rolling "Is This Racist?" thread

Little bit from column a, little bit from column b.

Maybe there's an award for the best Dominican player in baseball. And I have to keep reminding myself that other countries aren't quite the melting pot/salad bowl/spice rack that is the United States of America, so cherry picking out people of one particular continent there might not be the show stopper it is here.

But the EBONY SHOE? Again, I'm sure there is some historical explanation that 50 years ago when the firsat afdoaidsh;aopplayer coame to tbelgiaum theao;dfhdklsjfa, but EBONY SHOE?

Would love to see an award for the best white player in basketball

- "You have many awards, Mr. Kompany. What's this small one here?"

- "Oh, yes. That is my Ebony Shoe Award. I've won it multiple times."

- "Well, it certainly is ebony. Quite unusual. Tell me, how did you come about winning it?"

- "I was the best player from Africa in Belgian football. For this, they gave me an Ebony Shoe Award."

Not the best white player, frogs. Best player from Asia or Europe.

Though the first thing I did do is scan the list for South Africans.

yeah i've seen that ebony shoe before, the name is quite....striking

the idea of a prize for best african footballer isn't necessarily wrong, since a lot of excellent african football players have begun their careers in belgium, legacy of colonialism and product of a lax player registration system iirc

there was an entire team of players from the cote d'ivoire at beveren a one time

however the award being given to both african football players and those of african ancestry is patronizing and stupid, kompany was born in belgium and plays for the belgian national team but because he is half congolese he is somehow categorically different from flemish and wallonian players

belgium probably shdn't exist anyway so there's that

http://i.imgur.com/J8Q0n.jpg

kevin mirallas, five time winner of the platonic shoe given to belgian players of hellenic extraction

residual guilt for the Congo and King Leopold?!?

i'm guessing americans think it's racist primarily for the 'ebony and ivory' imagery rather than for belgium's near-genocidal exploitation of its colonies rare woods, minerals etc

platonic shoe is the shoe from which all other shoes derive shoeness presumably

I did think of Ebony and Ivory first, but now that you mention it, I had forgotten about that "Belgians In the Congo" line from We Didn't Start the Fire.

lol

I always tend to wonder if the Ebony shoe could be won by say a white Namibian/South African.

Also, I think Mbark Boussouffa won it a couple of times, who was born and grew up up in Amsterdam (sure of Moroccan descent, but still...)

also, would Ryan Giggs be able to win it

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9dCY0ixWanA/Tm6MH8oGgFI/AAAAAAAABso/DP9n8enFdqg/s1600/waffles.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/j7iGK.jpg

that doesn't even make a lick of sense. there are no fat chinese people?

I'm pretty sure the Chinese cook their rice too.

and i don't think they put of lot of butter on it

http://www.shanghaiist.com/attachments/shang_dan/cute-chinese-baby.jpg

so very fat

"switch from routine to rice"? Isnt white rice like the most routine side you could possibly make apart from mashed potato?

Not if you're a good Amurrican.

people in the U.S. didn't eat much rice at all, back when - getting people to think of it as something usual at dinner was a very long effort driven in part by the fact that you can grow it in eg Texas, Louisiana, South Carolina et al

Was rice uncommon in America in 1967? Really?

oic

recently I was told that a cafe is bring run by 'the chinese' (by which she meant 'a family of east asian descent')

idk know why their genealogy was a crucial element of who's running the cafe

I can't really back this up though this is mainly going on my old cookbooks from the fifties/sixties which often have some "for a change of pace, try a rice dish" thing - looks like on some quick googling that rice was being grown in the colonies from 1694 so I'm guessing the "eat more rice" thing is more of an "increase sales" deal than a "make people think of rice as a thing you eat" one, I don't know, I need a grant for further research on this

I'll PayPal you $3.25

God all we ever ate when I was a kid was either plain boiled rice, or boiled potatoes and green beans, as sides. Blech.

The difference between Polo and Chelow is not the way the rice is cooked but rather Chelow is referred to as plain rice which is served with a stew or kebab (chelow khoresh badenjan, chelow kabab) while Polo is rice mixed with something (such as Baghali Polo, Zereshk polo, Loubia Polo etc.)

well there's five of my mom's seven dinners right there

in a week i mean

Traditionally, rice was most prevalent as a major staple item in the rice growing region of northern Iran, and the homes of the wealthy, while in the rest of the country bread was the dominant staple

yyyyyeaaaaahhhhh

In the 60s we rarely had rice with dinner, and when we did it was Uncle Ben's "minute rice." I do remember when we lived in Michigan we had rice for breakfast in winter sometimes, with milk on it, as a break from Malto-Meal.

x-post. Also grown in the Sacramento delta area. I think we sold a lot to Japan when they had a shortage a few years ago.

I had the idea late last night that there should be an "Is This Racist" lightning round thread.

is this Ricist?

SEND THE MESSAGE TO PRIME 6: Indie Music Will Earn You More Than Hip-Hop!!!

My name is Jennifer McMillen, and I live only a few doors down from the proposed site of Prime 6. Like most of the folks at the CB6 meeting on Monday night, I too have been concerned about the impending entrance of Prime 6 into our community and our daily lives.

I'm not generally the type of person that speaks up, (I remained silent during the entire Monday night meeting), but in this situation, I'm hopeful that I've stumbled onto a solution that makes so much sense for *both* parties that I'm beyond excited to share it with all of you.

First, let me explain what's at the heart of this conflict: I know for a fact that there's no single type of establishment (or type of bar/club patron for that matter) that Park Slopers would inherently view as "undesirable." I don't think anyone would deny that Park Slopers are about the least "racist" people on the planet.

What IS causing strife in this situation is that over the last ten years, Park Slope has become a family-oriented and family-centric community. This can be annoying at times - believe me, as someone who has chosen not to have children, I'm more than aware of the self-entitled attitude that often pervades parts of our community.

Nevertheless, it's just a fact that in this neighborhood, family comes first.

Prime 6 has to realize this - but at the same time - Park Slope families need to realize that this is a free country, and that Prime 6 has a right to exist. Furthermore, no one can legally stop the owners from doing what it is they're going to do.

So here's the gist of my big idea: Isn't there some middle ground between this spot being a stroller repair shop and it being a full-on hip-hop club?

No one can change the fact that Prime 6 WILL exist - they have their liquor license, and nothing's going to deter them from opening. BUT: What if owner Akiva Ofshtein could be convinced that his business will see far more financial success as a different kind of nightlife establishment. Instead of focussing on hip-hop and urban entertainment, what if Prime 6 embraced some of the more indie local artists of ALL races who live and perform in the area.

It's not "racist" to equate hip-hop with an elevated crime rate vis a vi other types of musical genres - It's just a statistical fact that crime is more likely to occur among urban audiences than among audiences of other demographics. R&B and rap happen to be my two favorite types of music, but no one (especially my African American friends and colleagues) would seriously deny that hip-hop's violent history tragically precedes it.

In addition, conveniently(!), we also happen to be in the middle of an unprecedented drought of live music. Seventh Ave has ZERO venues for live music by indie artists, and is absolutely ripe for the right type of establishment to come along and breathe life into the live music scene. The business owner who is able to do THAT will reap financial rewards far beyond what they could hope to earn by selling Henessey/etc to basketball fans after a Nets game.

Not only will Akiva Ofshtein make more money by creating a sustainable business that uses social media to bring crowd-drawing acts to Prime 6, he'll also find that by working alongside the community he's joining, he'll build loyal allies in the neighbors around him - INSTEAD of the hostility we saw at the CB6 meeting and on the internet on Tuesday.

After all, which one of Prime 6's direct neighbors wouldn't be forever grateful to Ofshtein for seeding a vibrant artistic hub instead of another Yo MTV Raps "bling-bling" vip club.

As a Park slope resident that has lived steps from Flatbush avenue since 1998, I've seen the neighborhood change drastically in the last 12 years, and I'm well aware of the gentrification sensitivities that have been part of the neighborhood fabric for at least the last decade - so let me tell you first-hand:

We've waited a long time to get to this point: for once, this isn't a question of race or even class. My hope is that artists and art-appreciators OF EVERY IMAGINABLE BACKGROUND will band together to make this happen - to that end, please tweet and tweet and re-tweet: sign this petition to let Prime 6's owner know what he stands to GAIN by embracing independent LIVE music; and by steering clear of processed, commercial noise.

Yes, that is racist.

also old, and fake

o

it's fake?

yeah it was a prank

by whom?

some person who thought it would be funny I don't remember, all the details are on the downtown Brooklyn thread iirc

...blah blah selling Henessey/etc to basketball fans after a Nets game.

^ kind of gives the game away

haha is that still going around

“go-to spot for farm-to-table food, super steaks, fresh fish, venison, bison burgers, etc.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703300904576178812393548284.html

At a recent meeting, most locals who turned out in force to air gripes about the establishment—tentatively called Prime 6 and set to open in May—didn't know a Ms. McMillen. Efforts by The Wall Street Journal to find a person with that name in New York City were unsuccessful.

Huge 30 Rock x-post, but I'm pretty sure the...

re: first episode, playing in traffic in your underwear screaming 'i am a jedi' speaks more to tracy morgan's experience

...was a reference to Martin Lawrence ('On May 7, 1996, comedian Martin Lawrence suffered a nervous breakdown. Lawrence was picked up by police for standing in the middle of a busy, mid-day Los Angeles intersection and screaming at cars. Although he said it was due to exhaustion and dehydration, his behavior was symptomatic of a mental breakdown...' / from http://www.blackhealthzone.com).