Um, Chow Yun Fat in Anna and the King?
HELLO, people!
I dare not inquire what jamesblan might think of the post-Stonewall gay rights movement… :rolleyes:
Now that’s entertainment! Er, I mean, a Pit thread! 
Esprix
Let us bring this thread back to the debate at hand. I believe blacks are the most privileged minority because we all that and a bag of chips.
[Homer Simpson voice] Mmmmmm … bag of chips … [/Homer Simpson voice]
And jamesblan, if you’re worried about the perception of Asian men in Hollywood, this thread might be of interest to you.
Hey! Thats my bag of chips!
Despite my occasional use of the acronym “LOL,” in fact I very rarely guffaw audibly. But the priceless perfection of this erudite post made it happen.
Girl, it’s AAAAALL goooooooood. And it’s about time more of you privoledged monorities gave this thread the respectful, well-thought-out answer it deserves.
I take it that you have not read any of the more thought provoking threads available here at Straight Dope and realized how intelligent some of these folks really are?
Your actions prove your ignorance.
I’m wondering if the OPer is actually more devious than the rest of the posters on this thread.
This place reeks of sock puppeting trolls.
DNFTT
…and I’m outa here…
The OP is that veritable Holy Grail of Great Debates, the post that, all by itself, completely justifies the existence of the rolleyes smiley.
Alright, allow me to try and restate this in clear, thoughtful, and grammatically correct manner. I did want to stimulate a serious discussion, but I was a little too lit when I first posted, so I DO apologize for that moronic rambling.
I DO feel that blacks are the most priveleged racial minority, however, and I DO feel that other racial minorities are not given as much support by our society.
Off the top of my head, the most glaring examples of this are that of the nicknames of various professional and amatuer sports teams. Again, Cleveland Indians, Washington Redskins. . .there is a high school in Akron, Ohio that still carries the name East High Orientals.
Now, it is true that some of these names have been changed due to due to their offensive nature, and most of those that I recall are colleges which seem to be leading the charge in that arena. However, for those of you who feel that it is not really that big of a deal, why have something like around if it truly offends a group of people? I just think that having those kind of nicknames undermines the idealistic notion our country carries of all men being created equal.
Blacks are the most numerous racial minority, which gives them a stronger voting potential, more weight politically because of that, and a longer, more publically pronounced successful civil rights agenda.
Not much has been popularized about Native American or Asian civil rights. A few exceptions I can think of would be the Rage Against the Machine video about Leonard Peltier, “Dragon” the movie about Bruce Lee’s life, “Little Big Man” starring Dustin Hoffman, and maybe “Dances with Wolves.” The point, again, being that it seems our society is much less willing to accept Asian, or Native American equality than black equality.
Obviously, we could write a book about this. Once again, I apologize for that first thread, let’s begin anew.
Probably true, but there are many factors involved here. Black history, involving centuries of oppression and struggle, happens to have been in the forefront of American history more than the history of other racial minorities. We went through decades of conflict between regions fought the Civil War over the issue of slavery and freedom. Later, the civil rights struggle was at the forefront of the movement of social change that swept the country in the sixties. The reason that we pay more attention in schools, pokitics, and national media to black history is because it is very thoroughly intertwined with the entire history of the United States.
It also depends on where you live. I know that more attention is given in California to Hispanic and Asain American history than in the South, obviously because a greater percentage of the population out there is Hispanic or Asian American.
I don’t exactly understand why these nicknames shoulod be viewed as discriminatory. We have teams called the Fighting Irish, the Spartans, the Vikings, but you don’t see anybody complain about those.
Having a name which refers to Native Americans isn’t inherently racist. It has to do with the cultural makeup of the school, the name itself, depictions… many reservation schools have sports team names which are celebrations of their heritage. Put them on a sports team in whitebread USA, however, and they can become offensive.
Best example I can think of where a Native American name isn’t offensive is the Florida Seminoles. They happen to have the blessing of the tribe.
Biggirl, all that and a bag of chips? Day-am.
Really? Even with that extremely annoying chant that the fans do? That is kind of surprising.
YEs, to agree with andygirl, names used after a tribe or creed are not offensive, but I have had Native Americans tell me they see the name “Indians” as a slam on their true heritage, which is American not from India, which was given by a white man to them. I understand their concerns. We don’t have the blackskins, whiteskins, or yellowskins, why should we have the Redskins?
ITR. . .that’s very true and, of course, every racial minority has a different history of abuse, racism, and persecution. Do you think that since the blacks had more popular support among white middle and upper class people, their movement (or ‘your’, I am assuming you are black) had more strength to push black rights to the forefront? (I include the support of whites because I see it as esssential to the civil rights movement that all concerned show their support. Before the 60’s, blacks had little political power, and white support helped in that regard.)
About the Vikings and Spartans, they simply name tribes or groups of Europeans in history, but, ‘the Fighting Irish’ is a tad different. Being part Irish as well, I guess it names the Irish, but then seems to assume they are tough, aggressive, and up to a challenge. That may be why no one has criticized its nature. I could see it as being in poor taste, sure.
Well, historically speaking, American identity was essentially forged from the “savage vs. civilization” idea. American culture, which is very white and Protestant in mentality, set an “other” by their own terms. American government has a long history of screwing over various tribes that continues to this day.
In regards to names- I’ve heard various debates over the subject, and the strongest impression that I’ve gotten is that it’s not something everyone is going to agree on. In the conversations I’ve been a part of, the only thing that was agreed on was that context was crucial.
Who are you, and what did you do with the OP?! :eek:
Well, james, I don’t really think blacks are the most privileged minority. The most privileged minority in the US is that very small minority of people who make over 900,000 dollars a year.
Your list of “priviliges” are not privileges. Not being called names you find offensive is not a privilege. Being a romantic movie star lead is not a privilege. Not being discriminated against is not a privilege.
Do you really mean blacks are discriminated against less than other minorities? Here’s a real debate. Are you trying to say that blacks should stop fighting against racism until Asians and American Indians can “catch up”? Perhaps you mean that blacks are not really discriminated against and they should stop doing whatever it is they do to gain the support of our society?
What is your point in comparing the gains of different ethnic groups against racism and social acceptance?
Well, yeah, but that refers to a kind of rug. See, the other high schools walk all over them.
Thank you, I’ll be here all week!
As a descendant of the Cherokee (a native American is anyone born here), let me just say bullshit. Being called “Indian” (or even the more derisive “Injun”) is the least of our problems. There is very little more damage to be done than your kind of defence of us, pitting us against other groups and making us look like whiners. Besides, “America” is a European term as well, so “Native American” is no better than “Indian”.
The reason we are not a substantial force in American politics is simply because we have very little political clout, except in certain remote places. This is our own choice. We believed our rights came from God or nature long before Jefferson ever penned his declaration. As a people, we suffered much in being conquered by the Europeans, but so did Africans and Asians. Please do us a favor, and leave us out of your mindless ramblings.
Must… not… unghh… sucked in… troll…
There are much better Peltier items, including “Incident at Oglala”, for one.
And I swear, to the next person who refers to “Dances” as an “Indian movie”, I will stab you in the eye. It was a love story about a white man and a white woman with indians in the background. Dances::“Indian Movie” as “Armageddon”::“Cosmos”