Did she or didn't she?
Lindsay Lohan @ 19 seconds
From the YouTube comments for this video:
whoa i wasn't aware that saying "colored" was a bad thing..
i honestly wasn't aware that "colored" was racist...
she said colored b/c he's technically not black, he's bi-racial. Also colored is an umbrella term for people of all colors black,brown,caramel,yellow,red ,etc and is another way of saying 1st non white president. She didn't mean it in the slave owner from the south sense of the word.
it don't make her racist...STUPID!...but not racist
It's such an old expression. Very weird. Is she hanging out with 85 year old people?
Anonymous contributor to Regina Frank's performance installation, "What Is Black? What Is White?":
I
when I am born, I'm black
when I grow up, I'm black
when I am sick, I'm black
when I get sunburned, I'm black
when I am cold, I'm black
when I die, I'm black
but
YOU
when you are born, you're pink
when you grow up, you're white
when you are sick, you're green
when you get sunburned, you're red
when you are cold you're blue
when you die you're purple
AND YOU HAVE THE FUCKING NERVE
TO CALL ME COLOURED!
She did say "coloured." But, I think she meant to say, "person of colour." Pay attention to the entire interview, you will learn that she is not articulate and does not enunciate. She speaks the way many white American women (especially, those who were raised in surburbia) in their teens, twenties, and early thirties speak, which is without much thought, and as if the words got backed up in their mouths and then all just come pouring out in a jumbled rush. Also, she practices a style of speaking that I describe as "well, you know what I mean, so I don't have to say it all, you can just fill in the blanks, blah, blah, blah." Her way of engaging in conversation is arrogant and deeply rooted in the privilege that this society affords her because she is young and white and female and attractive.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Redcatbiker, if you watch the whole interview in context, you'll find that she is more ignorant (and aparantly not as up with the times as I thought she would be)than racists. As for the poem, I love it. The first time I read it, it was part of a little comic strip illustrating the different colors the white people become in different situations. So, reading it again gave me a little chuckle.
ReplyDeleteI think it is ignorance. I know so many white people offended at the fact that Barack Obama is referred to black instead of biracial, and many white people don't understand the concept of being biracial, and don't know how to accurately describe it, which is why I think she used colored.
ReplyDeleteYou're very brave to sift through YouTube comments.
ReplyDeleteI mean, how many "OMG WTF" comments did you have to read to find this gem:
"It's such an old expression. Very weird. Is she hanging out with 85 year old people?"
You're all on an anti-racist blog, listening to someone refer to a non-white person by an antiquated term that hails from the Jim Crow era, and saying that it was "stupid but not racist" to say such a thing?
ReplyDeleteTalk about stuff white people do! Giving a free pass to other white people who say "slightly" racist things by saying they were just "ignorant" when they could have well informed themselves is classic.
What space said. This is not acceptable. Or would "nigra" have been OK too because it "just came out"?
ReplyDeleteIgnorance is no excuse. This sort of ignorance, repeated every day by thousands of people, is a big part of the background racism people of color have to deal with while white folks get to keep our image of ourselves as "not racist" because we don't wear Klan robes.
Are we not responsible for educating ourselves on such matters if we want to live in a world that has other human beings in it?
You're all on an anti-racist blog, listening to someone refer to a non-white person by an antiquated term that hails from the Jim Crow era, and saying that it was "stupid but not racist" to say such a thing?
ReplyDeleteI think these commenters are POC too! When Macon D says that POC like his blog too, I guess he means these kind of POC.
Space, FYI,
ReplyDeletethe first three commenters responding to this post are blacks. Or at least identify as such. My grandfather who is a black man still says colored, he isn't ignorant or racist, he uses the vernacular of the time,even as a black man.
I think she used colored because in other parts of the world, a person of mixed race is referred to as "colored" as opposed to white or black, and many white people have a hard time grasping Obama's blackness. They want him to claim both and can't understand why he as an American has opted to choose "one" of his races.
I do agree with Pixie, we should educate ourselves, but at the same time, we aware and have a cultural understanding to fully understand the mindset of people who do spout of ignorant things like Lindsay Lohan did. Of course I feel we shouldn't be going to Lindsay for anything that is supposed to stimulate intelligent conversation, but that is just my opinion.
Yeah, you know, THOSE kinds of people. What in the world, Restructure, are YOU doing generalizing about POC? Oh, right. Trolling.
ReplyDeleteMacon,
ReplyDeleteJust curious, why the by line, "Did she or didn't she" in this post, it's pretty clear about what she said?
I think these commenters are POC too! When Macon D says that POC like his blog too, I guess he means these kind of POC.
ReplyDeleteI love the assertion that us "colored" folks who don't look to Lindsay Lohan for political commentary and don't expect much from a woman who blamed a "black kid" for her erratic driving and taking three men hostage are pandering to white people. I don't see Lindsay as someone I seek to provide guidance for racial equality.
If black people like myself were to get offended at every single thing white people said that was ignorant, we would all be suicidal. I grew up in Texas in predominantly white areas and was born six miles from a sundown town, I have heard worse, maybe that is why it doesn't offend me as much as it does you. I didn't say Lindsay should get a free pass, I just said she is ignorant, and like many other people says stupid and ignorant things.
Kathy, I used that "byline" because although it may be pretty clear to you and others what she said, there's some question for other listeners about just what she mumbled at that moment.
ReplyDeleteI think redcatbiker described Lohan's inarticulate manner of speaking very well in the first comment here, as well as its probable sources.
I didn't say Lindsay should get a free pass
ReplyDeleteWhat does that mean in this context? This context being the one set prior to you comment as to whether Lohan's statement was racist or, instead, "stupid" or "ignorant."
If black people like myself were to get offended at every single thing white people said that was ignorant, we would all be suicidal.
Being offended isn't necessary for people determine whether racist as opposed to stupid/ignorant, especially given Lohan's history you just highlighted.
But thanks for your observation. People should take note of the fact that Black people, e.g., don't comment on every single thing...
I will say, though... I have no idea what distinction you're making between something that's "racist" vs. "ignorant". The best I can tell from what you've said is "ignorant" is that category of racist/racial remarks that you don't feel "offended" by or otherwise worth your time, energy or sanity to make an issue out of it.
I'm saying that because it seems like something a lot of people do -- i.e. use the term "ignorant" when something is ostensibly "racist" if for no other reason than being inexcusably ignorant of other racial/ethnic groups and the history of this country. It's a huge lack of self-awareness in terms of the world she lives in that's shared by people who haven't been "colored" in a while.
I suppose that (the lack of self-awareness) was part of the point Macon was making with the poem.
My grandfather who is a black man still says colored
Lindsey Lohan is his age?
in other parts of the world, a person of mixed race is referred to as "colored"
You'd have to tell me because I don't keep up with celebrities, their business or their life and don't feel an urge to attack or defend them but... what other part of the world is Lindsey Lohan from?
And, assuming she's been in the U.S. for a significant amount of time (I'm cheating, I tried to look this up), why are you giving her a pass (there is nothing else to call it), performing all sorts of mental gymnastics as you try to come up with a plausible reason why she said what she did?
She said it and, if it's something people expect her to answer for, she'll have to deal with it.
About ten years ago, a company in Oakland California made a line of "colored people" products. They showed a crayon box with people-crayons in all skin colors. Including "white."
ReplyDeleteWhat does that mean in this context? This context being the one set prior to you comment as to whether Lohan's statement was racist or, instead, "stupid" or "ignorant."
ReplyDeleteThe context meaning she said something stupid, it doesn't mean it wasn't racist, but it wasn't out and out offensive to me either, especially since older black folks in my family refer to Obama as "colored". Maybe I found it weird that she said colored, being that she so young, but I wasn't ready to go insane over the comment either.
Typically racist and ignorant go hand and hand. I don't find racist statements to be very intelligent for the most part, but that is just me.
But thanks for your observation. People should take note of the fact that Black people, e.g., don't comment on every single thing...
Was I supposed to protest? Was I supposed to break down and cry because of what she said?
The best I can tell from what you've said is "ignorant" is that category of racist/racial remarks that you don't feel "offended" by or otherwise worth your time, energy or sanity to make an issue out of it.
If you call me a n*gger I will think you are ignorant, and I will be offended. Like I said before ignorant and racist go hand in hand usually. I just am not going to get upset because some celebrity with a racist past said something ignorant, racist, or whatever you want it to be.
Personally sometimes I give white people slack because I hate to say it most of the time I don't expect much from them in regards to racial sensitivity. Again, I am sorry I am not crying or shouting from the rooftops my outrage at an incident. I don't have the time or patience to get upset at every single instance. It is like me being upset that Don Black of Stormfront said something racist. I know from his past he isn't capable of being remotely compassionate to blacks, so why should I get upset if once again he said or did something racist? It is in his nature.
You'd have to tell me because I don't keep up with celebrities, their business or their life and don't feel an urge to attack or defend them but... what other part of the world is Lindsey Lohan from?
I have no clue where she is from, nor do I care.
performing all sorts of mental gymnastics as you try to come up with a plausible reason why she said what she did?
I didn't have to form any type of gymnastics to not get upset. I will say I find it offensive that you are telling me how I should feel about what Lindsay. Are you the official spokesperson of what black is? Did we have a black meeting I forgot to put in my blackberry to tell me how to feel about this particular topic?
You can go ahead and take my black card if you want. I will reapply for readmission to the black race later when some other black representative is available.
For future reference to white people....some times blacks don't get offended at everything, sometimes blacks have a difference of opinion, and sometimes black people have the incessant need to determine the level of blackness of people who don't share their views.