“Chinese TV features blackface performers in New Year’s gala” by Joe McDonald of the Associated Press
When I saw this headline on AP, my first response was,
“Here we go again. I don’t understand the problem here. They were paying homage to Africa. They are happy, smiling, dancing. It’s China, for god’s sake. This is moving forward for them. I appreciate them acknowledging anything that’s not Chinese. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but China appears to be very xenophobic to me. Imitation is the best form of flattery. I don’t get it. Can anybody say anything about anything anymore?”
My next response was,
“Is blackface in China the same as black face in the United States? Come to think of it, why don’t they just have black people doing their thing in this celebration? They have some Africans living in China. Is it a tribute or not?”
It’s a very slippery slope. I still go with may first impression, though. It is a tribute. It is China’s attempt to reach out to Africa because they are doing business there. Perhaps “China’s ruling Communist Party tries to promote an image of unity with African nations as fellow developing economies.” I don’t know. In the end, I think it’s a good thing that China is trying to reach out, even if it’s a little twisted and fucked up. They don’t know, they’re not used to dealing with black people. Hell, the British damn near destroyed them through the opium wars and fucked with Hong Kong. I’m just happy they’re trying to reach out at all after all that. I don’t blame them for becoming communist after that drama. Hell, Martin Luther King was even looking at communism for a while. You get traumatized after tangling with the British Empire back in the 19th century. It takes you a couple hundred years to get over that shit. I don’t hear anybody talking about that.
Anyway. Let’s talk about blackface because I’ve been thinking about it lately, even before this. I was watching a couple of Joe Rogan’s podcasts. I think the man is brilliant and the people he brings on his show are brilliant. The whole “Woke” thing is getting to me. I don’t really follow it because it’s really getting annoying. Brilliant intellectual discourse is what I follow. I try to take the emotion out of everything because it gets you nowhere.
Here are a couple of things that I’ve been watching. Check them out and let me know what you think. Anyone can comment on my blog, woke or sleeping. I love hearing from people.
This was back in 1984 when Saturday Night Live was actually funny.
Social commentary most stunning.
All of these sketches point toward the absurdity of it all.
This, on the other hand, is really fucked up.
This is not “Tropic Thunder.” This is not Chinese people dancing to try to include people in their New Year’s celebration. This is not “White Like Me,” or “Clayton Bigsby.” This is not a commentary on anything. Well, it’s a commentary alright. The commentary is, “We don’t want you in our films. We just want to steal you stuff and keep you down.” That’s what this is. I don’t think it’s the fault of the actors themselves. I have no record of Judy Garland or Fred Astaire being racist by nature. I suppose, they were just doing what they had to do, just like Bert Williams, a “black” man who had to wear black face in order to work in Hollywood in the 1920’s. It’s the studio system that was racist. It was the system throughout the United States that was racist. Jump Jim Crow came out or this. Yes it was there and people were pretty horrible to other people. I just finished the “Grapes of Wrath” again and people were pretty horrible to the migratory people. But you know what, though we must not forget, we have changed and are changing.
Remember this?
…and this?
And last, but not least…this?
Come on people, we have to move forward. For her, for our children, for ourselves.
Koko the gorilla told us what we need to do before she died.
We should listen to her. I know I am.
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