Last week Elon and Crystal Wright, of “Conservative Black Chick” fame, went on CNN’s Reliable Sources to talk about race and perception in Ferguson. Not surprisingly, Wright proceeded to talk over both host Brian Stelter and White, use such popular broken tropes to support the lack of indictment like black on black crime, and virulently object to being referred to as “ma’am.”
We’re just glad there are people out there like Wright so racist white people can sleep well knowing there’s a black person out there that shares their views.
Team Blackness also discussed Ferguson protestors being in the running for Time person of the year and the backlash to several St. Louis Rams players putting their hands up to show their support for the Ferguson protests.
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Xboxershorts
I wonder if Wright has even considered the 100 years of history documented in this research paper showing a clear racial bias in local, state and federal law. Especially at the County and municipality level.
And, Ferguson is specifically referenced here.
http://www.epi.org/publication/making-ferguson/
dubo
Considering that 99% of discussions about race in the MSM are white people saying racist shit to each other, if we’re intimidating white people out of having “”honest”” discussions about race as Wright claims, we’re doing a piss poor job of it
Betty Cracker
I think Stelter is right to say that the “conversation on race” that’s occurring as a result of Ferguson is mostly two conversations, one among whites and one among blacks. It’s not surprising since our lives are still largely segregated, even when the schools aren’t.
I had several conversations about Ferguson and its racial implications with fellow white people over Thanksgiving. Most of the conversations were frustrating and depressing, but not all. It’s important to keep trying, I think.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Betty Cracker:
My co-worker had not one, but two different relatives drop the N-bomb regarding Ferguson. One was actually at the Thanksgiving table while the turkey was being served.
They’re going to be spending Christmas with his wife’s family. He said he had never before seen the expression on her face that she had when his uncle used that word.
(We’re in So Cal, but rednecks be rednecks everywhere.)
Xboxershorts
On a related note…the cop who killed Eric garner will also, not so surprisingly, not be indicted.
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Grand-Jury-Decision-Eric-Garner-Staten-Island-Chokehold-Death-NYPD-284595921.html?_osource=SocialFlowFB_NYBrand
Mike in dc
@Xboxershorts:
Forget it, Jake. It’s Staten Island.
Xboxershorts
@Mike in dc: I ain’t about to lose my nose over it.
Still……..
Paul in KY
We used m’am all the time in USAF. It is sorta the female equivalent of sir.
Tommy
That woman is shit all stupid. I was taught as a child and I do it as an adult of 45 to address my elders as sir and ma’am. I open doors for people. I like to think give them respect. That was hard segment to watch. She seems clueless.
Tommy
@Paul in KY: Yes, yes, yes. A sign of respect.
Paul in KY
@Tommy: I use it too, Tommy. I have only good intentions, when I use it.
Barbara
One thing Ms Wright conveniently overlooks is that when it comes to black on black crime, law enforcement makes every effort to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators — quite the opposite of all the LEOs who walk after shooting unarmed individuals, often after receiving help from their fellow officers in avoiding any repercussions.That’s in addition to Elon’s point that comparing criminals to police is comparing apples and oranges. You expect criminals to commit crimes, you want to assume police are there to protect you.
As for the two different conversations, having been in St. Louis for Thanksgiving for the white version of the conversation, all I can say is OY!
My sister-in-law was upset by the New Yorker cover because she didn’t think her adopted home town of St. Louis should be smeared by being associated with what happened (over there) in Ferguson.
My brother-in-law wanted to know why I didn’t like the article the local paper — his paper, since they are both career reporters — handled their first article on Tamir Rice’s killing. How did I know Tamir was black, the paper has a policy of not mentioning race? And what was wrong with the headline that Tamir didn’t follow orders and raise his hands? Um, because the police don’t shoot white kids, and because that headline implies he deserved it? It could have just as easily read, “Investigation underway.”
Both of them thought that Wilson getting off was terrible, both of them were supportive of the peaceful protests. But after the riots, they said they no longer cared, they were just too angry about the businesses, especially the ones they frequent on South Grand, being destroyed.
And they identify as Liberals, vote Democratic.
opiejeanne
@Paul in KY: I like being called “ma’am” better than being called “Miss”. “Miss” makes assumptions about marital status. I’m 64, I’ve been married 45 years, and I’ve got the scars to prove it and I feel like I am owed that little bit of respect.
I have had discussions about this with idiots who address me as miss because they have figured out that ma’am is short for madam, and for some reason they think the only use of “madam” is for the owner of a whorehouse. I told that dork that “miss” was short for “mistress” and I’d rather own the whorehouse than be owned by someone.
Really, tone of voice may make one object to being called “ma’am”, but it’s the patronizing attitude that’s to blame and not the word. I can see someone in their 20s objecting to being called “ma’am”, but I’m an old lady with no illusions that I look any younger than I am. Please call me “ma’am”, or even better, find out my name and use it or call me nothing at all.
Xboxershorts
@Barbara:
It’s right to be upset with the looting and burning. But I put it this way…..Angry mobs have no brain, no conscience you could possibly appeal to. They only have anger. And they will persist as long as the anger persists. And it is their government’s job to minimize the appearances of angry mobs. Their government let them down in a big way,
And then I ask them to read the paper I linked to in my first post…because, a century of economic oppression will definitely make people angry.
Woodrowfan
I tend to refer to any adult woman who I don’t know as Ma’am, as in “thank you ma’am.” And yes, I use it instead sir. I guess I could just switch to “Thank you”…..
Woodrowfan
@opiejeanne:
I thought Missy was short for “Mistress” Because “Master” no longer worked.. /geek
Tommy
I went to college at Western Illinois Univerity as an undergrad in the late 80s. I lived the first years in the “slums.” This was what it was called from a dorm point-of-view. We didn’t have even have air conditioners. Summer 100+. Mostly African Americans lived in the dorms. I’d later almost won homecoming king on the support of the African Ameican frats (oh I am so white). I had a Greek thing and I’d used to go to their parties and get shit faced with them. No judgement. I lost. But I have to think it was stunning for my parents (and it was for me) to be cheered on by African Americans as the parade went by.
opiejeanne
Did I not get the memo? The last I heard Michael Brown did not rob that convenience store and the owners denied calling the cops.
Ben Cisco
Well of course she did, because REASONS. That was the role she was there to play, and had no arguments on the merits, so it was on with the talking over and the indig-NAY-tion and so forth. Just another shuffling ass pimped out to play the “good” Negress for the target demo.
CNN is, and has been, a cesspool for some time now. Elon, when you posted this:
I know another network you should have added to that list…
Tommy
@opiejeanne: Hey happy thoughts. I guess this is a thing.12-yesr jams Black in Black at a talent show. And I mean he jams!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luMU_6dSTh4
I can only think of the teacher. Wanting to provide for the kid. What does she do ….. here are some Jimi Hendrix CDs.
Mnemosyne
@opiejeanne:
I’ve been called worse than that. I’ve been called “sir.” I guess that’s what I get for not wearing makeup.
(To be fair, it hasn’t happened in a while, at least not since I grew my hair out past the tops of my ears. I think the guy who did it was more embarrassed than I was.)
rikyrah
you need to stop giving her the benefit the doubt. She’s a slave catcher, plain and simple.
gocart mozart
A cute barrista said to me once “here’s your coffee sir” and it pissed me off, made me feel old. I was 15 years older than her but still . . .
Tone In DC
@Ben Cisco:
Well of course she did, because REASONS. That was the role she was there to play, and had no arguments on the merits, so it was on with the talking over and the indig-NAY-tion and so forth. Just another shuffling ass pimped out to play the “good” Negress for the target demo.
LULz.
Who let the lovechild of Armstrong Williams and Clarence Thomas loose on TV?
I can’t watch segments like that. I’m glad that Elon and Team Blackness got some play (showing my age, saying that), but listening to her diarrhea of the mouth was a steep price to pay.
metricpenny
@rikyrah:
Co-sign.
Elon, you did well. Loved the control of your facial expressions. LOL
How about doing a posting here addressing the rates of same-race crimes? And showcasing the community protests and meetings condemning the killing of young black men by one another that have gone on for the almost 6 decades I’ve been black in America?
Educate, my brother. Educate.
Thanks!
mtiffany
Thanks TWiB — cleaning the soda off my monitor because of that damned #StruggleChicken meme…
ChrisH
I worked in a phone center one semester to help pay for college expenses. This was in Texas but the calls were being made to people in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. As part of the training we were told to be sure not to call anyone sir or ma’am on the phone because it would be interpreted as condescending and not a default and expected form of respect.
In Texas, my highschool football coach would ask a question and would not acknowledge you’d spoken unless ‘sir’ immediately followed yes or no.
Southern Beale
When you live in the South you get Ma’am’d a lot and I really hate it. I didn’t grow up with it so I don’t have the cultural reference point that others may have. To me it’s just obnoxious. I tell people to not Ma’am me all the dang time.
Barbara
@Xboxershorts: I’m not exactly in favor of looting and burning either. I don’t condone it but I can put it in a bigger, historical context, while my in-laws seemed to take it personally. They’ve supported the black community and now! Their favorite restaurant is having a big financial set-back because its windows were broken.
Again, I’m not in favor of broken windows, I feel for the restaurant’s owner. But the members of the black community who were involved in that melee were not specifically betraying my in-laws.
It’s how thin my in-law’s veneer of being enlightened turned out to be, and how oblivious they are to their blind spots. It’s hard to have a conversation that makes any sense when you are starting there.
Hal
Sorry Elon, but you missed out on the most important question. Has Crystal got herself a man yet, and how is her chicken doing?
pluky
@Paul in KY: I’m both Southern and an Army brat. Without question, any woman over the age of puberty was “ma’am” unless I was specifically invited to address her more informally. Even then, I’d better prefix a Mizz before using the first name of any woman more than a generation older than me.
Uncle Ebeneezer
I’ve managed to avoid discussions about Ferguson with anyone in person but I’ve chimed in here and there on FB. The head-in-the-sand privilege of white, fairly well-educated people on display has been really dispiriting. To list just a few points of ignorance (or just plain old fingers-in-their-ears obliviousness) I’ve been seeing over and over:
– The difference between a GJ and a trial jury.
– McCulloch was supposed to be representing The People not Officer Wilson
– The fact that witnesses that disagreed with the police account were cross-examined aggressively on contradictions whereas Wilson was not.
– Insistence that the police testimony constitutes “facts” but witness accounts that differed are “questionable/unreliable.” (h/t Amai from her blog)
– Nobody is saying #allwhitepeople are racist
– Protests are because of a very long well-documented pattern of disparate treatment of PoC by LEO’s, not just this particular case.
– Nobody is cheering for the rioters/looters (ok, I kindof am*.)
– Ignorance of the very concept of institutional racism.
– Conflating any/all criticism of the system/police (like saying maybe it’s time to start holding them to a higher standard than pants-pissing John Q. Gunowner when it comes to their use of deadly force) with driving around blaring Copkiller!!1! on our stereos in our Death-to-Pigs vehicles.
– The fact that Brown’s actions may have justified the use of force but not this much/deadly force is a real possibility.
– The ridiculously stereotypical account Wilson gave of Brown (as noted well by the TWIB crew.)
– Claims that the media is the reason for the protests/anger.
– Pearl-clutching queries of “why does everything have to be about race.” Funny how that one comes up EVERY time somebody has the audacity to point out racism.
– Head-shaking about how if only Black People would “be better”…
– Invocations of MLK quotes (funny how these are the ONLY times they mention him) to disapprove of violence.
– Cries about how the horrible oppression by the PC Police who won’t let them say things on FB without being criticized or called out as racists.
– More concern about the poor business owners than the actual victims of shootings.
Ok, sorry I got off the rails…the last few aren’t points of misinformation/ignorance they are just things that irritate me.
Ugh…..
* I’m generally against violence, but at this point I’m not convinced that anything less than a little rioting/looting/making-white-people-nervous, will effect any change. I’m starting to think that when the stakes are this high there has to be a good cop/bad cop (pardon the pun) duality to the protests to actually make anything change.
jw
“Ma’am” is offensive?
If you grew up in Texas (the Southern Midwest) there was one safe way to address a woman whom you didn’t know their marital status: “ma’am”. If you knew she wasn’t married it was ‘Miz’. “Miss’ was rarely used, ’cause it inferred ‘unmarried’ without knowing that for a fact.
Jeebus, what is a man to do? According to that most unpleasant person nothing is a correct address and you should just tip your hat (I hope that’s not incorrect) and go home.
Shit.
Paul in KY
@opiejeanne: Yes m’am! :-)
Paul in KY
@Southern Beale: Right on, foxy mama! ;-)
Paul in KY
@pluky: I m’amed them all when I was in: 5 years old to 500 years old.
Paul in KY
@jw: It seems you are damned if you m’am & damned if you don’t :-)