A Reflection Inadvertantly Cast by the Stupidity of Don Imus
To All African Americans: the era of white guilt is unfortunately over. Hispanics and Asians were not central to the slave trade. Can't trade on it's guilt in America much longer. Moreover, it has become 'enabling' more than aiding. Although sad and in some ways unfair, it is a fact. Goodbye Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Hello Condoleezza Rice and Barak Obama. Time to move on.
posted by Cliff Osmond at 10:16 PM
3 Comments:
wrong! wrong! wrong! cliff, it's erika and i'd mud wrestle you if you were here in sf. imus' gaff wasn't about white guilt/black victimhood. i blew it off first until i heard detailed arguments. granted, i'd just seen tarantino's grindhouse, with a black hottie as "jungle julia" who tricks her puerto rican friend into lap dancing on a dare, and they both later get completely slaughtered by a car. as a 1/2 puerto rican girl who followed cha-cha girl stereotypes for my cues on how to be a woman who's not middle-aged, i get the whore/maid shtick. my screenplay is about offering an alternative out there as i've had to play mud pies with all the female stereotypes out there and settle on some sort of indescribable tuna casserole even i can't figure out.
and as i try to navigate the movies out there and find my place, i feel despondent. and i hear interviews with dave chapelle and chris rock--two funny smart guys who've done well on TV--only have the step n' fetchit/"black-guy-outta-compton-ends-up-in-beverly-hills" scripts for movies. anything about being middle class and colored that they want to make, no dice.
i understand chapelle's breakdown because you've gotta be careful that what you think you're commenting on doesn't feed the stereotypes.
it's a lot more complicated than even i thought. it's depressing as i thought we were so far beyond this. we're not. cripes almighty.
i also wanted to say that the flack over the imus comment seemed to be about the complicit disrespect for colored girls among white american and even black guys. it was all the more noticable because these rutgers girls were so honorable. they weren't actresses pushing their breasts out into the public. they just played ball and had an elegance to their response that made all the stereotypes colored girls even buy into, even WORSE.
i feel like an old lady and had no idea that black music videos verge on pornographic and that this is okay.
yes, imus is a scape goat, but life isn't fair. anyone who talks to much knows that (over here!). but what's good is that it started awareness and just gives words to a vague haze of feelings i already had about my place in the arts here in america. i'm not gonna roll over an die, but labeling sometimes makes it easier to know what you're dealing with.
so i'm furious and have more energy. i refuse to lie on any train tracks or treat my female characters with the contempt the industry loves. i will not be complicit. getting a house isn't worth trying to be a house nigger.
--erika lopez (sf class)
...all that said, i don't think imus should've been fired. liberal fascism only teaches people to become even more refined and sophisticated in their racism (racism in new england is served on fine bone china, whereas it's gruel in a trough down south). imus represents a whole lotta people and i'd rather have them all out in the open. for every roach you can see, there are fifty behind the walls.
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