Chickmate

SeaLab 2021 is a show on Cartoon Network, created by Adam Reed and Matt Thompson, that uses footage from an old television show, SeaLab 2020, to create a sitcom spoof of life underwater in the future. The show only lasts 12 minutes is known for being odd despite the fact that it is not longer being produced.

In this particular episode a white female character’, Debbie, “biological clock” goes off and she wants to get pregnant. Another female character, also named Debby, who is African American tries to help some of the other characters understand what Debbie is going through. In the course of this A white male named Stormy calls Debby “Black Debby” in a very hushed whispered tone and several other characters proceed to question him on this. He explains that it is just to tell them apart, not in a bad way, but because she is “black” (hushed tone). When asked why he doesn’t call Debby Debby and Debbie White Debbie. He responds with a scoff but then decides he doesn’t want to talk about the situation because a black doctor is in the room with them.

What this situation implies is the idea of white privilege. In Stormy’s mind Debbie is unconsciously advantaged to not being labeled like we talked about with the Johnson chapter 2. His ignorance of race relations leads him to believe that white Debbie doesn’t need to be labeled because he knows she is white.

He later runs into Debby in a hallway and begins to say, “Hey, blaa… Debby.” He pauses awkwardly and then asks if she likes rap. Debby asks what the hell that is suppose to mean and the conversation jumps forward to Stormy explaining that Blacks somehow have faster twitching muscle fibers. Debby proceeds to get more angry as Stormy leaves. He then enters another room and says “Man don’t go out there, that black chick is crazy.”

Here he further plays into his ignorance and much like the characters in kindred and the stereotypes of the past (from the Ethics of Jim Crowe and Race, Gender, and Sexuality).

Later in the episode as Debbie continues her quest the black doctor enters saying “Last night I put on some Al Green and wrote a 200 page thesis as to why I should be the father of your baby.” The scene then progresses into sexually flirtatious flurry finishing with Stormy interrupting and asking what makes him so special. They explain that his name is Doctor Quinn and that means that he has degrees proving his education. Stormy responds under the belief that he thought it was a nickname like Doctor Dre. He then proceeds to say “Eastside” like a gangster and makes a west coast hand sign, because he is an idiot.

This episode though helps illustrate that without proper education and integration the ideals of privilege, white supremacy, and unfair stereotypes exists and will continue generation through generation.

Latino Face

I chose a bit from Bobcat Goldthwaite’s stand up comedy act from his album “I don’t mean To Insult But You Look Like Bobcat Goldthwaite.” The album was released in 2003 and recorded in San Jose. Throughout his very sparatic and improved act he hits on several racial issues but never delves into them except for one instance in which he talks about an article he read where a latino man was eaten by a polar bear.

I chose this piece because of the odd position he puts himself in that is similar to blackface, or in this case “Latinoface”. The story he tells is of a Latino man who climbed into a polar bear exhibit at the San Diego Zoo. He only knew that the man had a Latino name and then based the rest of his act off of this assumption. From the video on blackface and the reading we did about the topic one can tell that the persona he was putting on was simply made up of similar assumptions about Latinos.

He goes on to simulate the Latino style of insults by mixing in Spanish with English and a pride in Mexico. In Takaki chapter 12 the pride and love of the Mexican homeland is talked about as a strong part of the Chicano identity. This is taken advantage of in stereotypes about Mexicans, along with others but the focused idea in Bobcat’s piece is a hostility issue.

What struck me as odd with this is that the crowd laughs at this despite the fact that they are in the middle of San Jose and he has addressed it. Much like the black face of the past the idea that “that’s just how things are” is a dangerous one because obviously that isn’t how things are but that it perpetuates the afore mentioned idea. This is sad because it is a small proof that we haven’t learned from our past and that other racist/discriminate tendencies remain.

Remember the Titans

In Remember the Titans two groups of teenage football players struggle to adapt to their new integrated environment. The black and white students are thrust under the leadership of a new, black, Coach Boone who makes his first goal to get the students to work together despite their differences, through football. Coach Boone first tries to establish that he will treat no player better or worse based on race but that they are all under him and the other coaches. The students work through their differences throughout the story in humorous, dramatic, and difficult ways. The film also reflects the racial tensions of the time.

I would like to focus on the hostile part of the relationship between Julius Campbell, a black student, and Bill Garnier, a white student. Bill Garnier and Julius Campbell have been chosen as roommates and once in the room Garnier is quick to decide with bed is his and which is Campbell’s. This is obviously due to the superiority Garnier believes he has over Julius but when Julius hangs a poster of the black men who have gold medals Garnier tells him to take it down. The reason Garnier tells him this isn’t simply because of an control issue but because of what we discussed in Johnson PPD 2. The poster is unsettling to Garnier’s way of life and challenges the privilege he has because he is white.

Later, on the field, Garnier actually tries to set up a form of segregation in terms of plays and he does that by saying “Have your boys do what you do and don’t worry about us, we’ll do our jobs.” What he is doing here is basically dismissing the black students and making it seem as though they don’t count. This is a big deal because a friend of Garnier is actually not doing his job and Garnier has placed an importance on the race instead of who can do the job the best. This is similar to what happens in the Ethics of Jim Crowe where the author is basically show that because of his skin he will never actually get the training he thought he would at the beginning.

There comes a point when Julius and Garnier have to get to know one another because of an assignment by Coach Boone. They have obvious tension but the first thing out of Garnier’s mouth is “Let's see. What's your daddy's name? I mean, you do have a daddy right?” Julius responds with a name, then Garnier says, “And what's he do? Wait, he does have a job, right?” The scene ends there but another interesting point from Johnson PPD 2 is raised and that is about how white male privilege somehow entitles them to have control over a conversation.

We of course see that later they have a fantastic friendship but that is mostly dependant on Garnier’s acceptance of Julius and not the other way around. For me this still encourages a form of white dominance over the African American. While it is not the lynching and hangings we saw in the south through the class videos but a reestablishment of a master slave relationship. That the black became docile and obedient much like the large Mammy’s, Sambo’s, and Uncle’s only in a much more camouflaged polished state.

Apocalypto

Apocalypto was created by Mel Gibson and released in 2006. It follows the story of a character named Jaguar Paw whose village is attacked by Mayan slave traders. He then has to somehow find escape from a horrible fate involving a deadly ritual and return home to his family. Once safe he and his family begin to travel as the first Spanish explorers appeared on the continent.

One of the biggest problems with this movie is the idea that the Mayans (Native Americans) were a simply brutal and savage culture. In the first articles we read at the beginning of the year we read about how European mistreated Native Americans settles and that there was a belief that these cultures were somehow unable to establish any kind of civilized culture of their own. The character Jaguar Paw becomes a Caliban of sorts as the audience establishes a connection with him and sympathy for his situation. Then we are reminded of his “savagery” and natural wildness.

The next controversy we are presented with is the issue of the violence of the Mayan empire at that time. First those cultures had all but dissipated when the Spaniards had actually come to South America so the problem becomes the fact that the telling of this story comes from the perspective of privilege. Mel Gibson took an unfair liberty in his telling of this story because it was one that took the story from the people who’s culture inspired it and allowed him the opportunity to butcher it. Much like the Europeans before us a misrepresentation of Native American cultures is being formed and told not by the people who it represents but by whites, namely Mel Gibson. Again this relates to the earlier readings of Takaki and Zinn.

One positive of the film was the use of Native American actors and the opportunity to show their ability to act. The flipside of course is the potential that it may establish them as only being able to play their perceived “savage” ancestors. Rarely do you see a cast with anyone of this ethnicity but a movie like this comes along and suddenly the entire cast is Native American.

Now my reaction to the movie is this, it was dang cool to watch. Production, story, scene, and presentation wise it was really interesting. The problem, however, lies in the ridiculous misrepresentation of those people violently de-hearting and beheading a line of slaves and prisoners at the cheers of a crowd. Much like the example Bobcat had set Mel Gibson again proves that we may have not actually become as open and accepting of others as we thought we were. Believing that we’ve somehow surpassed the past discrimination of our forefathers and merely embraced a new look for those old ideas.

2+2=Mos Def

The main focus here is the second verse.

Yo, it's one universal law but two sides to every story
Three strikes and you be in for life, manditory
Four MC's murdered in the last four years
I ain't tryin to be the fifth one, the millenium is here
Yo it's 6 Million Ways to Die, from the seven deadly thrills
Eight year olds gettin found with {{.9 mils}}
It's 10 P.M., where your seeds at? What's the deal
He on the hill puffin krill to keep they belly filled
Light in the ass with heavy steel, sights on the pretty shit in life
Young soldiers tryin to earn they next stripe
When the average minimum wage is $5.15
You best believe you gotta find a new grind to get cream
The white unemployment rate, is nearly more than triple for black
so frontliners got they gun in your back
Bubblin crack, jewel theft and robbery to combat poverty
and end up in the global jail economy
Stiffer stipulations attached to each sentence
Budget cutbacks but increased police presence
And even if you get out of prison still livin
join the other five million under state supervision
This is business, no faces -- just lines and statistics
from your phone, your zip code, to S-S-I digits
The system break man, child, and women into figures
Two columns for who is, and who ain't niggaz
Numbers is hard to feel and they never have feelings
but you push too hard, even numbers got limits
Why did one straw break the camel's back? Here's the secret:
the million other straws underneath it - it's all mathematics

This song is by Mos Def, a North American rapper who’s respect and acclaim is probably greater than any other current artist yet he remains primarily in the underground scene despite exposure through music, movies, and television. Mos Def is most known for his extremely strong views on race relations, politics, society, culture, and global issues.

In this song Mos Def addresses several racial issue but due to complexity of his brand of rap it can sometimes be subtle. In the first portion of this piece he speaks of the rappers who have been killed in the public eye and how he does not want to follow suit. “The new millennium is here” is his hope that his people will change and grow out of the live that is typically associated with it. Now this is relevant to class material because of the Ethics of Jim Crowe and several of the videos we watched about the desire African Americans have to change the perception of them in the public eye, such as the sambo, pickininy, and Uncle. His belief is that African Americans have not grown out of this light but only changed those things that they’re associated with such as guns and drugs but what he has also done is related the seven deadly thrills, sins of course, to the fact that blacks desire those things. This takes us back to the stereotype of the violent crazed blacks that can’t control themselves and act on impulse described in several of the videos.

Next he addresses the financial issue blacks face in America. That being that many resort to theft and other poorly looked upon activities that have become glorified by their culture. The mentioning of soldiers looking for a stripe because young blacks are sometimes called soldiers and look to these activities to somehow earn something shows this. This again harkens back to the violent stereotype but, for me, makes a stronger reference to the belief of the ignorance of blacks and that they would believe this is something to be desired.

I’ll quickly talk about what he says about how the system is set up against blacks in terms of sentence, jail, and police. He believes that they are severely set up against blacks but what is interesting is the line “The system break man, child, and women into figures
Two columns for who is, and who ain't niggaz.” It suggests that there is some one deciding who is white and who isn’t. Much like the men who applied to be considered white there is a system set up to, as he says, decide “who is and who ain’t niggaz”.

With his last line he professes his hope that one day all this will change because of the pressure applied and injustices done. Which is where I really connect with the song. He spends this time building up his case providing the listener with different points and then finishes off with said hope.