http://colorofchange.org/

Quote :

"ColorOfChance.org is strengthening Black America's political voice. Using the Internet, we keep our members informed and give them ways to act on pressing issues facing Black people in America. We are united behind a simple, powerful pledge: we will do all we can to make sure all Americans are represented, served, and protected-regardless of race or class."

If so, why? If not, why?

9/14/2009 7:47:18 PM

Shitty answer, but it depends on your definition of racist

If you swapped black with white and ran the ad, would people say it was racist? Definitely.

Does the perception and public opinion of slavery of blacks in the history of the US give them more of a free pass for things like this, for right or wrong? Definitely.

My answer? When you have phrases like "regardless of race or class" ... but also phrases like "Black America" and "issues facing Black people" in the same ad, you're contradicting yourself

[Edited on September 14, 2009 at 7:53 PM. Reason : most rapid TSB posting i've done in months, i need to chill out]

9/14/2009 7:50:53 PM

I'm not sure that it's really racist. It doesn't say that one race is superior to another, or anything like that. I would say that it's a good example of collectivism, though. It's the idea that people identify themselves primarily as a member of their race, rather than an individual, that bothers me.

9/14/2009 8:07:55 PM

I can't make up my mind if it's racist, and neither can the organization.

Quote :

"we keep our members informed and give them ways to act on pressing issues facing Black people in America."

Maybe kinda racist.

Quote :

"we will do all we can to make sure all Americans are represented, served, and protected-regardless of race or class.""

Not racist at all.

If, as Twista said, you replaced "black" with "white" in that ad, it would only bother me a little. And that's only because it seems stupid to found an organization to strengthen the political voice of a group that makes up:

80% of the current population
96% of the current senators
96% of the current governors
98% of all presidents (99%, really, if you want to include the white half of Barack Obama)

Realistically the white voice is plenty strong, and the black political voice could probably do with some strengthening. So yeah, I'll give something of a pass to a nonmilitant activism and community service organization that goes to great lengths to emphasize that it seeks to "protect the lives and interests" of "all who have been left behind in political silence."

9/14/2009 8:08:28 PM

And for that matter, why isn't there a W.E.T.?

9/14/2009 9:53:09 PM

They have one, but it's called ABC.

(I thought about going with CBS, but ABC seemed slightly whiter)

9/14/2009 9:55:36 PM

I don't think so.

Organizations like these arise out of the lack of black voices in the media and the less-than-favorable depictions of blacks in the media. Furthermore traditional black media outlets (Jet, Ebony, and Black Enterprise) are insufficient in covering so-called "black issues", which I'd define as issues that affect black people disproportionately such as poverty, crime, HIV/AIDS, and racism. And the mainstream media misses a lot of these issues or covers them poorly.

By the way the original post has "ColorofChance.org" instead of "ColorofChange.org". I don't know if the page you linked to got fixed or what, just seemed odd to me.

9/14/2009 10:24:07 PM

Good catch. I just copied and posted.


I think it is pertinent to point out that with a supposedly "post racial" President that his skin color gets more attention than the fact that he was raised largely by white relatives and that his father was not a descendant of African slaves, but in fact an African immigrant.

So what this website is saying is that ethnicity doesn't matter, background doesn't matter, skin color does.

I find that interesting.

[Edited on September 15, 2009 at 5:18 PM. Reason : and CMT is more WTV than ABC or CBS]

9/15/2009 5:16:34 PM

Quote :

"ColorOfChance.org is strengthening Black America's political voice. Using the Internet, we keep our members informed and give them ways to act on pressing issues facing Black people in America. We are united behind a simple, powerful pledge: we will do all we can to make sure all Americans are represented, served, and protected-regardless of race or class."

does not compute. You either represent Black America or all races/class but not both. Thats what Jessie jackson, NAACP and the likes are for.

9/15/2009 5:39:45 PM

Quote :

"I think it is pertinent to point out that with a supposedly "post racial" President that his skin color gets more attention than the fact that he was raised largely by white relatives and that his father was not a descendant of African slaves, but in fact an African immigrant. So what this website is saying is that ethnicity doesn't matter, background doesn't matter, skin color does. I find that interesting."

I don't think the website is saying that at all and I don't see how you could reach that conclusion.

9/15/2009 7:27:34 PM

Quote :

"it seems stupid to found an organization to strengthen the political voice of a group that makes up: 80% of the current population 96% of the current senators 96% of the current governors 98% of all presidents (99%, really, if you want to include the white half of Barack Obama) Realistically the white voice is plenty strong, and the black political voice could probably do with some strengthening. So yeah, I'll give something of a pass to a nonmilitant activism and community service organization that goes to great lengths to emphasize that it seeks to "protect the lives and interests" of "all who have been left behind in political silence.""

I agree with this.

9/15/2009 7:33:16 PM

Quote :

"I don't think the website is saying that at all and I don't see how you could reach that conclusion."

Perhaps I'm being overly sensitive about the choice of the word, "color" of change.

I just find it interesting that Barack Obama's background is nothing like that of . . . well as close to typical as you can get . . . a typical Black American's. Yet he is sometimes embraced (and shunned as well) for his skin color.


But should Barack Obama's version of change be tied to a color? I'm prepared to accept him as the 44th President of the United States and while I appreciate the significance of a man of color being elected to chief executive of the United States, I do not (do not want) to see that as a defining feature of his policy.

[Edited on September 15, 2009 at 8:03 PM. Reason : did this work?]

9/15/2009 7:49:48 PM

nm

[Edited on September 15, 2009 at 8:06 PM. Reason : nm]

9/15/2009 7:55:04 PM

I think you did a ghost edit and it screwed up the page somehow

edit your previous post and remove the ghost edit stuff

[Edited on September 15, 2009 at 7:59 PM. Reason : .]

9/15/2009 7:58:56 PM

I went back as far as I could in my browser and I couldn't find it.


Wish I knew what I just did . . . I could wreak havoc on TWW

Fixed

[Edited on September 15, 2009 at 8:05 PM. Reason : but not sure how I did that ]

9/15/2009 8:02:38 PM

Dude you just deleted most of your thread?!?!?!



[Edited on September 15, 2009 at 8:05 PM. Reason : .]

9/15/2009 8:04:30 PM

Quote :

"ColorOfChance.org is strengthening Black America's political voice. Using the Internet, we keep our members informed and give them ways to act on pressing issues"

I thought their voice is simply pulling the "-D" lever.

9/15/2009 8:54:33 PM

Twista, what the fuck did you do?

9/15/2009 9:31:46 PM

I just wanted to have a semi-hidden post too

9/15/2009 10:25:50 PM

Quote :

"I just find it interesting that Barack Obama's background is nothing like that of . . . well as close to typical as you can get . . . a typical Black American's. Yet he is sometimes embraced (and shunned as well) for his skin color."

I read a number of black political blogs, and I actually find it interesting that none of them ever brought up the whole "raised by white people" thing. And while he would've almost certainly gotten overwhelming support from black people no matter what, there are other things in his background that helped him out.

Just as an example (and this is all kinds of fucked up), I've read a lot of people (women mostly) who said that they wouldn't have liked him nearly as much if Michelle had been white (or even light-skinned). Racist? Almost certainly, but there's this perception that successful black men only date light-skinned/white girls. Hell, he might not have even won his Senate race.

Quote :

"But should Barack Obama's version of change be tied to a color? I'm prepared to accept him as the 44th President of the United States and while I appreciate the significance of a man of color being elected to chief executive of the United States, I do not (do not want) to see that as a defining feature of his policy."

I don't think this organization is officially affiliated with Obama in any way, although it's not hard to see why they'd follow him closely. And I'm pretty sure of "Color of Change" existed before Obama became a household name and the "change" theme is just a coincidence. According to the "About" page they started in 2005.

I don't think Obama's "version of change" is tied to his skin color and ultimately he has to walk a fine line to avoid it being cast as such. Color of Change is pretty much about what their first sentence said.

9/15/2009 10:49:00 PM

Quote :

"I've read a lot of people (women mostly) who said that they wouldn't have liked him nearly as much if Michelle had been white (or even light-skinned). Racist? Almost certainly, but there's this perception that successful black men only date light-skinned/white girls. Hell, he might not have even won his Senate race."

Yeah, I guess I just feel like the race discussion could make a lot more headway if people admitted that racism isn't confined to one race and that people were able to openly talk about their prejudices without being deemed evil. I mean, racist is about the worst epithet you can hurl now.

If we're going to get somewhere, a white woman needs to openly talk about how she might feel threatened by black men . . . justified or not, and black men need to be able to talk about how they perceive bias against them on a daily basis . . . real or imagined.

9/15/2009 11:06:07 PM

Yeah that's what I liked about Obama's speech on race. He said that the issue is complex and we're not going to get anywhere unless people learn to listen to each other's viewpoints and not be dismissive of one another.

9/15/2009 11:17:48 PM