Explain why these are racist?
- Shinkicker
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Re: Explain why these are racist?
The family members of the Aunt Jemima model are mad as hell. They want to keep her.
Masato wrote:OK lets try to figure out whats wrong with Uncle Ben
or the Cream of Wheat guy.
Both handsome looking fellows if you ask me
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.
- Megaterio Llamas
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Benwahwah wrote:Masato wrote:OK lets try to figure out whats wrong with Uncle Ben
or the Cream of Wheat guy.
Both handsome looking fellows if you ask me
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
el rey del mambo
Megaterio Llamas wrote:I bet no one expected this from me of all people
Thanks for a much better explanation 'Uncle' Mega. I thought it had to do with Song of the South and stuff like that, but your explanation seems much more likely.
I thought uncle Ben was a restaurant owner?
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.
Megaterio Llamas wrote: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
wow, thanks guys. Those are excellent. I can appreciate all those perspectives, very well said.
I'm still curious however where/how these particular branding changes became such a viral sensation - where did it start? Was it really some grassroots BLM activists who called it out with these sort of sentiments, and the MSM just picked up on the story? Or was it a media fabricated hype from the beginning that may not actually represent the average BLM concerns?
Would be curious how different black folks/BLM supporters think of these branding characters
Where's Vutu?
PS: I thought Uncle Ben was the root of Spiderman's guilt issues
Shinkicker wrote:The family members of the Aunt Jemima model are mad as hell. They want to keep her.
I wonder if the owners/founders of all these brands are african american or not. If it was a white company from the start using these images to who knows maybe pander to the black demographic for example I think that would be way more offensive than if the brands were founded and run by black families and perhaps these characters represented black capitalist success stories
I am too lazy and tired of race stuff to research lol
- Canuckster
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Megaterio Llamas wrote:Benwahwah wrote:Masato wrote:OK lets try to figure out whats wrong with Uncle Ben
or the Cream of Wheat guy.
Both handsome looking fellows if you ask me
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
We had uncle Ben and aunt jemima, are these racist slang terms? Or are these simple brand names created for a product?
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.
- Canuckster
- Posts: 6742
- Joined: Wed Jul 04, 2012 5:24 pm
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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.
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.
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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