Spike Lee versus & Another thing altogether

[Wales2004]

Two things caught my attention a little earlier: the belief that Spike Lee is owed an apology (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/morris-w-okelly/we-owe-spike-lee-a-huge-a_b_2528785.html?utm_hp_ref=black-voices) amd the belief that it's okay to question Robert Griffin, III"s "blackness" (http://newsone.com/2129392/rob-parker-robert-griffin-blackness-comments/).

I will just refer to the O'Kelly piece as the defense of Spike Lee and say that it is a little more complex than the second because it's asking readers not to get sidetracked and run off in the many other directions in which one can go.

What I found most interesting about the second was the writer's hunch that Rob Parker was fired because he mentioned Robert Griffin, III's white fiancee and to think about all the black athletes and executives with their non-black wives and girlfriends. I may have it wrong but I believe there was a running joke about black power revolutionaries always having a white woman. And he forgot about some of his "keeping it real" rappers.

[VirginiaHamilton]

Though I have my own issues with Spike Lee when it comes to his depiction of women in his movies, he's always been right on the money when it comes to racism in Hollywood/pop culture/America. His forthrightness may have cost him plenty of opportunities in the industry, but I'm sure that he's able to hold his head up a lot higher than the Negroes who've sold themselves and their souls to cross over.

[Wales2004]

When the race discussion in America is about black vs. white it's "purposeful."

When it becomes black vs. black then it's about "blackness" and who is really black and/or who is more committed to whatever the "black cause" is--as if every black person in America is the same person.

Viola Davis, Angela Bassett, L'il Wayne, L'il Kim, Diana Ross, Colin Powell and L'il Zane are all lumped together on the basis of race.

Barbra Streisand, Ke$ha, Meryl Streep, Eminem, Kid Rock, Justin Timberlake, and Ben Afleck are not lumped together at all.

Let's all stop pretending that white people are the only ones doing all the lumping.

Every January and February we hear snippets of Martin Luther King, Jr's speech. The dream that men would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

What I would love to hear from all the "experts" is what makes a person black and what makes a person white because once upon a time it was boiled down to skin. Now, people seem to be implying that it's a whole bunch of other things and that you can look black and "act white" and be white and "act black."

[Wales2004]

As for Spike Lee--his depiction of women is probably close to what he thinks of women. I believe it was 2010 when ESPN produced their first "Content of Character" panel on which he was a panelist. His major contribution to the discussion, apart from insisting that college athletes be paid (which really means black male college athletes), was to explain why black athletes are not financial savvy. According to him, it's because they don't have fathers around to teach them how to handle money. He effectively put down the black mothers for not knowing how to handle money. Seriously. So he hasn't heard the narrative of the black athlete that includes how his mother had to work two or three jobs to put food on the table for him and his siblings.

For the record....I strongly disagree with anyone who says that all black people have to act or speak a certain way in order to be accepted. If someone does not like a person who is black for no reason other than that then all the proper speech and good behavior in the world won't change anything.

The reason that I advocate proper grammar (besides the fact that I don't want to see any well dressed people on sports shows, the news, et al) is because we live in a society where it's a standard. Sure people can stand their ground and try to fight to work wherever they want speaking however they want, but is that a better thing than using proper grammar and speaking however they want on their private time? And where do you want to draw the line? If that's okay then it should be okay for people who speak Spanish to demand that people accept them speaking Spanish instead of English since they can rightfully claim that it's part of their heritage. And furthermore, they can claim that people with Spanish language background make up a larger percentage of this country's population.