oj simpsons bail sentence

by BR25 83 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Leolaia

  Thanks, ((((Dominick)))). It is too easy for some to forget that words and images have a long history with lots of baggage from the past. And they can hurt because of what they bring up.

  I think it is no coincidence that lynching of Blacks by Whites increased during this period. Read any literature from this period and you will see that most Whites viewed Blacks (especially men) as lazy, shiftless, immoral, drunken brutes who were not fit to live.

  Sylvia....What you say about the connection is perfectly echoed in this scholarly article:

  "It is interesting to note that the black person as entertainment and comic figure has emerged twice in popular culture, and at both times race relations were extremely bad. The minstrel show, our first national popular entertainment, had comic Negroes as the focus; and it became widely popular in the 1840s just when the slavery issue was becoming a serious political question. Again in the 1880s and 1890s when race relations were at their worst, most violent level, the comic black man became the most common figure in America's new popular entertainment -- vaudeville and the musical revue. When he was being treated the worst, the Negro became the butt of the national joke, the principal comic character. In this way, popular culture's treatment of blacks reflected the society's humiliation of them. If humor is a way of relieving social tension, then making blacks into comics was one way of coping with an extreme situation....Blacks were systematically disenfranchised, segregated, and excluded from the economy. All of this was emphasized with lynching, on the average, of nearly 110 Negroes every year from 1889 to 1902. Popular culture reflected this degraded situation by trying to ease the tension with laughter. The black became the principal comic figure in the 1890s, replacing the Irishman as the butt of America's joke. Although it may be difficult for Americans in the last quarter of the twentieth century to believe, the Irish had once occupied a place in the American estimation that was as low or lower than that of the Negro. In the pre-Civil War South, Irish laborers were employed in construction work in places considered too diseased and deadly to use black slave labor" (J. Stanley Lemons, American Quarterly, "Black Stereotypes as Reflected in Popular Culture, 1880-1920", 1977, pp. 104, 106).
• 

  snowbird

  The issue for me is not that black people or asians or mexicans have been stereotyped.

  It is the fact that it isn't a "have been sterotyped" its that in 2007 they "are" stereotyped. That pisses me off.

  That was the point of Leo's post. To show the basis for those stereotypes that we are witnessing in 2007. You have to get to the foundation in order to understand the structure.

  Sylvia
• 

  Leolaia

  Okay here is the post, originally written to explain the history of the "watermelon" stereotype for OUTLAW....

  The stereotype is not simply one of blacks eating watermelons (it is, after all, an African plant). By the time slavery was abolished, it had already become a leitmotif of minstrel performance (blackface). It was stereotyped as a food that was not just eaten by blacks, but it defined them as blacks. And during the "nadir of race relations" (1890-1920), black stereotypes were a defining characteristic in white popular culture. Starting in the 1880s, blacks were increasingly depicted with animal characteristics and other exaggerated features. Alden Fruit Vinegar trading cards (a precursor of the baseball cards of the twentieth century), for instance, juxtaposed images of blacks eating watermelons with grotesque monkey-like features. In the "coon song" craze (which was the first big fad in popular music), blacks were depicted as totally OBSESSED with watermelons and chickens, craving them deeply -- playing into notions of blacks as irrational and driven by passions and lusts. As an example, consider the song "My Watermelon Boy" by Malcolm Williams, released in 1899. Here is an excerpt from the lyrics:

  "He's a common n****r of a very common kind ... / And he loves a melon from the heart right to the rind... / [His sweetheart] loves to see him roll up his eyes, / When watermelon that boy does spy, / No coon can win me, no use to try / Cause I do love my watermelon boy."

  

  One common theme in popular culture was the theft of watermelons and chickens by blacks. This derives from the above-mentioned stereotype of blacks as watermelon addicts, as well as criminally oriented. The following photo depicting a black faced with the dilemma of having to give up his watermelons in order to catch a chicken appeared in a postcard from 1901 with the caption "Dis Am De Wust Perdickermunt Ob Mah Life":

  

  Another "coon song" from 1898 titled "The Coon's Trade Mark" has a similar sentiment:
  

  "As certain and sure as Holy Writ, / and not a coon's exempt from it, / Now you've heard about birds of a feather / Four things you'll always find together, / Regardless of the condition of the sun or moon -- / A watermelon, a razor, a chicken, and a coon."

  Of course, the reference to the "razor" pertains to the use of the razor as a weapon. All of this was produced for white consumption and it reinforced white identity and the ideal of segregation. By depicting blacks as maximally different from whites, the "coon" in popular culture emphasized the semiotic opposition between blacks and whites. And by portraying them as thieves and as violent, it supported the belief that blacks should be controlled and segregated from whites by whatever means are necessary. The watermelon motif was part of this overall package.
• 

  144001

  That whole 'race card' that Johnny Cockroach played 12 years ago, was absolutely dispicable. -- Mary

  Who played the race card first? Upon learning of the hiring of Johnny Cochran, the prosecution delegated prosecution of the "trial of the century" to Christopher Darden, a prosecutor with very little trial experience who most definitely was not the most qualified individual in the district attorney's office. But Darden was black . . .

  Personally, I find the disrespect for the verdicts in the Simpson case to be appalling. People forget that the issue isn't whether the defendant is guilty of the crime he/she is charged with; rather, the issue is whether the prosecution satisifed its burden of proving the defendant to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. And, having watched the OJ trial, I agree with the verdicts; the prosecution did a horrible job and certainly did not prove Mr. Simpson's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. That doesn't mean OJ was innocent, it simply means that Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden were horrible prosecutors who failed to do the job they were assigned to do.

  I can remember Marcia Clark's words following the verdicts. She said that when she heard the verdicts, she thought "payback. This is payback for the Rodney King verdicts." What that poodle-headed incompetent prosecutor should have been thinking was, "I failed the people of California by focusing on how I could beneft from this case instead of focusing on prosecuting OJ."

  The verdicts were proper and deserving of respect, regardless of whether Mr. Simpson actually did commit the crime he was accused of. People need to accept that race had nothing to do with the verdicts. If they wish to assign blame, assign it where it belongs: Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden, the two morons who turned a "mountain of evidence" into an exhibition of prosecutorial incompetence.

  As for those who would like to attribute my post to a black man, I'm white. And yes, I do think OJ killed Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown. However, I don't think the State satisfied its burden of proving OJ guilty beyond a resonable doubt, and, accordingly, I agree with the verdict in the criminal case.

  Finally, I resent the racist comments in this thread as well as the reference to the late Johnny Cochran as "Johnny Cockroach." Racists are trash, plain and simple, regardless of their ethnic background.
• 

  frankiespeakin

  144,

  Racists are trash, plain and simple, regardless of their ethnic background.

  I don't think racists are trash, in fact to view them in that way, is not far from the racist mentality of judging people harshly. I think they are rather narrow minded, as far as they are being Ethnocentric, and would do better broadening out their awareness of the whole human family,

  Usually such strong feelings of disgust are an indication we are projecting our own shadow onto an easy hook.
• 

  144001

  Frankie,

  I don't think racists are trash

  Your effort to defend racists is indeed indicative of your own racial views. As for your pathetic effort at psychology, stick to flipping burgers.
• 

  frankiespeakin

  144,

  Your effort to defend racists is indeed indicative of your own racial views. As for your pathetic effort at psychology, stick to flipping burgers.

  I think your projecting your shadow again. How do you know I'm a racist or have narrow minded racial views, I was not defending racists, I was saying that to call such persons trash is basically following the same prejudical pattern we see in racisim, namely prejudging them harshly.
• 

  heathen

  Leolaia -- I did find that interesting . There have been many threads on this board about race and racism so this would be just as acceptable as any of them . I don't recall any of them being locked . We might as well go back to the days of arguing over why it's ok for black people to use the n-word and not for the white or various other groups.
• 

  mrsjones5

  We might as well go back to the days of arguing over why it's ok for black people to use the n-word and not for the white or various other groups.

  Oh please let's not.
• 

  Kudra

  When I was in college the teacher (I forget which class) asked us to raise our hands if we thought we were racist.
  
  No one raised their hand of course.
  
  But then he told us that the definition of racism is when you have a certain expectation or opinion or belief about someone negative or POSITIVE based solely on their race.
  
  So then we all raised our hands later... etc. etc.
  
  So, if it is my opinion that Hispanics are all fun-loving and dance well, that is actually a racist statement...