Feed a Child South Africa | Problematic Advert

In the name of charity is it ever alright to depict a black child as a dog belonging to a white owner who is fed scraps off food to throughout the course of the day? Even if the message is to state that many children eat worst than dogs. This is what This is Africa is asking.  Take a look at the advert by Feed a Child South Africa. It just screams wrong, wrong, wrong. If this is how white South Africans see the indigenous Black populations poor children, what do they think of the rest? The advert is in one of the most poor tastes I have seen in a long while. I just wonder if poor white children are depicted in this way in South Africa. It is just bad really. The could have done this ad by showing a well fed dog and a child with an empty bowl at a dinner table to sat on a porch. If this is the box they are in, this charity needs to think outside of it.

Read the article on This is Africa here.

Does Scotland Have Issues With Race?

BBC Scotland aired a show called The Street. It featured a Black man busking in Glasgow being racially and physically abused by two drunks. The busker's name is Melo and he does not sit back and take the abuse at all. He tells them to leave him alone. When the skinny one goes to punch him he moves swiftly out the way and the drunk racist falls into the shutters and down the steps. When Melo is being called out of his name he shouts back yes I am Black and I am proud. Never let someone make you feel that your race is something to be ashamed of ever.

The clip does show passerby's stepping in to help the busker just before the police turn up and arrest the larger man who continues to spew racist abuse. What is sad is that he blames someone based on the colour of their skin on the woes of city. How wrong is he. What I found even more interesting was that question is now being asked - Is Scotland racist? Scotland probably has its very own race issues like every other european city or town has. Question is has anything ever been done about it and how are communities engaged in dialogue. The UK as a whole has issues but not everyone wishes to talk about it. Silence is not the answer.

Read more at the Daily Record

We remember Stephen Lawrence

20 years ago today Stephen Lawrence and his best friend Duwayne Brooks were set upon by a gang of white boys intent on causing harm to anyone based on the colour of their skin. Stephen and Duwayne being black males became their target. Sadly Stephen was unable to get away from the brutal and fatal attack and died. The police were deemed as not treating the case seriously at the time and even treated the surviving victim as a criminal. 

The Macpherson report came out years later after the murder and the first trials and told the UK what the Black community already knew and experienced. There was institutional racism in the police force. However still today some things have not changed. Stop and searches of non-whites have increased. Black people are stopped 1 in 10 times and yet only a small proportion are actually ever charged with a crime. The UK has a long way to go indeed. The comment sections of certain newspapers are filled with folk saying it is time to let it go and move on. However all his murderers are not behind bars. So the fight must continue.

At the time of his untimely passing Stephen was a student with dreams of becoming an architect. His family have set up a charity The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust that raises funds to help young people achieve their dreams in the same industry. 

Today a memorial service was held at St. Martins In the Fields Church in London in remembrance of Stephen. 

Football racism brings out racism in Britain?

I am not a huge football fan. Though will have to take note as my sons get older as they wish to play this game seriously. With that in mind the current sad state of affairs in British football is the blatant racism (though I am told the majority are not like the current ones in the press). I have been told that a certain English player is known for his racism and the recent comments in the press is the tip of the iceberg. Now when countries on the continent of Europe are exposed by their football spectators for racism the Daily Mail and others UK press are quick to say how bad this is. Even the comment section is full of talk about how backwards those countries are etc etc. However when it is  Brit being pulled up for a racist comment or using inappropriate language they complain about political correctness and fail to see or accept that the words they choose to use causes an offence. Should you return the favour they will be singing from a different song sheet.

Anyway here are a few quotes from the article about Alan Hansen referring to Black footballers as "coloured". Indeed a faux pax and he is right to be pulled up on it. Notice what comments get loads of green arrows and the ones which are red arrowed. For this particular paper this is to be expected. I expect no more no less of their readers. I am a reader of a different calibre. 

You notice how Desmond in the 1st quote is upset that the Black community is standing up for itself. Most of the green arrowed comments say the same thing so I did not bother give them anymore air time on my blog. There are so may terms that my forefathers/mothers fought to eradicate that it is only right that Diaspora Africans continue to keep folk on their toes. Desmond fails to realise that if an entire community is offended by the term it is offensive and should not be used unless of course what you wish to do is offend. Surely there are better things you can do with your words.

The last three comments speak for themselves and are in the top worst rated section. Speaks volumes if you ask me. I am not linking the article this time but if you wish to see it for yourself go to their website and look for any article on race and you will see even more like that. The comments that show progression get red arrowed. 

To my brothers and sisters and cousins please continue to pull people up on their behaviour and what they say. People these days know what is offensive and what terms have died even though some mis-guided souls like to call themselves derogatory words. Just know that the majority of us don't play that. We know better so we do better. Those who do not wish to do better still got some growing to do.

Children are not colourblind

I have been watching the BBC series on mixed race Britannia. One of the ladies featured was born to a Jamaican mum and white European Englishman. She spoke about how she was adopted due to her mums mental health and that she was placed in a white family in a white area. Growing up she had almost no non-white interaction. On her first few visits to see her birth mum she was scared of her because of her dark brown skin. I do not care what anyone says, she was obviously told or observed and overheard certain things that would lead to such a reaction. It did not help that she was not around both races that made her. She did however speak of being called names and her adoptive mother telling her to respond to the ignorant folk that she did not have to spend thousands on a holiday to get a tan. However she had no diverse culture as what is normally said to be celebrated by mixed race people. The man she met introduced her to west indian food and bit more culture.

Now I mention this because we are always told that kids see no colour. Well someone told me that about that animal that is supposed to be mans best friend. Anyway I was sat at home with my boys when I over heard a conversation taking place. My youngest who is currently 3yrs (and three quarters) attends playgroup and my oldest is 6yrs old. They are doing their usual banter and than suddenly I hear son 2 say to his brother "you're black hahaha" and pointing his finger at him as he spoke. Son1 was quick to reply and said "No! I am not black, I am brown!" My ears my eyes did a double take. To make sure I was not hearing things I enquired what was said and the exact same thing was repeated. 

Son2 goes to a playgroup the children are various backgrounds though predominantly white. All I can take from this is that some kid who is already being programmed by his/her parents has told my baby he is black. At home we just say Jamaican and British etc. I told Son1 yes you are right you are brown. It would be wrong for me to tell him that this crayon is brown which is darker than you and for me to tell him oh but your skin colour is black. I hate to think what sort of conversations take place in some people's homes. Now though Son2 calls himself brown and they both recognise the various shading our family has. Maybe this new generation will move people towards nation and culture rather than skin colour of which the current ones do not actually fit.

I have had many debates about the use of Black and African etc. Some African Americans from Bill Cosby to the common man do not appreciate their African genetics and just want to be called American and happily accept Black over African. I myself I am fine to a limited degree with Black in a political sense when not expanded to be all encapsulating to other non european races. However when it comes to describing me and who I am. I am an African-Caribbean by way of Jamaica that just happens to be British. Mouthful? No, because I do no often have these conversations. White folk or rather Europeans are like well your English as you are born here but culturally I am a West Indian Brit and as a people is recognised in this way politically too.

All in all no one can tell me that kids do not see colour. My children have been seeing colours from the moment their eyes focused and only as they have come into contact with other children whose parents are a bit loose with the tongue began to pick up skin colour. Son1 never had such an experience when went to nursery. I still feel like complaining but I am leaving it and correcting what they hear as and when it comes along. They believe me, after all, over everyone else (including Daddy.......). 

Sidenote: The issue for me is not that my child has been called "black" but the way in which it was said. The children are aged between 2-4yrs old. Yes as my hubby says children name call all the time but this at this age is of an adult nature and cannot be accepted with no form of concern. 

Racism is not just verbal

I was reading a Christian blog post about The Help, book turned film at  Think Christian. This commentary caught my attention. It acknowledges that racism exist but people only talk down those who are blatant racists. Often people refuse to accept that racism is displayed and acted out without actually verbally exchanging racial expletives. Anyway check out the comment below and tell me what you think.

The fact that Hilly is characterized as such as the blatant enemy is a source of frustration for me. Scapegoating her as an evil-racist is such a dangerous, yet common, practice in white racial literature. We (white folk) are allowed to distance ourselves from her clearly-inappropriate 'racist' views. Thus, we are free to identify with the white-savior heroine, congratulating ourselves that we would never be so obviously racist.

These sentiments play into white folks' tendencies to associate the word 'racist' with people that blatantly espouse hatred, rather than examine the nuances of systemic racial advantage and subconscious bias. Similarly, setting the book in the 1960's, invites a congratulatory look on how far we have come, rather examining the modern consequences of that era. As long as we're not that bad, we must be alright (read: "I'm basically a good person, I'm not a sinner"). Macon D of 'Stuff White People Do' notes: "While The Help is about people who risk their lives to challenge the status quo of their day, the book itself does very little to challenge the status quo of its own day." The fact is, the attitudes articulated in the book are still alive and well today, if more hushed. (source)

I just so found this interesting and understand what the commenter is trying to say. The original post looks at how someone reacts to their enemies. It is worth a read too. 

 

Should we care for Ben

Ben Douglas has written an article in the Daily Mail, to express his disgust at being called the N-word. But should we as a Black community care about his feelings when he mocks us on radio and TV. He fails to realise that the stereotypes he throws at his own people are the same ones people throw his way. His appearance on The Big Question was so shocking. He looked so flabbergasted when Precious Williams (whose book I must read one day which is titled Precious) discussed the cultural and identity problems she developed in her mixed adoption. In her case it was not that her parents could not look after her, the judge dismissed them as they were black. Her adoptive parents were loving but she was just not culturally aware and grew up with negative attitudes to her own people but threw education she has learned differently.

Now Ben was not having this and he basically tried to say her experience was rare, yet Dr Derrick Campbell who was a guest on the panel who works with people who suffer the fallout from being disconnected from their culture agreed with Precious. He called Ben out for his remarks on Radio 4 where he likened people from his birth place as dressed in tribal gear running around an open top fire. How can any Black person be taking seriously with remarks like that.

So when his latest article in the DM appears where he is disgusted at being lauded by his preferred peers with a racial slur (which it must be noted is not used as a term of endearment by all Black people) he comes crying that he was racially abused. I think Ben was shocked because he disassociates himself from Black culture and he readily accepts the white English culture that he was raised in. 

What does he mean by "I'm from Surrey not Harlem". Is he trying to say that it is okay to be called the N-word if you are from Harlem and all the other cities he named? Is he calling all rappers gangsters? He throws around the fact that he works in theatre as if to say that makes him special. Well Ben you should know many Black people work in theatre and attend theatre shows.  It is fine if you do not want to be seen as a Black British man but just an English man of no specific race. I just hope you see that the racial stereotypes you often throw at other Black people are the same stereotypes your preferred peers will and have thrown your way. 

I doubt you will be humbled by this. I bet Brian Belo is more culturally aware than you. I just cant sympathise with or for you. I hope the DM and its readers gives you sympathy you want. But I doubt you care about what I think. Right now I just cannot take this man seriously.