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yeah. but i'm wondering how accurate is what they say.
they seem to make the impression that canada is this multicultural paradise where they face less stereotyping.
the guy from ghanna says he was "welcomed home".
but in the other older threads i just posted black men who moved to places like toronto to look for work and live there say there is covert racism there and that it's bad for them and that its no different than anything i would run into in an american city (i'm american and i'm from washington dc)
What I see in that video is different black people with different opinions. Personally I find myself relating most to Kwame McKenzie, because his views were not overly rosy in comparison to alot of the other panelists.
Donna Bailey Nurse is someone I respect greatly because of her work and push to expose the mainstream to Canadian Black authors. I do disagree with her that Black Canadian Authors are respected though. If they were respected and well received in Canada, people would be able to roll of dozens of names off their tongue without hesitation. Yes a few of us familiar with these works can, but most not.
As far as those threads are concerned you have maybe 3-4 regular posters who are black on this Canada forum and all of us for the most part echo those sentiments expressed in the threads. Of course you have people who disagree, but they are predominantly of another race. So you take that as you want.
What I see in that video is different black people with different opinions. Personally I find myself relating most to Kwame McKenzie, because his views were not overly rosy in comparison to alot of the other panelists.
Donna Bailey Nurse is someone I respect greatly because of her work and push to expose the mainstream to Canadian Black authors. I do disagree with her that Black Canadian Authors are respected though. If they were respected and well received in Canada, people would be able to roll of dozens of names off their tongue without hesitation. Yes a few of us familiar with these works can, but most not.
As far as those threads are concerned you have maybe 3-4 regular posters who are black on this Canada forum and all of us for the most part echo those sentiments expressed in the threads. Of course you have people who disagree, but they are predominantly of another race. So you take that as you want.
Wow that was an interesting interview with Rinaldo Walcott. it's interesting. some of these canadian tv talk shows really get down to the point and say what's real. they don't hold anything back. they say what's what.
talk shows in America don't do this. if they do they will get pulled off the airwaves so fast that it would make your head spin.
i can't imagine larry king or Anderson Cooper or Barbara Walters conducting an interview and asking hard hitting questions like this.
but it was interesting to hear what this guy had to say about racism and black issues in canada.
what i'm getting is conflicting reports. some say canada is great and is getting more multicultural everyday. and others say there is "covert" racism and that it's just not acknowledged and that people are in denial about it because there is such a small percentage of black canadians compared to whites.
so i guess i need to talk to a black canadian and maybe a black american who has lived there for a long time. that would help.
my reason for asking about this is because -- i have been looking at other cultures. first it was european countries and now i'm looking at canada. I'm from washington dc-silver spring, maryland.
and i have been looking outside of my culture. I have one more year of school left and while i'm not saying i'm ready to pack my bags and immigrate immediately, i have a huge desire to find something different. i'm not saying that canada is perfect but there is just things that i really getting sick of in the environment i live in. and i must take action . i have to do SOMETHING i have to begin to take the right steps and make my social landscape better.
Just being a nice guy, taking caring of my body, having a nice job, having a passport, wearing nice clothes, playing the violin, being an artist , going on a 2 week vacation every year and doing positive things is not enough. i have to do something. extreme circumstances require extreme measures.
Most women (not all) but most are not attracted to men who are masculine nice guys . the bad boy culture around me takes precedence and so very men wish to imitate this.
and when i talk to other black men that live in areas of the USA where there is a black middle class. i notice the same situations and same bull**** (same complaints). And i feel the need to distance myself from it. i don't mean to put down my own race but there are negative influences within african-american culture.
these negative influence poor, middle-class, upper-middle class and even the rich too.
I'm a black American man. i'm 30 years old and society has an expectation, as well as peers,family has an idea (stereotype) of how you are supposed to behave and act as a man. And when you do not follow this sterero-type alot of times you are ostracized and beat down emotionally. verbally abused. you get called names. and people just decide that you're the worst. you become a glutton for punishment. people try to get inside my head and make me hate myself. When i was a kid, it was hard but i'm alot stronger now as a person.
and i accept that it does not matter how nice, good and friendly i am the fact is that i'm disliked. There is something about me that gets under a person's skin. and they decide in their mind that they "hate" me. So that hate/dislike is tension building up in that person. So when a misunderstanding happens. That hatred towards me erupts like volcano.
in my city/environment with other black americans and other races as well - the classy black business man who can live or has lived the bad boy life style (undercover) but who can put an expensive suit on a go into the conference room and negotiate business deals and make money is the person who everybody likes and loves. it doesn't matter how much of an ******* or bad person he really is. this saying i picked up applies. "its okay to cruel as long as your are cool!" Alot of middle class black men i come in contact with have this problem. And i am determined to be different and better.
i think rapper 50 cent is a good example. He's lived the bad boy life style to the fullest and while i respect the fact that he is from the ghetto and he came from noting and achieved something, he is still a very bad person. sure he is COOL. but he is a bad person.
but now whenever we see him he always has an expensive suit on in a conference room. i recently saw him on the cover of a finance magazine with suspenders and everything. And so very many middle class black men who have decent careers want to imitate this image when they are off-duty and not at work.
So very many people want to see us black men as the way we are portrayed in films and music. those images are so strong and powerful. And so very many men reinforce those stereotypes in their personal lives that they can't see black men any other way. the black men i see around me now. my classmates at the business school i attend. (howard university) -- men in my family . and just the overall culture.
i'm tired of pretending like i actually enjoy basketball and football just to have a social krutch to have with the other black men around me.
or documentary films like "straight outta LA" directed by rapper Ice Cube (that shows the connection between the aggressive aspect of gangster rap and football culture). really remind me of why i hate the sports that american black men traditionally like.
i'm tired of having to "show" people that i'm different all the time. and then when they see that i am different. I still face rejection from other races even, because they can't see a black man in any other way.
and these images impact black men in other countries too. because america is seen as a rich country and black men in other parts of the world try to imitate this image that the black athletes and rappers portray. i have seen this with my own eyes.
It is a true shame that gutter rappers have become what so many aspire to. The fact that hip-hop culture as it stands now is considered "Black American culture" leaves many many middle class Black Americans feeling like we are living in the twilight zone. This fascination and celebration of absolute criminals, which is what thugs are, is just beyond anything that makes any sense. 50 cent is a low life, pure and simple. I don't care how much money he has, or how many suits he wears. The garbage that spews out of his mouth tells me what dwells in his heart and soul. I feel the same about his fellow gutter rappers as well. Believe it or not, there are American women that think these types are just plain scary, and are to be avoided at all cost.
It is a true shame that gutter rappers have become what so many aspire to. The fact that hip-hop culture as it stands now is considered "Black American culture" leaves many many middle class Black Americans feeling like we are living in the twilight zone. This fascination and celebration of absolute criminals, which is what thugs are, is just beyond anything that makes any sense. 50 cent is a low life, pure and simple. I don't care how much money he has, or how many suits he wears. The garbage that spews out of his mouth tells me what dwells in his heart and soul. I feel the same about his fellow gutter rappers as well. Believe it or not, there are American women that think these types are just plain scary, and are to be avoided at all cost.
well...there is no doubt in my mind that SOME women have some common sense and want to do positive things with their lives. but in my world its not the majority. trust me.
i think the best example is the "step up" dance movie franchise. basically each film is a modern day hip hop rap music version of dirty dancing. its like dirty dancing with partrick swayze but on steroids and gangsta rap basically. the plot in each film is simple, A nice girl with an attitude wants to go to the ghetto/hood and dance with a thug on the dance floor and fall in love.
basically if you look at the film and the way they market each film (there are 4 step up movies) - its aimed at women and the teenage white girl demographic. those are the people that buy movie tickets in masses to see these films. And its just my general feeling by listening to women of different age ranges from different cities and countries about what turns them on and excites them. each film makes over 300 million dollars. and in most cases the film makes more money in other countries.
its even to the point where other races want to imitate this aspect of our culture. its true. And because i'm a black man...i shock, suprise and dissapoint so very many types of people when they see that i'm not like this.
don't get me wrong. i can appreciate all types of art. i'm confident in myself and i have a sense of humor and fashion too. rap is just another artform to me. i like all types of art. i don't limit myself. rap music has a artistic creative side to it that i enjoy from time to time. but that's it.
but the truth is i have to take action and distance myself from this craziness and do something different and this is why i'm considering canada. i realize that canada is not perfect but i have to do SOMETHING.
this video was totally pointless, all I gather discussion is they are pre occupied about what they watch on tv, and somehow wanna blame white canadians for what stereotypes white americans create as if we were a common people.
Some black people in canada play into black stereotypes from my experience, they copy american gansta culture and then say it's covert racism when they get dirty stairs for emulating a culture that is not theirs.
In my experience the only true black only racism comes from other immigrant groups who are not fond of black people for whatever reason.
A racist white folk isn't gonna differentiate between a pakistani, a jamaican, a tamil etc. So if you wanna talk about minorities fine go ahead, but don't turn this into a white versus "black" thing its not the story.
Carribean people and African countries are very different from each other, the idea that anyone would group them along with underground railway blacks is insane. It's like a bunch of chinese kids wanting to hear about the inuit because thats there people.
These groups on there own are a very small minority and they exist in these separate groups, or as a whole a non white people in this country, who include asians, aboriginals, and latin americans.
Anyhow I feel successfully trolled thank you.
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