According to the proper liberal orthodoxy, we're not supposed to even notice race or ethnicity, and certainly we're not supposed to use that knowledge to make any bit of judgment- other than that darker people are oppressed and should get affirmative action. Otherwise, you're a RACIST- evil incarnate.
This outlook is unnatural and untenable. You can't NOT see that someone is black or Jewish or Asian or whatever a lot of the time.
Further, there are in reality lots of very strong cultural and behavioral differences highly statistically related to race and ethnicity. To pick a mundane and hopefully non-inflammatory example, working at the Village Pantry years ago I noticed that the big majority of our sales of menthol cigarettes were to black folks. They were also much more likely than others to pick flavors of soda- peach or root beer or such, rather than just grabbing a cola.
All sensitivities and presumptions seem to be set so high on Deeply Offendable, though, that I risk being labeled a "racist" just for noticing even benign and neutral matters such as what kind of sodas are favored by black folk. God forbid you ever get the idea that black folks have a taste for watermelon. Why that would be so bad absolutely escapes me, but there it is.
Regarding fried chicken: It is said by horrible racists that black folk have a strong taste for fried chicken. This is considered a horrible offense, although again I do not know why.
I hasten to add that I do not necessarily see such an exceptional cultural divide on this fried chicken issue. If you came to a Barger family reunion or a picnic at the local Baptist church, you'd witness the end of many a fine bird. Who doesn't like fried chicken?
Further, on a personal level, I'm a fried chicken eatin' SOB. Howlin' Wolf was the "Back Door Man." In the words of the Willie Dixon song he made famous, he declared "I eats more chicken than any man seen." He was a hell of a man with whom I could not have competed gastronomically let alone musically. Short of Howlin' Wolf, however, I haven't met the black man who would surpass my taste for the bird.
Of course, other things should often immediately override cheap ethnic presumptions. A few months ago, for example, we had a fellow of African descent show up here at the farm, but I never for a second expected some dysfunctional Boyz N the Hood character. Far more significant than his race, he was a computer geek being sent by Dell to fix my PC. That's one brother I was especially happy to meet. Race just never came up as any kind of topic. There was no reason why it would.
Article comments
1 - Aaman
You, sir, are a 'fellow of African descent' too, far enough back.
Your point, in so much as one can discern one, is that there are good and bad people of every kind, no matter what the color. Insightful.
Color stereotypes exist because they are perpetuated.
Oh, and with reference to statistics, Ref the US Census bureau report noting that Asian Americans are beating other ethniciities and the national average. That does not make them any better than say, any one else. One notices color, of course, but to an Asian, for example, a Caucasian is just as colored as any one else. We all have the same ground beneath our feet.
2 - Neal Gardner
What does someone who is Jewish look like?
3 - Eric Olsen
it is rather funny that the classic stereotypical Jewish appearance is virtually identical to the stereotypical Arab appearance
It's also funny that my two youngest children, who are, I guess 1/8 Jewish by blood, look like blond-haired, blue-eyed little vikings. 1/8 may not be much, but it was enough for the Nazis
4 - Al Barger
Yes, we all have the same ground beneath our feet, but you seem to be trying to deny the obvious fact that we walk differently upon it.
Color stereotypes exist because they are perpetuated. How much of this perpetuation is from bad racists repeating untrue slanders against some race, and how much of it is from members of those races giving substance to those claims by their actions?
As to African descent in my own family, I've never made much examination of my family tree past a couple of generations. So I don't really know, I might not would have to go back that far to find African blood.
Just thinking in terms of physical proximity to my recent Kentuckian ancestry, how cool would it be to find I was some distant cousin to the family of Cassius Clay?
5 - P6
Sorry, guy. "Colorblind" is a Conservative thing. It's Conservatives that insist on pretending someone can "happen to be" whatever ethnicity.
You've started with Freudian projection on an institutional scale.
Now I'll read the rest of the post.
6 - P6
Okay, I read it.
What are you trying to accomplish?
7 - Eric Olsen
last summer we were at some gathering at a public park (might have been Sons of Norway, chuckle) and there was a very large extneded family reunion going on at the same time. It was the most amazing thing: like a U.N general assembly meeting covering the entire skin color spectrum from very dark to very light and in approximately equal proportions. They were having a grand old time running around, playing games, reminiscing, eating, an idyllic little world unto themselves. Maybe we'll get there.
8 - Natalie Davis
Some of us have lived there our whole lives -- what you describe sounds like one of my family gatherings. This whole perceived "difference" thing is important only to those with an interest in dividing people, and those are people I pity. There is only one race, period.
9 - P6
No, I want to know what is the point of this post.
You see, Al has surrounded himself with feel-good book titles and complained exclusively about people judging his perceptions of Black people.
That's a force 5 indicator that he's trying to get a rise out of...someone...just for shits and giggles (which is obnoxious as ugly fuck) or that he has a problem with Black folks.
I'd like to know which.
10 - Eric Olsen
I like the phrase "obnoxious as ugly fuck"
11 - Al Barger
Now see there, Prometheus, that's what I'm talking about. I've said nothing indicating ill will toward anyone, but you're immediately ready to jump to the fore with the most evil spin you can put on my supposed motivations.
Again, the topic of the post is the tricky issue of the unfortunate but unavoidable necessity of recognizing and dealing with group patterns of behavior, particularly among racial or ethnic groups.
A secondary point in the opening paragraphs was the stifling of honest talk on such matters by just such nonsense as your comment #9.
Contrary to your insistence, I don't have any particular issues with black folk in general. In the real world, I've generally gotten along and related quite well with most of my neighbors and co-workers and friends of African descent.
I DO however, have limited patience for those what are unreasonably hostile and accusatory toward me. Such nonsense does not impress nor intimidate me. I don't care if you're black or Hindu or a polka dotted frickin' Martian, running up all hateful and disrespectful on someone is no way to win friends and influence people.
What do you even disagree with me on, here? Rather than conjuring up the worst, most hateful accounting you can imagine of my supposed motivations, try addressing what I've said. Are you in fact mad because I suggested that black folks favor menthol cigarettes more than others? What's your beef?
One thing less respectable than that open malice, however, is the fake righteousness given by people offering "pity" in an argument. Generally, these pronouncements are not in fact any kind of expression of human regard for another, but rather a purely dishonest way of contemptuously asserting their own supposed vast moral superiority.
12 - P6
Since you knew it world happen if you chose to speak this way, it was intentional.
13 - P6
And obviously now, the point was to allow you to direct this speech to me. No problem. On to important matters.
14 - Al Barger
No, Prometheus, I did not particularly expect such a reaction from you. You have generally been fairly civil and at least broadly reasonable in your recent activity at Blogcritics.
Also, please don't flatter yourself by thinking that I went to the bother of writing this post just to get YOUR goat. You're not that interesting.
At this point, it does not surprise me that an official Angry Black Person shows up to renounce and pronounce and otherwise denounce me if I write anything even tangentially race related. Still, that's not going to stop me from saying things that I think need saying.
Plus, you're frankly not up to the job. After the Mac Diva S&M experience, you'll never be anything but a second-string Buggin' Out wannabe.
Alternate suggestion: try being friendly and reasonable rather than accusatory and paranoid. See if that gets you a different reaction.