On the one hand, American Presidents are fair game and this is common knowledge. However, up until January 2009, they've all been white. Some monumentally remedial, some not, but they've all been white.
I don't like being a hypocrite though it's a really fine line...but should I feel bad about laughing at something as awesome as this photo or am I part of the problem?
We can turn G.W. Bush into a monkey, Eddie Murphy can parody one of the first African-Americans on screen (yes, Buckwheat) and people think it's hilarious; any reference with regard to Obama and Curious George (also T-shirts) and we're all sheet-wearing racialists. Although for the latter, we all know that this is a direct reference to his racial background. With Bush, it was his intellect that was being insulted. With Buckwheat it was an entire race and history of people that was being insulted, and Murphy gave it a backward legitimacy.
I just made up my own mind. Nevermind.
Hey, Hey; Ho, Ho Racist Bigots Gotta Go!!
If Obama is to be mocked, pilloried or otherwise, it should be for what he does in office; certainly not for his heritage or the colour of his skin.
Word.
Yeah, I was thinking it'd probably be best to steer clear of that one. You might be OK if you were African American (or Canadian in your case), but anyone else would just be asking for trouble.
ReplyDeleteI think it's kind of offensive. I don't really like anything that makes fun of something someone can't help.
ReplyDeleteThe site where this shirt came from is obamaisotay.com and is currently up for sale -the site that is.
ReplyDeleteI was remiss in mentioning this and I apologize.
Defining racism is kind of like defining pornography: "I can't tell you what it is, but I know it when I see it."
For me, I see that shirt as demeaning, without question - but when one laughs along with Chappelle, Pryor, Paul Mooney etc., as I do, the thing to remember is to laugh with, not at. This shirt "laughs at" which is what I realized in putting my conflicted thoughts down in writing and I tried to be honest about it.
A person needs to exercise a lot of discernment in this area: when you're told or shown something is funny/amusing for a long time, you can fall back into the repeating groove of that old record very easily.
Spike Lee pointed that out so well in "Bamboozled" and unfortunately it's a film a lot have people haven't seen.
Yet, it is precisely the humour of the above mentioned comics that showed our experiences are more shared and intrinsically connected than we realize. That's why they crossed the so-called "colour barrier" and found mass appeal (Mooney wrote or co-wrote much of Pryor's material btw).
What that shirt reinforces is that it's okay to be racist if the analogy is another black person or experience.
Well, it's not.
How do I know this: Richard Pryor is deceased; Dave Chappelle is on hiatus; Eddie Murphy is delirious, literally, and: Paul Mooney would't touch it with a ten-foot pole.
I too sometimes chuckle over things that I really shouldn't find funny. Interesting shirt. At least it's not making him seem like a monkey, it's saying he's o-tay.
ReplyDelete(I never liked Buckwheat either).
*edit* I was remiss in "not" mentioning - D'Oh!
ReplyDelete