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Sunday, December 1, 2013

#RacismEndedWhen Tweets That I Really Like

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post documents selected tweets for #RacismEndedWhen [the hashtag "Racism ended when"].

Background:
"On Sunday, the Republican National Committee tweeted out an ill-advised tribute to civil rights icon Rosa Parks, praising the late activist for "her role in ending racism."
@GOP
Today we remember Rosa Parks’ bold stand and her role in ending racism.
9:58 AM - 1 Dec 2013
-snip-
I learned about that GOP tweet and its resulting hashtag via a Huffington Post article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/01/gop-rosa-parks_n_4368211.html
-snip-
Although I don't tweet, I couldn't resist clicking that hashtag. I learned that @FeministaJones started #RacismEndedWhen in response to that Republican's tweet.
And I decided to archive some of the #RacismEndedWhen tweets that I like.

Tweets provide opportunities for insightful, witty humor and in-your-face truth talking. These tweets are compiled for folkloric, cultural, sociological, and, yes, for entertainment reasons.

I divided these selected tweets into two groups:
Group 1 are ironic, sarcastic tweets that hopefully convey the point that racism hasn’t ended because of ___________ or that _________ wasn’t proof that racism has ended. I call this group "Sarcastic/Ironic #RacismEndedWhen Tweets"

Group 2 tweets provides a serious example of something that would indicate that racism would have ended. I call this group "Serious #RacismEndedWhen Tweets".

These tweets aren't presented in any order of preference. However, I assigned each tweet a number for reference purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

WARNING: While all the tweets quoted on this blog are "clean", some #RacismEndedWhen tweets include profanity, the "n word" fully spelled out, and other content that may be considered problematic.

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#RacismEndedWhen link https://twitter.com/search?q=%23RacismEndedWhen&src=hash&f=realtime December 1, 2013

Group 1: Sarcastic/Ironic #RacismEndedWhen Tweets
1. Attack Slug‏@BadassGuacamole56m
#RacismEndedWhen Steve Harvey started hosting Family Feud

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2. Lizz Winstead
#RacismEndedWhen The Jeffersons "moved on up."

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3. Ken Schultz‏@kenthinguy23s
#RacismEndedWhen Mitt Romney bridged the racial divide by demanding to know who let the dogs out.

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4. Mistletoe Ethaniel‏@m_ethaniel30m
#RacismEndedWhen Disney released 13 movies starring black princesses and all-black casts.

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5. Blu_wire@11‏@Blu_wire1132m
#RacismEndedWhen the lone black character stopped being the first to die in horror movies.. oh wait..

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6. Corey Smith‏@corey_smith8033m
#RacismEndedWhen Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney made 'Ebony And Ivory'

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7. Darth Shada ✨‏@DarthShada35m
#RacismEndedWhen Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin were inducted into Mensa.

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8. Amy McCarthy‏@aemccarthy39m
#racismendedwhen Vanilla Ice dropped his first record.

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9. ROY vs BEAU ®‏@TheKonfident11h
#RacismEndedWhen ....Mr. Drummond adopted Willis & Arnold.

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10. Adwoa Asiedu‏@adjpants44m
iCannot RT @fuelbot: #RacismEndedWhen Justin Timberlake got cornrows.

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11. Jane Doe, MD‏@DrJaneChi2h
#RacismEndedWhen Bill Clinton played the sax on Arsenio Hall.

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12. Adwoa Asiedu‏@adjpants52m
BAHAHA!! My fave! RT @nationsfilm: #RacismEndedWhen Barbara Billingsley said, "Can I help? I speak jive." in Airplane!"

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13. Haitian Shade Tree‏@UnaGotadeL1uvia2h
#RacismEndedWhen Elvis invented rock n roll

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14. Comrade‏@Kyronne1h
#RacismEndedWhen Disney had a cartoon with a Black Princess

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15. Malus Lupus‏@Cae_919m
Hold on a sec... I thought #RacismEndedWhen we all remembered the Titans? Can the #GOP confirm?

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Group 2: "Serious #RacismEndedWhen Tweets".
1.HenryS‏@Surprise4231m
#RacismEndedWhen the GOP stopped trying to keep minorities from voting…oh, wait.

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2. Sue‏@Stroppy_Girl40m
#RacismEndedWhen everyone who settled in North America made good on their broken treaties with indigenous peoples and...oh, wait. Nevermind.

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3. Woochie‏@shimmygod1h
#RacismEndedWhen the police stopped following black & hispanic folks on the road

4. Tits N Giggles‏@Tits_NGigs55m
#RacismEndedWhen everyone unanimously wanted to put an end to "stop & frisk"
Oh, yeah....

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5. LC‏@Retracasil16m
#RacismEndedWhen White Americans paid to watch majority black movies that did not star Denzel Washington or Will Smith.

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6. Chris Bourg‏@mchris4duke48m
#racismendedwhen When professions that proclaim diversity as a core value actually became diverse #librarianship #88percentwhite

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7. Ronin Mara‏@RoninMara42m
#RacismEndedWhen sit-com characters of different ethnicities started joking about things that had nothing to do with each other's ethnicity

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8. J. Gladiator‏@_AdvntrsofJess_46m
"@CoquiNegra: #RacismEndedWhen I stopped being mistaken for The Help instead of the Professor...oh wait; that never happened"

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9. daphne barconey‏@deebarc11m
#RacismEndedWhen people of color can purchased items with their debit cards at Barney's and not stopped or go to jail

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10. Claire‏@Bishpleaz10m
#RacismEndedWhen People gave credit to funny hashtags to the black women who started them. Oh wait.

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RELATED LINK
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/12/01/3007041/gop-credits-rosa-parks-ending-racism/ GOP Credits Rosa Parks For ‘Ending Racism’
"The Republican National Committee celebrated the 58th anniversary of Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, by proclaiming in a tweet that racism has ended" [tweet given above]

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ADDENDUM December 7, 2013
Here's an excerpt from a Salon article that relates to the topic of Black people using twitter:
"
..."As American pop culture lurches its way toward presenting a marginally more complete picture of the society that births it, the media are rushing to catch up. The fabled “national conversation on race” is happening. Equal parts hilarious, historical and painful, the complex clumsiness of its execution is matched by its necessity. We have to talk about it — we’re just not that good at it yet...

Black Twitter, as both a player and a phenomenon, has been front and center of most of these discussions. As a member of “Black Twitter,” I’m conflicted about the moniker. My participation in feminist, geek or New York Twitter have yet to receive the same level of scrutiny as my membership in Black Twitter. At the same time, there’s joy in the name. Black. Twitter. Using the same social media everyone else is, this cultural movement has been a repeated source of insightful analysis, hilarity and virtual support that affirms the shared and diverse experiences of being black both online and off. One in four black people who are online at all is tweeting, using the platform to offer instant feedback on the news of the moment."

Article title: "The American media has no idea how to talk about race on-screen

But they're (slowly) learning, thanks to social media campaigns that are forcing difficult conversations" by Sydette Harry
http://www.salon.com/2013/12/05/the_american_media_has_no_idea_how_to_talk_about_race_on_screen/
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Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Special thanks to @FeministaJones for starting this hashtag.

I cosign what this tweet says:

Beatrice E Peterson‏@MissBeaE32s
Hopefully #racismendedwhen will spark a larger dialog about racism and diversity in all aspects of life.
-snip-
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4 comments:

  1. If would have been better wording if the GOP had acknowledged Rosa Parks' work to help end racism. However, that political party may have still been targeted for its hypocrisy of applauding efforts to end racism while publicly supporting racist actions and racist legislation.

    One recent example of this is the subject of this dailykos diary http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/01/1256955/-Riled-up-Republican-racists-rant-over-another-African-name Riled-up Republican racists rant over another African name.

    Here's one quote from that diary:
    "Debo Adegbile was nominated to head-up the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. However, his sterling credentials still make him a target for Republicans, some of whom have ridiculed his "animal ooga booga" name."
    -snip-
    Adegbile is an African American whose father is Nigerian (Yoruba).

    I won't hold my breathe while I wait for the GOP to put out a tweet supporting the nomination of Debo Adegbile or even criticising other Republicans for how they have reacted to President Obama's nomination of Adegbile.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think that the Yoruba name "Adegbile" means "Honor [or "the crown" or "royalty"] is in this home".

    There are lots of Yoruba names with the element "ade". Among them are "Adesola" (the crown honors us). "Adewole" (royalty enters the house), and "Adelaja" (the crown settle a quarrel"). I found those names in the book Names From Africa: Their Origin, Meaning, and Pronunciation (Ogonna Chuks-orji: Chicago, Johnson Publication, 1972, pp 33-34).

    And the full first name of the popular British singer of part Nigerian descent who is known as "Sade" is "Folasade" which means "honor" [ola] confers a crown [ade].

    The Yoruba element "ile" and "ele" mean "home" or "house".

    There doesn't appear to be many Yoruba names ending in "ile". The only such name that I found thus far is "Bolanile" (in Baby Names: Real Names With Real Meanings For African Children (Tyra Mason & Sam Chekwas: New York, Seaburn, 1997, p. 29). That book indicates that "Bolanile" is a female name* and gives its meaning as "She is the wealth of her home".

    *I think that this means that "Bolanile" [bola+n+ile] is a unisex name that is mostly given to females.

    Another Yoruba name that end in "ele" is "Ayodele" (joy comes home).

    Here's an excerpt from the Wikipedia page on "Ife" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ife in which "ile" is translated to mean "land".
    "Ife (Yoruba: Ifè, also Ilé-Ifẹ̀) is an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria...

    Mythic origin of Ife, the holy city: Creation of the world
    The meaning of the word "ife" in Yoruba is "expansion"; "Ile-Ife" is therefore in reference to the myth of origin "The Land of Expansion". Due to this fact, the city is commonly regarded as the cradle of not just the Yoruba culture, but all of humanity as well, especially by the followers of the Yoruba faith."
    -snip-
    Years ago I was fortunate to meet the eminent Nigerian scholar, musician, and composer Fela Sowande when he taught for a brief time at the University of Pittsburgh. Fela Sowande gave a friend of mine a copy of what I believe is a still unpublished manuscript he wrote in 1966 that is entitled The Mind Of A Nation- The Yoruba Child" One chapter of that book is "Yoruba Names And Their Meanings". Knowing my interest in African culture, that friend gave me a copy of that book. Years later I posted just that chapter on names on my Cocojams cultural website so that people who are interested in Yoruba naming traditions can have easy access to it.

    Click http://cocojams.com/content/yoruba-names-their-meanings-fela-sowande to read those pages.

    I'm sure that Fela Sowande's book wasn't intended to be a comprehensive listing of Yoruba names. While tat chapter lists & comments about several Yoruba names beginning with "ade", it doesn't include the name "Adegbile" or any other name ending in "ile".

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes! I follow @FeministaJones on Twitter and Instagram. This trending topic was awesome!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Maryn!

      Thanks for your comment.

      I give @FeministaJones props to for starting the #racismendedwhentrending topic

      For the folkloric record, I'd love it if you and others shared tweets from that topic that you like.

      Delete