Picayune point dept:
Mr & Mrs. Goldberg (I know, it's a stage name), when they made Whoopie, made
Whoopi, no e. Small deal, but already it makes me question how well you've
thought this out.
 
 
* Overall, I'm sorry that Whoopie has taken such a problematic stance in
* this messy affair. Or maybe I'm just sorry that she couldn't have forseen
 
Or maybe you're sorry that a black individual cares little for toeing some
party line that dictates what black people should say and think about matters
involving race. If Whoopi, as the target of the parody, and in fact the
co-author of it, feels no insult from the skit, why is it incumbent upon
people to tell Whoopi she's being a "bad black" by allowing it, tolerating
it, and even participating in it?
 
 
* where such a putrid replay of minstrel imagery, used for ever to devalue
* black people, inevitably had to lead. It's too bad she didn't have the
* prescience to ice the whole thing from the jump. But there is something
This is probably true. In the current climate of offensensitivity, she might
have known that some people would refuse to understand.
 
 
* more subtle going on here. For implicit in her defense of Danson, is the
* flawed assumption that because she is black and a media star, she can
* somehow validate and update these retro-Kingfish images, rendering them
* racially "safe" for consumption by a mass "crossover" audience. Sad to
* say... but Whoopie is not the first to deploy such a strategy, it being at
* least as old as Stepin Fetchit and as contemporary as Eddie Murphy's
* resurrection of "Buckwheat." Yet even Murphy was stung enough by protest
* to offer an uncomfortable explanation of his neo-Buckwheat character in
* his RAW concert film. Responding to the same kind of hurt, Stepin Fetchit,
* for all of his misused talent, spent his last years in mumbling
* justification and apology for his Sambo screen persona.
 
I see no apology coming from Whoopi. Furthermore, Fetchit acted in an era
when sensitive portrayals were impossible in mainstream film, so, while you
can say he should have had the pride to demure, you can't argue with his need
to eat.
 
Murphy seems to me to have offered a parody and attack on the idea of
Buckwheat, not a fun-filled revival. His previous album to RAW asked the
question "Who talks like that?"
 
* If indeed BLACKNESS is the unique experience that Goldberg calls upon to
* exonerate Danson for his minstrel antics, then I can't really be that
* disappointed with him. Let's just chalk up his part in this to ignorance,
How about love? Understanding? Security as a human, and not some standard
bearer for people who share her skin color? If Whoopi refuses to be offended
because she knows Ted's true nature, and we allow that she knows him better
than you, why insist on claiming malicious intent must be in there somewhere?
 
 
* On "Entertainment Tonight" Goldberg described Danson's material as
* genuinely funny. But I have to respond by asserting that black people
* will never find Zip Coon, Buckwheat, Kingfish or Sambo, in any of their
* contemporary incarnations that funny, any more than Asian Americans find
* Charlie Chan or Native Americans find Tonto, "funny." Unfortunately, the
 
Charlie Chan and Tonto aren't SUPPOSED to be funny.
You might be surprised to learn that blacks in the 50's DID enjoy Amos n
Andy. Of course, most don't these days, but then neither do most whites.
 
 
* blackface minstrel coon and a whole throng of dangerous ghosts still
* haunt our popular entertainment, mocking us from the TV and movie
* screens, stunting the perception of black humanity with a thousand subtle
* cuts and gags.
This is true. But you've lost the ability to discern what is offensive, my
friend. A minstrel show is not offensive by nature, only by presentation. Is
a minstrel recreation at a AfroAmercian culture museum offensive and best
not portrayed?
Performing in blackface is definitely an outmoded, easily misunderstood thing
to do today. However, if you can get reasonable assurance from someone privy
to the intent, who would reasonably expect to be otherwise offended, that it
in fact was not meant in that spirit, why assume your connection to the truth
is stronger?
 
 
* Montel Williams was right to walk out on such a degrading performance,
* and I'm sure others in the audience, were they not held by obligation,
* would have done the same. Brother Montel understands what any struggling
* collectivity must in a plural society. Put simply, one's dignity is
* negotiated on a daily basis and one has only as much humanity as one can
* creatively produce, or defend against a symbolic order that until very
* recently indeed, was dedicated to the subordination of African Americans,
I say this cautiously, and with no disrespect to the very real systematic
hindrances still existing that block AfroAmerican advancement:
 
As the easy targets of blame for the lack of firm progress of the black
community continue to disappear, or at least dissolve into ever more subtle
forms, it's natural I think for some to overemphasise the importance of
certain events in the course of social politics. A fraternity dressing as
Klansmen for Halloween and roaming the campus is a stark reminder of evil
intent. An actor's lover making fun of her at a party where the point is to
do so, and where she gives full assent, seems much less dramatically harmful,
don't you think?
 
But stay vigilant.
 
Asalaam alaikum,
M
 
 
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