Profiting Off Of Pain

I think most of us can agree that racism is the worst. But profiting off a tragedy in the name of tolerance and justice is another story. Colorlines has come under attack due to their story questioning some of the practices of FKH8. The company, which is for-profit, released a video that has gone viral that essentially was an advertisement for the company’s T-shirt emblazoned with “Racism is not over. But I’m over racism.”:

The video features a group of unnamed black kids, purportedly from Ferguson, reciting parts of a script that’s clearly been written by adults. A script that will make you think race is solely a black and white issue, by the way. Even if the children are from Ferguson, it’s unclear if or how they’ve been compensated. [See above statement #1—Ed] Either way, the idea that these kids are from Ferguson is paraded for consumption.

After being repeatedly attacked by FKH8 who demanded an apology, as well as calling the website homophobic and race baiters, Colorlines then clarified the article with editor notes like the one above. The site then came further under attack by others who feel that they threw Aura Bogado, the write of the piece, under the bus in their mea culpa. But the fact remains, even if FKH8 does donate $5 of every T-shirt to a charity, they’re still profiting off of sadness.

Team Blackness also discussed Condoleeza Rice as the next NFL commisioner, that Kanye West actually does care about disabled people, and school districts receiving free military gear from the Pentagon.

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