Explain why these are racist?

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Masato
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Re: Explain why these are racist?

Postby Masato » Thu Jun 25, 2020 1:59 pm

Canuckster wrote:So, from the uncle Ben's website itself.
The story goes that in the late 1940's, Gordon Harwell, one of the founders of Converted® Brand Rice, and his partner were dining in their favourite Chicago restaurant. They were discussing how they were going to market their product to new customers, they began to discuss the legendary Texan farmer, Uncle Ben who was known for his exceptionally high quality rice. So right there and then, they christened their product Uncle Ben’s® Converted Brand Rice. The face appearing on all Uncle Ben’s® packaging is that of Frank Brown, a maitre d'hotel (head waiter) at an exclusive Chicago restaurant who agreed to pose for the Uncle Ben’s® portrait.


were Gordon Harwell and his partners white or black?

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Canuckster
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Postby Canuckster » Thu Jun 25, 2020 5:09 pm

Apparently not,
People say they all want the truth, but when they are confronted with a truth that disagrees with them, they balk at it as if it were an unwanted zombie apocalypse come to destroy civilization.

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Canuckster
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Postby Canuckster » Thu Jun 25, 2020 5:10 pm

You know, if white people were truly racist, they wouldn't buy a box of cereal with colored folk on the box
People say they all want the truth, but when they are confronted with a truth that disagrees with them, they balk at it as if it were an unwanted zombie apocalypse come to destroy civilization.

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Megaterio Llamas
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Postby Megaterio Llamas » Fri Jun 26, 2020 1:21 am

Canuckster wrote:
Megaterio Llamas wrote:
Benwahwah wrote:
As the resident Lefty let me try and explain.

The problem is that it paints a rosy picture of the time that slavery was about. Uncle Ben looks very dignified as well you say, but is he representative of what black people experienced during that period? I imagine that rice farmers / slaves didn't have an easy life of it during that time, but Uncle Ben and the Cream of Wheat guy would make you think that these people took great pride in their work and enjoyed a good life.

I guess you could say that pictures like that are 'fake news' and people in general get annoyed by it. if that helps to make things clearer.

Personally I'm not really bothered about any of it, but I can see why people would be.


He's the stereotypical trusted elderly plantation manservant actually Ben. A house negro, a good 'boy.'

He's even called 'Uncle' Ben ffs. It's loaded language, an apparently innocent symbol that is actually carrying a ton of cultural baggage for Black Americans. Of course they needn't actually be ashamed of any of it but the dominant culture has made fun of it for centuries so they've become hyper sensitive about these things.

I bet no one expected this from me of all people :D


We had uncle Ben and aunt jemima, are these racist slang terms? Or are these simple brand names created for a product?

Anything that smacks of the antibellum south is going to be out from now on I'm afraid. They're erasing Gone With The Wind ffs. One of the greatest motion pictures of all. It feels like the beginning of a purge.
el rey del mambo


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