You are right that expecting Mr. Obama to fix the worlds problems > right away is not logical- he is dealing an unprecedented mess. > I do wonder however, that, with the people he has appointed for high > offices, how it will play out with Chicago politics on a national scale. >
