rolling "Is This Racist?" thread

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).

is www.blackhealthzone.com racist?

Because it's all about the health problems mainly faced by people of African descent? I wouldn't think so.

yeah why would it be racist?

Health is an issue where you can't be color-blind. Are you a black male? Guess what, you're more likely to die of a heart attack than a white male of the same age. There's a score of other health-related problems that affect blacks more.

Now why isn't there a whitehealthzone.com? I dunno, maybe because all it would be about is how to survive zipline accidents and Mountain Dew poisoning.

khaki burns

yeah why would it be racist?
― dayo

Are you trying to start an argument, Mr. Forks?

not at all, falling back now

ha yeah people really jumped on you about that, i thought what you were doing was pretty obvious

from now on, i will look at any inquiry from forks twice to spot ulterior motives before continuing to answer his question in a respectable fashion.

oh will you?

no I won't, falling back now

is this wiki page racist? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American

trying to imagine a black guy on a zipline or wearing khakis or eating sandwiches even LOL

Ha, and I just realized that you were just taking blackhealthzone.com from the comment made about 30 Rock.

I don't watch 30 Rock, so I haven't been paying close attention to this thread lately.

pplains, it's all love

er, xpost

pplainslovezone.com

don't click on that at work

pplains got chastized for clicking on pplainslovezone.com at work. repeatedly.

http://rareseeds.com/ching-chang-bok-choy.html

last nights 30 rock episode was pretty great in terms of the stuff we were talking abt itt

i mean in terms of "being smart and challenging about race"

that being said margaret cho's kim jong il is..... something

http://rareseeds.com/ching-chang-bok-choy.html

― mh, Thursday, May 17, 2012 4:55 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

this is probably just a romanization of 清江白菜 using a wade-giles type system

xp that something is straight up horrible. i mean, at least they got an Asian to play it (i still remember Amy Poehler), but ugh, still

thx dayo!

trying to imagine a black guy on a zipline or wearing khakis or eating sandwiches even LOL

why are you laughing at me, I thought we were friends

*sob*

*sobs*

*ziplines away across Cambridge*

Little known fact, DJP ziplines to work every day.

goddamnit, xp

haha

Pictured: Boston, MA [citation needed]

http://media1.break.com/dnet/media/2010/6/23/45%20Zipline%20Into%20Guerilla%20Country!.jpg

Those don't look like khakis.

But his pockets are full of sandwiches.

i agree that sho's accent is iffy but isn't it basically the same accent cho uses in her stand-up to imitate her parents? i don't think that excuses the 30 rock bits but it's not like she's in yellowface. but it's not as for her characterization of kim jong il, it's at least focused on a specific person, not a race in general, and it's mostly about his ridiculous megalomania instead of a parade of general asian stereotypes?