Rod and Karen discuss Justin Bieber’s roast, being black around white people, TLC kickstarter album, Sorority Sisters expelled, Fox on Obama, Anthony Mackie’s respectability politics, Liam Neeson, Jessica Chastain speech on diversity gets her some haters, frat rape at Duke, Biggest Loser tricks, Doggy Style, Dog Broke Back, Hustle Man with a gun, chokehold on a kid, pie over cigs and sword ratchetness.
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I already left a voicemail in response to this episode & specifically to the article about “being black around white people” which had my personal thoughts. But I wanted to respond to the comment made on this page by PrinceLeron – I think as Rod & Karen said on the show that being open & honest with people especially about your race and all that comes with it is important in creating lasting dialog, change & relationships.
However – there is a REAL risk to being your authentic self that this woman is correct to both feel & articulate. It isn’t about HER being uncomfortable talking about race. She mentions her black friends & white friends who “get it” and her family that she talks to about these things all the time.
From my personal experience, when I was active in social justice, but not blasting it from all my social network pages, emails etc – white “friends” and even some black ones were all too comfortable to treat me the way they always have.
The minute I decided to become a full time activist and started posting the work I was doing & highlighting the work of others – all that “support” dried up. I used to be invited to the movies, to lunch get togethers to couples dinners… since I started doing this work -NADA. I am open and clear about myself & my convictions and it has led to severe isolation from people I THOUGHT liked (even loved) me.
I would caution against assuming this issue is with her, when the risks associated with being your authentic self with SOME people in your life is are very real. That said, I’m much happier being MYSELF and say fuck the haters with a thousand AMENS from my brothers & sisters in the movement.
Peace
LeslieMac
I really think Anthony Mackie was still channeling his character from the movie in Black or White. He plays an aint shit black father in that movie. Kevin Costner plays the “I save black people but I’m the I keeps it real white man who’ll tell black people when they aint shit AND I’ll use the ‘n’ word but I’m not racist” character. There were so many black stereotypes in the movie, I sat in that theatre so pissed. FYI: I got free tickets to see this at the Toronto Film Festival and hoped it’d be more nuanced. I slapped myself for even thinking it would have been nuanced and would make an attempt to address the black and white issue. There was so much more they could have done with this movie.
I think the obstacle holding Priscilla Ward(wrote the article about suppressing blackness) back is herself. When Rod was reading the article, I kept hearing things that didn’t make sense. I read the article and noticed that the tone of the article didn’t fit the facts that she was presenting.
The first thing I noticed is that she was home schooled from K-12. I’m not knocking it but that might be why she finds it more difficult than others interact with different groups of people.
The second thing I noticed is that she called Temple a mini HBCU. I kind of understand but can’t detach myself from the fact that Temple is over 60% white and only 10-13% black. It stands out because she is trying to make herself the blackest person on the planet. Her music was Miles Davis and Nina Simone. And Fuck all those white actors and singers that her white coworkers talked about. She didn’t even know who they are because she only listens to black shit. She only feels comfortable using the sister girl language she used when she interned at Essences. That felt like overcompensation to me.
The biggest thing I noticed is that she only talked about things that she was afraid would happen. She never provided any example of white people around her being out of pocket or being overtly disinterested in black issue. Also, she shitted on her with roommate for no reason. It is perfectly understandable for him be confused about what happened in Ferguson the first couple days after it happened. I remember that the mainstream did a terrible job of reporting what happened so a lot of people had little information to work with. Her roommate came to her and asked her what was going on she brushed him off. That same roommate asked her about the protest and was brushed off again. Two examples of that roommate bringing up those issues with her but her article characterizes him a another white man not interested in race.
In my opinion her biggest problem is that she’s uncomfortable discussing race and projected that onto her coworkers and roommates. She decided to “suppress her blackness” before she ever interacted with any of those people. I may be wrong but I doubt the white women at her job would notice any real difference between “hello” and “hey girl.” I found it odd that she decided not fuck with any of those white people but also never fucked with black people either. She lives in NY, there is not a shortage of niggas there. She made a decision to only operate in white circles.
The truest quote from her article was when stated she needed “a place where I could sit there, trying to untangle my fro and make sense of what it means to be an African-American woman in this country.” I hope she didn’t think she would get that from white people. That is a person struggle that she is going through that she has to figure out mostly by herself. It’s like she created her own mental prison and is struggling to escape. The article should have focused on that aspect but comes across as a piece about her white surrounding forcings her to suppress her true self.
I read an article where a woman lost her limbs because whatever she injected in her butt. In what universe is it safe to have any medical procedure in a hotel room? I feel the same way about The Real Housewives and their at home botox parties. I really wish people would be smarter about their bodies especially when you’re putting foreign objects/chemicals in their body.
Sidenote: Kevin Gates said hitting a girl with butt injections from the back is like having 2 kneecaps smash into your pelvis. Hilarious!
as far as the women who were expelled from delta sigma theta people who have a problem with it seem to forget that incorporated at the end. its a business and DST is protecting their brand. if i were an employee for pepsi and i went on tv and said “as an employee of pepsi, i do… this, this and this…” without approval from pepsi who would feel sorry for me if pepsi decided to fire me?
its not that its not that bad. and who’s to say there’s not something in their bylaws that doesn’t allow for things like such. i just don’t understand the outrage and people caring how their organization is represented. its their organization.
I have a four year old son, and the guess the race story about the vigilante teacher along with my general perception of care providers that they are underpaid and on the verge of, if not completely submerged into the waters of burnout, has led me to constantly teach my son that these are people just like us. That teachers/ care givers have feelings and we should be respectful of these to have a better chance of successfully navigating through life and around theses crazies. As a parent I feel attempting to establish and maintain good communication with my sons teachers, helps them to see that they are appreciated and respected and not alone in the development of my child.