Two white female students at Grapevine High school in Texas are finding themselves in hot water after recording a hateful, racist rap which includes such lovely ideas as hanging black boys from trees. As punishment they were asked to write an apology. Their response shows that they have no idea what they’re talking about:
The girls repeatedly threaten to kill black boys who look at them sexually and make stereotypical references to black penis size, in addition to homophobic comments and offensive remarks about Latino and Asian-American students. The girls, however, insist they are not bigoted. “The song does not portray in any way how I actually feel about people,” one of the girls wrote. “I am a very open-minded person and I enjoy being part of a diverse family and diverse community. I am being raised to be respectful of all people, cultures and differences.” The other girl said they were only mirroring the society they grew up in.
Ah, what? Is there some way we can keep people this dense away from society?
Team Blackness also discussed an anti-vaccer who has found herself in quarantine after her whole family got whooping cough, the mayor who doesn’t want to release body camera footage, and we break down The Weeknd’s song “Earned It” with hilarious consequences.
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Amir Khalid
We can’t see our own biases unless someone points them out to us. And when they do, our first instinct is to angrily deny any such bias. Then, once we’ve been brought to admit the bias, our next instinct is to argue in its defence; biases are deeply held beliefs, which we all really hate to be wrong about. Only once you’ve torn down the false belief for yourself can you go about rebuilding that part of your belief system. Before you achieve that, all you can ever manage is one of those “I’m sorry if I offended anyone” not-quite apologies.
CONGRATULATIONS!
I think this was lifted verbatim from our employee manual. Can I sue?
Jeez, that’s the ultimate example of a boilerplate “apology”.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@CONGRATULATIONS!: Nah, it’s fair use, dude. : – ) As for the teens, I got nothin’ because they seem nearly hopeless in terms of being educable.
Amir Khalid
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
That’s not an apology. That’s a denial.
trollhattan
“Clueless” was a documentary. Time for a sequel, it appears. [headdesk]
CONGRATULATIONS!
Well, I listened to it and it’s really, really pathetic. If this is what passes for entertainment in their squalid little village I think they’ve already been punished enough. By living there.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
Actually, I buy the “society” part as an explanation, but not an excuse. I’m betting that all of their (white) friends thought the song was HI-larious and urged them to record it. Then they discovered the hard way that they were living inside a bubble and people outside the bubble could hear them. Whoops.