Friday, June 13, 2008

Ethnic Notions

If you've never seen Marlon Riggs' extraordinary documentary about how this society systematically created the stereotypes that still plague African-Americans in the United States, you owe it to yourself to do so. Watch them in order, of course, and prepare to be angered or even depressed. But educated. Yes, definitely educated.

And thanks to Minister Faust for tipping me that the film was on YouTube.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6
Posted by Changeseeker at 12:35 PM
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5 comments:

blackwomenblowthetrumpet.blogspot.com said...

Hello there! {waves}

This is excellent! Thank you for sharing!

I have linked to your 2006 series on how white folks can be allies. It is included in my most recent post, "Black Women and The Vetting Process". You are more than welcome to share in the discussion that will ensue after everyone has read your series and my post!

Peace, blessings and DUNAMIS!
Lisa

1:11 PM
Changeseeker said...

Hey, Lisa! Isn't this great? I wasn't going to post again today, but when I ran across the information that this was on YouTube, I couldn't wait even a few hours to get it up there.

And I am seriously honored that you have resurrected my ally series. I just read them again (so I'd be ready for the commentators). Thanks so much for including me in the discussion on your blog site. I'm looking forward to seeing what develops.

2:59 PM
Tom said...

Really drives home a realization of what kind of country we live in, doesn't it?

Did you see the comments by folks who were defending racist knicknacks at Ilyka's place? I want to say that this might be good education for them. (Except then those folks claimed to know the history. So it's hard to know what to say to that.)

10:02 AM
Changeseeker said...

Hey, Tom. The key word in your last sentence is "claimed."

"...[T]hose folks 'claimed' to know the history."

There really aren't several histories (as such people want to suggest). There ARE, yes, alternate versions of history, but that doesn't change the reality of what actually happened. I would argue that "those folks," as you call them, are infected with a form of insanity. I don't engage with them because once we establish that they are not concerned with the truth, but rather with protecting the fabrications that allow them to maintain their perspective, I give up. You can't "reason" with crazy people.

I remember when I first saw this video nearly twenty years ago. I showed it to a group of African-American teenagers who were living on campus and taking classes for six weeks one summer. After they watched it, I asked them how they felt about what they had seen. They thought a while and answered quietly, "Angry."

"I'll bet," I responded. "Me, too."

11:00 AM
Changeseeker said...

There was apparently a copyright issue, Anonymous, but it's back on YouTube now. So I've re-posted the video parts to be watched here. Thanks for tipping me to address the problem.

10:56 AM

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