“I Love being Black”
September 1, 2008
I Love being Black
Today I visited a lively festival in Oakland called the Art & Soul Festival in Oakland, CA which had lots of music, food, kid rides and booths selling art, clothing and plenty of other knick-knacks. One place that got my attention was the, “I Love being Black” booth, where they were selling t-shirts and other clothing emblazoned with an “I Love being Black” tagline.
Now, I understand that Oakland is a liberal, PC-loving city with a large African-American population, but I think that’s taking things a bit too far. Imagine an “I Love being White” clothing store anywhere in America. How many protests would that bring about? At this booth however nobody was complaining.
September 5, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Thanks to you
December 8, 2008 at 1:39 am
Honey, that booth must have put your panties in bunch! You really need to pursue note worthy material to post to your blog. Because this isn’t it. Moreover, if you were that taken aback by what you had seen; your I can’t wait until I get home to write about what I seen today ass should have said something then and there. Please, your old ass need to sit down somewhere and binge on some prunes. That might be the only way for that ton of bullshit you have inside you to flush out!!
December 8, 2008 at 11:15 pm
So what would you think if you saw an, “I love being white” booth at a festival somewhere?
April 14, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Greetings. Instead of focusing on a hypothetical negative, why not focus on the positive side? So much of the media / attention surrounding the Black community is already negative; so much to the point that many Black people internalize this. This shirt is the positive side of that coin.
April 14, 2009 at 7:46 pm
“I love being Black” is not a jab at White folks, it is a positive statement we use to express our overcoming of this racist institution called America. Yes Barack is President now, but Black people still get dragged behind trucks, health care isn’t equal, education isn’t equal, police still target Blacks and other minorities, the list goes on. But at the end or the day, many of us can overcome and still say that in spite of all that, “I love being Black”.
April 14, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Also, take note that the term “Black” is not structurally the same as “White”; not saying one is better or worse, they just have different origins when defining race/ethnicity in America. When someone says White, often times they actually know that they are French, German, Canadian, etc. When someone says I’m Black, often times it is because they do not know what country their ancestors came from. In America a new umbrella ethnicity called “Black” was created, not by choice, but because a void was left when our heritage was stolen from us during slavery.
April 14, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Also, the reason why some people may see “I love being White” differently than “I love being Black” is because there were racist White people (that most likely came before anyone reading this blog) that negatively tainted statements like those. Think of these phrases:
White Pride, White Power, etc… The people who created/use terms like this are: skinheads, neo-nazis, slave owners, kkk members, etc
Ask yourself, can you think of anyone equivalent negative presence within the Black community?
April 14, 2009 at 7:47 pm
But, at the end of the day though, I don’t think there will be protests if someone wears an “I love being White” t-shirt. In fact, do some research, there are plenty of people saying this already:
- 7 or 8 I love being White groups on Facebook with thousands of members: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/s.php?q=i%20love%20being%20white&init=s%3Agroup&k=200000010&n=-1&sid=e21c7bb80eb8e45b43ccbc4ac1b62e86
-I love being White blog: http://www.topix.com/forum/topstories/TE4DRE1U3PK8HG6FV
-”Holy f*ck I love being White” picture/t-shirts: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/750546/
-”Why I love being White and British. . .British teen finds it pays to swear on exam” – http://www.lipstickalley.com/f50/why-i-love-being-white-british-british-teen-finds-pays-swear-exam-142399/
-Comedian on how he loves being White – http://www.dimewars.com/Video/LMAO–Louis-CK—I-Love-Being-White.aspx?bcmediaid=500a622a-0e34-47fa-bfc9-146fd0817b77
April 14, 2009 at 7:48 pm
The list goes on, try Google… There is a bit of a double-standard on paper, but in reality, would White people rather have all of the privileges that they are given, or be able to wear a t-shirt? The Red or the Blue pill…
-Respectfully-
–
Kumi Rauf, Owner, BecauseImBlack . com
April 14, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Thanks Kumi, it’s great to hear from the founder himself of those t-shirts. I get your points, but it still makes me feel uncomfortable, as would a, “I love being white” t-shirt.
What do you think of FUBU brand? Does that mean white people shouldn’t buy that clothing? Also, you write that the police target minorities, but what you don’t realize is that in many places over here, whites are the minority, including downtown Oakland. So if they target minorities, they would be targeting whites, not blacks.
April 15, 2009 at 1:47 am
Well, that’s the gift and the curse of America. Freedom to be creative and expressive, but then also freedom to feel uncomfortable about things too (both can be bad). Most t-shirts I’ve seen can not possibly make me feel uncomfortable. I may feel a little disturbed if one said “I hate Black people” or something.
I don’t wear FUBU anymore, that’s like 7 yrs ago
But after centuries of discrimination and having special things that “aren’t for you”, wouldn’t you expect to see some FUBU’s / etc come out?
Are you more offended by FUBU or by Abercrombie & Fitch? Google “abercrombie fitch lawsuit minorities”
What about Urban Outfitters for putting the racist game Ghettopoly on the shelves? Google “feds destroy ghettopoly”
Again, the list goes on but I won’t bog down your forum.
Thank you for having this discussion and allowing me to chime in with my own opinions. Talks like these are what we all need to understand each other better. That’s why I like Obama so much because he likes to dig deeper than previous politicians in race relations, like in his “A More Perfect Union” speech (hopefully you’ve seen it but if not Google that one too, its a great speech).
April 15, 2009 at 12:21 pm
I’m not offended by FUBU, but I remember my coworker wearing one about 7 years ago and I was thinking that I’d like to get one, and then he told me the name and the meaning, and I thought, hmm, maybe I shouldn’t buy it if it’s not meant for me.
Anyway, thanks for putting your viewpoints out here, that’s great!