Happy Friday, y’all!

Bruno and Carmen went to see black stand-up comics. Bruno hoped the comics would trash white people. Even though he’s been told that kind of overt racism is rare, he just can’t seem to absorb the information. Carmen noticed the persistent use of the N word. Bruno finally caught on to the fact that it’s a completely different culture, and was still disappointed at the lack of white jokes. It occurred to me that black people have a whole life which is not fixated on white people. Whites are not necessarily uppermost on black people’s minds all the time. Get over yourself, Bruno. Carmen explained why white people don’t have the right to use the N word, but black folks can say it all they want. Bruno doesn’t understand that, and frankly neither do I, although I do hate having something in common with Bruno, who annoys me.

Bruno meets with a successful black man to find out what makes him tick. Fernando is the African American teacher of the year. Bruno expressed frustration with complaints about slavery, reparations, affirmative action, lack of responsibility. He talked about the problems in the black community, hip-hop culture, fatherlessness. Fernando objects to the blanket statements, and ultimately says he feels Bruno is insensitive and wondered how his wife puts up with him. Not to worry, Fernando, they deserve each other.

I can understand about the desire for reparations – a formal apology, a tangible display that says, Yes, slavery was wrong. But I can’t see why anyone living today should have to pay it, or why anyone living today should receive it. Now, reparations for Jim Crow, I could understand. That was less than 40 years ago, and even after the laws were repealed, people’s hearts did not change overnight. Reparations for the Jim Crow laws to black people who are 40 years old and up make a lot of sense to me. I wouldn’t object to paying toward that. But how can you implement a tax for that? What about Yankees? They didn’t have Jim Crow in any official way, so why should they pay? What about people out west, and people who immigrated here since then? What about people my age who had no part in making those laws, should we be penalized for the fact they existed? It’s too impractical to implement a tax for reparations on white southerners who are 60+ years old, and all of them did not approve of segregation so it’s unfair to penalize them for it. So at the end of the day, I think we have to say that life is unfair but there’s no practical way to make amends for it. We would do better to work to free the people who are currently enslaved. And we would do better to have more education on the idea of white privilege and racism (for both whites and blacks) as it exists today.

The Etiquette class met at the group house. They rudely dug around Nick’s room and the rest of the house. When Nick told them he was black, they seemed to respond pretty well at first, but then they started trying to give him tips on how to act white. Later a white boy called another white boy the N word. A white girl objected and Nick defended the practice, saying “We use it all the time so it doesn’t matter.” But when the white boy said it again, Nick looked uncomfortable.

Brian and Renee were furious that Nick was not bothered that the other kids used the N word. They went back and forth, referring to the incident as if the kids had called him that word (they didn’t) and as if they just used it in his presence. Either way they were still furious. Brian said he was ashamed that even the white girl was offended and Nick wasn’t.

Brian takes Nick to a black barbershop for a lesson in racism. The barber agreed with Brian about the use of the N word, said it was a lack of respect, but he also said, “We kind of took the power out of that word by using it so much.” Yes! I was so glad he said that. The extreme outrage against any non-black who uses that word IS hypocritical when so much of the black community uses it early and often.

Carmen, Rose, and a black poetry classmate of Rose’s went to a white neighborhood Rose was familiar with to do some shopping. They were ignored and avoided. They were refused job applications. Carmen came back to a recurring theme for her – can you imagine this being your normal life? Carmen is a ditz but even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Bruno’s middle aged white guy rap was frankly embarrassing. ‘Nuff said.

I’ve seen comments on other blogs that Rose is an actress, and that the Wurgels are not actually a family. Semi-true. Carmen and Bruno may not be married – I’ve read different reports about that – but they do have a relationship. Carmen is actually Rose’s mother. Rose is a college student and actress. She’s been appearing on Disney’s Movie Surfers for some time. Bruno identifies himself in the show as a teacher but has been acting since 1987. Substitute teacher, maybe? Why downplay the acting histories for both of them? And Carmen is involved with the industry as well. Was there no white family in the country who was not involved with show biz who could have been selected? This casts doubt on the whole show, especially since apparently a fair amount of the show is staged.

Disappointing, but I’m still glad that it’s opening up a discussion on race. Two more shows to go, and the big question is will Bruno at least get to the point that he acknowledges the issue?

I stumbled across this Disney – yes, Disney! venereal disease educational video in Google video. It’s rather creepy. There is a little, tiny, miniscule blurb about how not having sex protects you completely. And a much longer explanation on using condoms.

Walt Disney Studios Characters: General, Syphilis Germs, Gonorrhea Germs, Ignorance, Fear. Originally Released in 1973 A general addressing his troops, which happen to be syphilis and gonorrhea germs. There are also characters representing ignorance and fear. This is an educational short produced at the Walt Disney Studios.

I never did get to see Black.White. Episode #2 because my cable company had some problem with that channel every time I tried to watch the replays. The “previously on…” segment at the beginning of this episode indicated that I missed a lot of gaffes from Carmen especially the whole “beautiful black creature” fiasco. Bruno defended the “creature” phrase by saying he’s heard the phrase “gorgeous creature” his whole life. Well, Google yielded a mere 58k results for that phrase, the first three of which were about a transsexual, a baby, and a cat, respectively. No women. But I’ll give Bruno the benefit of the doubt and props for defending his wife. As Brian pointed out, adding “black” to the phrase was a large part of what made it offensive. The dehumanizing aspect of being called a creature, combined with “black” when for a fair amount of our national history, blacks were not considered human beings, was over the top. It certainly emphasized a “separateness” between Carmen and the young woman. A rather weird way of describing people of different races occurred in the John Grisham book, A Time to Kill. One character, in the same conversation referred to a “white male” and a “male black.” The character was not explicitly racist or portrayed as a bad guy, he was generally a good character, but it was a dehumanizing way to describe someone. I’ve noticed that on a few other occasions but only in the south. Things have improved a great deal, but every once in a while you notice things like that. Using black as a descriptor usually only makes sense when that person is not present or their skin color is pertinent for some reason. Describing my obstetrician to my gynecologist: “Dr. Jones, over at West Jeff. hospital,” was met with a blank look so I added, “tall black guy built like a football player, about 50 years old now?”

Next, hapless Carmen decides she needs a black friend to help her learn about the black community. (Isn’t that why she’s living in the same house with Renee and Brian?) Enter Deanna, with whom for some reason Carmen assumes a hick accent. Deanna is interesting, and seems to be a good influence on Carmen, but she makes no visible headway with Bruno. Carmen and Bruno do experience racism when Carmen is not made up and Bruno is, and Deanna takes them through a black neighborhood and park.

Nicholas claims to not experience racism. I’m not sure what to think about that but it looks like the next episode will have more on that. Rose summed him up perfectly: he’s living the stereotype of the young black man – rap videos, baggy clothes, inarticulate and proud of it. I hope we get to know more about Nicholas because there’s got to be more to him than this. Interestingly, Brian said he’s spent all this time trying to get Bruno and Carmen to understand what racism is all about, when he should have been teaching Nicholas. I don’t understand why it needs to be taught. If it’s something both external and ongoing, Nicholas can hardly avoid it. Frankly, a 16 year old 8th grader who has been expelled for being caught with a knife has more pressing issues than a lack of understanding of racism!

Brian did try to explain white privilege to Nick, and I wish the show had spent more time on that. Overall, I’m still fascinated by the show, and still recommend it wholeheartedly.

Black.White.