If you don't mind, please take a gander at www.obamawaffles.com and come back. Feel free to take your time, absorb, marinate and come back. I'll wait here.. back? ok good.
Isn't that a perfect example of the right to free speech being abused? So I can take a joke you know, like if someone did a quick photoshop edit of an Aunt Jemima Box and put Obama's head on it and emailed it to folks. Haha, funny, ignorant.
But man, whoever's behind this went through the trouble to form an LLC, hired someone to design the box, set up a website, an online store, registered the domain name. Okay maybe they were an LLC already. I'll give them that. But still, that is hella work right there! And to think through that whole process, that nobody even once thought about how racist it is? Priceless.
In my opinion, the problem here is that this is not just racism. Even though this is some 1900's style racism to me, part of the problem here is privilege. Privilege that blinds a group of individuals and gives them no sense of empathy. Privilege that allows someone to purposefully steer clear of any form of diversity. Privilege that perpetuates the archaic standards of the 1800's like "dark is bad, light is good."
But maybe there's another side to this. Often times there have been things I've seen recently that have been hella racist against European cultures but no one says anything about it. It made me wonder. Here's one example...
BORAT: Sasha Baron Cohen, a Jewish man from the UK (I think), makes fun of the entire nation of Kazakhstan. As much as I laughed, i couldn't help think that it was pretty racist.
If they did an Asian, South American or African country, they would have hell to pay right? People would be up in arms. But how come no Kazak or Scottish groups complain? Should people of color just grow thicker skin? Should we follow the example of white culture and just laugh along with everyone else? If we laugh along with everyone else (like I did), then no wonder people don't understand why we get mad when Obamawaffles.com goes online.
Now to the White people reading this, don't go printing this out or emailing this to all of your friends. I'm not done yet.
So now I have a question for my White homies out there. Did you take offense when a fellow European culture was lampooned or mocked? If yes, then cool. you probably understand then. If no, then I ask, why not? I'm not just talking about during movies, I'm talkin every day life like when you see shit you know is wrong but you just don't say anything. Is it because you as a white person do not associate with your European heritage? I don't know the answer, that's why I'm asking you.
It always trips me out when I talk to a White person about culture and they just say "oh I'm just White" You're not just white to me. And that's why people aren't just "black" or "asian". We have ties to our roots and we are proud of them. When people call themselves white, it sounds to me a lot like internalized oppression (minus the oppression part of course).
Who told you that you were White? Who benefits from you accepting the term "White"? I'm not asking who benefits from being White. (In America, that's a no-brainer.) Something to think about.
So enough rambling, my point is this. America will always have issues with race and ethnicity until people on all sides look at their own shit. By "shit" i mean internalized issues. It is not just on People of Color to "get over it" or "take a joke." It's also on White people to acknowledge their own heritage so that you can understand why we are proud of ours. Then for us people of color, we need to chill with the internalized oppression. Chill with the N, F, C, & B words and the self-deprecating Carlos Mencia type humor. We are sending mixed messages to European Americans.
The more we try to "get over it" we accept racial divisions. Then the more we will be blinded to the simple fact that the underlying issue here in America is Classism. To the poor white cats I see chillin at 7-11, you do not have that much more benefits from being White. To the middle class white cats I see chillin at Whole Foods, you do benefit from being White, but I bet you are paying more taxes proportionately than your rich White counterparts! To the rich white cats chillin at the country clubs, I haven't even met you yet, but don't be afraid. I will meet you someday. Probably at Whole Foods.
Sorry this was long, but Obama Waffles done pissed me off!
