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Is this impression of Serena Williams a form of blackface?


Addien

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How is it a double standard when both things are being criticised?

Admitedly, some people are criticizing both. But an awful lot of people who were fine with this (as they should be imo) were criticizing Serena for the dance (which they shouldn't have imo). For instance Around the Horn on ESPN. 3 of the 4 panelists were fine with this but it was the opposite with Serena IIRC, 3 out of 4 criticized her for that.

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So everyone's agreed then: Christine isn't racist because she wasn't behaving in a racist way.

End thread?

No, no, way too realistic for that.

Caroline.

And I just can't say that it's 'realistic' to pretend that employing a recognised racist trope to publicly mock a prominent black woman is not 'behaving in a racist way'. Any more than it's 'realistic' to pretend that up is down.

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Admitedly, some people are criticizing both. But an awful lot of people who were fine with this (as they should be imo) were criticizing Serena for the dance (which they shouldn't have imo). For instance Around the Horn on ESPN. 3 of the 4 panelists were fine with this but it was the opposite with Serena IIRC, 3 out of 4 criticized her for that.

Because you can interpret Serena's dance as a glorification of gang life? I doubt her crip walking is "harmless fun" to someone who lost a loved one due to gang violence.

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Logic just died a little.

Actually 'context matters' in general it is a really important aspect of the issues with privilege and racism.

I just think in this case context means that normal kneejerk cultural sensitivities might not be applicable, partly because we are talking about obvious personal attributes. It does not mean it was in good taste to an outsider, but much depends on the in-crowd culture.

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Because you can interpret Serena's dance as a glorification of gang life? I doubt her crip walking is "harmless fun" to someone who lost a loved one due to gang violence.

I don't recall the same level of outrage when the kids in the various Step Up movies have done it.

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And I just can't say that it's 'realistic' to pretend that employing a recognised racist trope to publicly mock a prominent black woman is not 'behaving in a racist way'. Any more than it's 'realistic' to pretend that up is down.

She was not mocking her, she was teasing her. Can we get that semantical argument out of the way? If they weren't friends, it might be different. But that's not the case.

And again, she is not employing a racist trope. Serena Williams is FAMOUS for her curvy physique. Caroline Wozniacki is a slender girl. She's poking fun at the attention Serena gets for said physique. It's more satire than anything.

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Caroline.

And I just can't say that it's 'realistic' to pretend that employing a recognised racist trope to publicly mock a prominent black woman is not 'behaving in a racist way'. Any more than it's 'realistic' to pretend that up is down.

Is there an agreed list of these tropes that the majority of a population needs to be familiar with (or otherwise be labeled as ignorant)? Or are these racist tropes actually not recognized, but perceived as racist by some?

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I don't recall the same level of outrage when the kids in the various Step Up movies have done it.

I don't recall the same level of outrage when Caroline mocked Serena in a similar way previously.

Serena did the crip walk at the Olympics with billions of people watching. It is not hard to see why it garnered more attention than some movie. Lack of outrage does make behavior acceptable, anyways.

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Holy crap. It's like there's a collective cultural amnesia to forget just how black people have been portrayed in Western white cultures. Is this truly ignorance, or just a willful desire to ignore the ugly historical bits?

I don't know, in my part of the world, those characteristics is more commonly associated with blond bimbos.
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Holy crap. It's like there's a collective cultural amnesia to forget just how black people have been portrayed in Western white cultures. Is this truly ignorance, or just a willful desire to ignore the ugly historical bits?

Ah, yes. Let's punish people for what their ancestors did. What :bs: .

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Ah, yes. Let's punish people for what their ancestors did. What :bs: .

Yes, the fetishizing of the others and the process of cultural othering have both completely stopped yesterday. Today, we live in a bright new world where past wrongs are not only in the past, but should be promptly forgotten, as well.

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Not racist, more an example of America being far too likely to play the race card.

Gee, I dunno.

Oh, wait, I do. It takes about 0.34 of a second to realise that mocking Christina Hendricks for the size of her ass is different from mocking Serena Williams for the same thing, just as mocking Mick Jagger for having big lips is not the same as mocking a black person for the same thing would be.

Context matters. Apples are not the same as oranges.

Exactly. Apples aren't oranges, and faking big tits and ass isn't racism, no matter how desperately you try to make it.

Took me about, oh, 0.36 seconds to realize the issue is white American issues more than racism.

eta

s there an agreed list of these tropes that the majority of a population needs to be familiar with (or otherwise be labeled as ignorant)? Or are these racist tropes actually not recognized, but perceived as racist by some?

Did we not just have a whole fucking topic about racism, where it was revealed not all tropes are valid out of the region they originate?

Btw, FUCK but I'm tired of Asian cartoons showing my people with exaggeratedly huge eyes and other stereotypes of Caucasian facial structures.

We really should address the trope of Westerners as hairy smelly big nosed apes. Its racist as fuck.

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It's been established that pro athletes of all sports do this same thing at various opportunities based on how they run, swing a bat, shoot a ball, whatever it is. It's been done in golf (linked in the thread), baseball, etc etc etc.

For those thinking that this is indeed racist, in this instance, how would Woz have imitated Serena without it being racist?

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Holy crap. It's like there's a collective cultural amnesia to forget just how black people have been portrayed in Western white cultures. Is this truly ignorance, or just a willful desire to ignore the ugly historical bits?

Was that second link eye candy, or an example of some black women wearing articles of clothing that flatter their behinds? What you said makes sense, but the link is actually more about how some individuals portray themselves in photoshoots.

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