Sunday, July 22, 2007

A fine line...

I don't know how I feel about this.

I guess the reason why I don't know how to feel is because... well... I'm white. White people aren't allowed to get involved in "urban culture". Only sometimes, and only so far in.

There are sites claiming that this is a public service announcement which is airing on BET. I don't doubt BET would air it, but I was immediately startled by the idea that this might in fact be a genuine PSA, probably aimed at America's black youth.

BET is joking right? I went to the BET website and was immediately greeted by a banner ad for Kentucky Fried Chicken. After which I swiftly exited the BET website.

Not because I thought it was a cheap, racist ad. But because I can't stand KFC.

At the end of the video is a link to notarapper.com, the website of D'mite, the man apparently responsible for the vocals on the PSA video and found no reference to the video. His music is intelligent though a little bland and he does seem to have a distinct sense of humour about hip-hop culture. Even if he was trying to make a powerful statement or shock-joke with the Read-A-Book video, I still feel uneasy about it.

For a while now western society has been sharing racial humour and stirring up the black and white into a beautiful shade of gray. Chappelle's Show comes to mind. Rick James and Tyrone aside, he made it acceptable for everyone to laugh at the black, white supremacist and the white family named 'Niggar'.

South Park made a huge leap of faith when Stan's dad guessed wrong on Wheel of Fortune. And in the end, the episode made a hilarious point about racial issues in America and Stan realized that white people only "get it" when they can admit they'll never "get it." (And that Cartman is indeed stronger than a midget.)

The Boondocks is another brilliant comedy show with a powerful racial message that criticizes both black and white culture. But the Boondocks creator Aaron McGrudder got flack from the press because his main character had a dream of what MLK jr. would say if he were alive today.

So far, I haven't seen any response to the alleged PSA.

Maybe the BET video WAS a joke and the white boy didn't "get it." It's possible. But I think I'm starting to. It's a caricature of black people. Remember the days when being a black comedian meant using shoe polish to make skin blacker? This made the whites of the eyes and teeth exaggerated. Putting red lipstick on to give that foolish clown look and exaggerating the lips. Using slang like "lawsy me!" and "Yess'm!" and dancing around on stage to ragtime?

THAT was a caricature also. It was racist and disgusting and no self-respecting black man would ever dress up like that.

...Except maybe a cartoon.

So I guess this white boy finally knows how he feels. I feel disgusted as a human being to be led to believe that this is a public service to black people in America. I'm concerned that it was made by black artists for a black audience. And I'm VERY pissed off that no one else seems to be talking about this.

Then again... maybe I'm supposed to feel this way.

No comments: