Dear White People: A Guide To Inter-Racial Harmony In “Post-Racial” America

By Black Men In America.com Staff

Right out of college, Justin Simien wrote a screenplay about the nuanced experiences of four black students on a predominantly white college campus. The film, Dear White People, garnered a Sundance Award for “Breakthrough Talent” and has been hailed by critics everywhere. Channeling the sensibility of the film into this book, Simien will keep you laughing with his humorous observations, even if you haven’t seen the satiric film.

News Flash—the minimum number of black friends needed to not seem racist has just been raised to two. Rather than panic, readers are advised to purchase a copy of Dear White People. Whether you are a dear white person wondering why your black office mate is avoiding eye contact with you after you ran your fingers through her hair, or you’re a black nerd who has to break it to your white friends that you’ve never seen The Wire, this myth-busting, stereotype-diffusing guide to a post-Obama world has something for you!

With decision-making trees to help you decide when it’s the right time to wear Blackface (hint: probably never) and quizzes to determine whether you’ve become the Token Black Friend™, Dear White People is the ultimate silly-yet-authoritative handbook to help the curious and confused navigate racial microaggressions in their daily lives.

Based on the eponymous, award-winning film, which has been lauded as “a smart, hilarious satire,” this tongue-in-cheek guide is a must-have that anybody who is in semi-regular contact with black people can’t afford to miss!

Click here to view the official “Dear White People” trailer.

About Justin Simien

Justin Simien is the writer / director and a producer of the critically acclaimed feature, Dear White People, which won the Special Jury Award for ‘Breakthrough Talent” at the 2014 Sundance film festival. The film was also awarded with the “Audience Award” at the 2014 San Francisco International Film Festival, and also earned Justin a spot in in Variety magazine’s “10 Directors to Watch”.

Justin gained national attention after making a “concept trailer” for his then unproduced screenplay of “Dear White People” that went viral on YouTube garnering over a million views and fifty thousand dollars in donations from fans around the world. Before entering the world of content creation, Justin worked as a Publicist and Marketing specialist for film companies such as Paramount Pictures, Focus Features, and Sony Television.

Justin currently lives in Los Angeles, CA where he continues to write, direct and produce for film and television.  Click here to learn more about Justin by visiting his official website.

Are Black People Conditioned To Think Less Of Black Professionals?

By Dr. _______________ (Identity Withheld)

I have to remain anonymous to avoid the backlash, but the subject has to be addressed.  Black Americans, African Americans or whatever designation Negroid American people ascribe to, frequently show a disdain for their own kind every day.  Many of us desire to be entrepreneurs but are afraid we would not succeed because our most obvious and most expected clientele, other black people would not support our businesses.

Many of us have decided that our own kind do not possess the ability to run a quality business or deliver a quality product, unless we are working for a white business owner.  I had a friend who stated to me they wouldn’t open a nail salon because African Americans wouldn’t patronize it.  They felt that black women would go to Asian salons before a black owned salon.  I personally wish to challenge this assertion. In my experiences as a dentist, I have been very disheartened by many of my own people.

Some black people will go only to white doctors for all services never giving their own highly trained and educated professionals an opportunity to provide the same services.  Black doctors who set up practice in the communities where black people live must suffer indignities such as being referred to as a “ghetto practice.”  A white doctor can have a practice in the black community and this would never be said. What makes it ghetto?  Because we hire black skinned people?  Because we work in a black community? Are we always compelled to hate ourselves, to think less of ourselves, to think that the white doctor or business owner is better by virtue of his or her white skin?

Here’s what tends to happen.  Many of our potential clientele travel for miles away from our communities looking for white practitioners who always charge much higher fees.  I have seen black patients get a dental treatment plan at a white practice for $15,000 and get talked into expensive financing plans to satisfy the demands of the treatment.  I’ll ask a patient to pay $5,000.00 for a treatment plan and they are quick to reply, “I don’t have any money on me.”  Or they offer to pay me $50.00.

The white doctor would politely run get them out of the office and not do business with them.  And yet, 75% of African Americans are running to white dentists.  Many Black dental offices are empty and trying to get patients. This is ridiculous, when you consider that of the 155,000 dentists in the country only 7500 are black, which is less than 1% of all dentists in the country!  This explains why some black dental practices are going out of business and why some black dentists can’t find employment.

The 2012 US Census Bureau estimated there were 44,456,009 African Americans in the United States, meaning that 14.1% of the total American population of 313.9 Million is Black. This includes those who identify as “Black Only” and as “Black in combination with another race.” The “Black Only” category totaled 41.2 million African Americans or 13.1% of the total U.S population. With approximately 7500 dentists, black dentists should be doing very well everywhere but this is frequently not the case.  As a community, we need more participation from black people as patients. I feel that if I don’t sound the alarm in an effort to awaken our people to this fact, they will falsely assume that black dentists are wealthy simply by virtue of the title “Doctor.”  Nothing could be further from the truth. We need our target clientele to patronize black practitioners.

Black dentists are just as capable as white and non-black dentists.  Many of us go to the same schools, pass the same board exams and get the same state licensing.  The only difference is that many black dentists set up practices in our communities to serve our people. The same communities resemble those areas where we grew as children.

Believe it or not, black dentists and doctors provide great services.  We are also the most likely persons to supply your family with employment opportunities.

I had a black female tell me about how pretty the white dental offices look.  She went on to describe how the white dental office had all the latest gadgets and decor. I explained to her that black medical professionals face the same financial scrutiny by banks and other lenders. It is harder for us to get loans and lines of credit.  And while most black patients are running out of their own communities to white practitioners, I don’t think they realize they are bankrupting their own communities and enriching the wealthy elsewhere. The wealth leaves the black community.

We have admonished our people to listen to the financial data relative to black economics and understand what it means. It is said that a dollar circulates in white communities seven times before it leaves while only circulating one time in black communities. (Click here to learn more about how black people spend their money).

All of this reminds me of a saying that the publisher of this website/blog frequently repeats. He says when it comes to doing business many black people have been culturally conditioned to believe that the “white man’s ice is colder.” Think about it.

If the black population was a nation, the black economy would be the ninth largest economy in the world. This means we are not doing enough business in our communities with black entrepreneurs. We are unknowingly bankrupting ourselves. I hate to say it; but maybe my friend was right.  Maybe black women will only patronize Asian nail salons instead of black salons. In many black neighborhoods there are more Asian-owned restaurants serving us “soul food” than black restaurants. What does this say about us as a people? Do we really have hatred and disdain for our own?  Do we not like ourselves?

I guess my final point, is that I believe that we have to do better as a community.

What do you think?  Please share your thoughts.

Double Standard On Using The N-Word

By Raynard Jackson

I typically don’t write about professional athletes doing stupid things because I have absolutely no interest and it serves no purpose.  But Riley Cooper’s actions from last month can be very instructive and deserves my attention.

Riley Cooper is about to begin his fourth season as a wide receiver with Philadelphia Eagles of the N.F.L. The 25-year-old was born in Oklahoma City and raised in Clearwater, Fla. He played football for the University of Florida.   By all accounts, he is a very good receiver and has been a model teammate during his years in the league.

Last month, he attended a Kenny Chesney concert in Philadelphia.  He was denied backstage access before the concert and became visibly angry based on the video that has gone viral.  In the video, Riley can be seen and heard telling security (who cannot be seen in the video and is said to be Black), “I will jump that fence and fight every nigger here, bro.”
After the video went viral, Riley issued a series of tweets apologizing for his actions and words, “I am so ashamed and disgusted with myself. I want to apologize. I have been offensive. I have apologized to my coach, Jeffrey Lurie, and Howie Roseman and to my teammates. I owe an apology to the fans and to this community. I am so ashamed, but there are no excuses. What I did…Was wrong and I will accept the consequences.”

The chairman and CEO of the team, Jeffrey Lurie issued this statement on behalf of the team, saying: “We are shocked and appalled by Riley Cooper’s words. This sort of behavior or attitude from anyone has no role in a civil society. He has accepted responsibility for his words and his actions. He has been fined for this incident.”

The team then posted a statement on their website: “In meeting with Riley yesterday, we decided together that his next step will be to seek outside assistance to help him fully understand the impact of his words and actions.  He needs to reflect. As an organization, we will provide the resources he needs to do so.”

What Cooper said was stupid.  But, what I am having a problem reconciling is the reaction of the public in general and the team and N.F.L. in particular.

I have had many professional athletes as clients and friends and spend a considerable amount of time with them both in public and in private.  I am appalled at how freely the word ‘nigger’ is used by these athletes in mixed crowds.  Riley is White, but I can assure you that his Black teammates use the word nigger around him — on the field, in the locker room, and when they are together privately.

I am not making a judgment as to whether it is right or wrong; I am simply sharing my personal interactions with professional athletes in various settings.  This is the dilemma the Black community has created for the broader public.  We give rappers, entertainers, and other Blacks a pass when they use the word nigger, but then want to hold a White person to a different standard.  There must be one standard when it comes to the usage of this word — it is not acceptable for anyone, under any circumstance to use it. Period.

Team management and N.F.L. officials hear the word used on the sidelines every Sunday during the games and every now and then league microphones picks up the word being used on the field during live games.  Coarse language is part and parcel of the N.F.L., but is not for public consumption.

So, why is there no outrage by team and league officials when they hear these words on the sideline?  Oh, I forgot, this feigned outrage over Cooper’s comments were caught on camera and the outrage is more of a public relations response — to protect their sport’s brand.

My point is very simple: If we in the Black community didn’t use the word nigger, then others wouldn’t feel comfortable using it, either.  Cooper is totally responsible for what came out of his mouth; but the Black community is responsible for making him feel comfortable saying it.

Raynard Jackson is president & CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC., a Washington, D.C.-based public relations/government affairs firm. He can be reached through his Web site,  www.raynardjackson.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at raynard1223.

Don Lemon is Just Doing His Job! Objectors Are Barking Up The Wrong Tree

By Cleo Manago, CEO and Founder of the Black Men’s Xchange (BMX)   

In 2010, during a radio interview, former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, a Latino, called “The Daily Show’s” Jon Stewart a “bigot” and intimated that CNN was “run by Jews.” Swiftly, in response to Jewish outrage about his comments, Sanchez was fired. Former CNN pundit  Roland Martin would later be “let go” by CNN because White people who make up close to 100% of gay leadership complained about Mr. Martin and did not like him.

At the moment, many Black people are outraged by comments from CNN anchor Don Lemon. Lemon apparently “sided” with Bill O’Reilly, a known racist and White supremacist, during his typical anti-Black and ill-informed rant about Black people on his talk show. Of course Don Lemon offending Black people will not result in his being fired by CNN. As a matter of fact, Lemon has been featured on other high-profile talk shows to explain himself.  Neither Sanchez, nor Martin were afforded these opportunities. That is because White folks like and are comfortable with Lemon. And (right now) what White folks like – Jewish or otherwise – White folks get.

Lemon proved his undying love and loyalty to White people some time ago, particularly when dedicating his memoirs to a White male, after coming out as gay-identifying in 2011. Offending Black people, like murdering a 100% innocent Black child (Trayvon Martin) is not offensive in America or among media bosses. The United States’ media manufactures Black dismissing, dehumanizing, anti-Black, and White protecting and accommodationist thinking.

Again, this tendency in America directly contributed to Trayvon Martin’s cold-blooded murderer being found not guilty. This same thinking occurs and is internalized among Black people too. Without deliberate means, it can be difficult to avoid. It is not a rarity to locate a Black American who sees other Black people through the lens of a White racist. Even among Black people, the widely used term “nigga” came from racist White people.

Cleo Manago,  founder and CEO of the Black Men’s Xchange

Armstrong Williams, Larry Elders, Rev. Jesse Lee Peters, Clarence Thomas, just

to name a few, are often given a platform specifically to low rate Black people. Yet Black people are almost never given a prime time platform to do the opposite. Most of America’s systems are designed to be White comfort zones, or to be non-threatening to White people.

Typically, success for Black and Latino people, in corporate America for example, involves if they have the capacity to walk, talk and act in ways that comfort White folks. In America, being Black and actually loving yourself and your community without question is a challenge for many. Yet, having that disposition can get you more rewards, White associates, jobs and approval.

The recent hoopla about Don Lemon’s “race” comments divert from the fact that there are few to no Black males in high profile television positions like his, because of White racism and control. What other Black men in Lemon’s position (an anchor on a major network) have we heard from at-all regarding their views of the Black community?  None. When was the last time you’ve heard a high-profile media personality go into any detail, let’s say, about the impact of racism and the media on Black people? Never. How many other daily televised Black male anchors have given an analysis of life in Black communities, since the Zimmerman trial (let alone before)?  None.

Don Lemon is just doing his job, and was selected as one who would be good at it. And, he is. Lemon is just another ambitious, non-threatening, White accommodationist Black male who gets to be on camera because White CNN executives are comfortable with him.

Complaining about Don Lemon, and not holding his racist bosses accountable, again, you are barking up the wrong tree. Protest racism in America’s media. It does much greater damage to Black people than Don Lemon does.

Cleo Manago is founder and CEO of the Black Men’s Xchange (BMX) (http://www.bmxnational.org/), the nation’s oldest and largest community-based movement devoted to promoting healthy self-concept and behavior among diverse males of African-descent.

The Bridge: The End of Everything

By Darryl James

At the end of it all, this is an ugly world.

This is a world that is callous, crass, unenlightened and mean spirited, where people will attack other people simply to make themselves feel and/or look better. And then people wonder why someone can write as eloquently as I do, but still curse people out when they are being assheads.

People can easily pose as thinking, caring people, particularly with the Internet and it’s aura of enlightenment, but really, many of us know that most people are stupid and mean, posing as something they are unwilling to work on becoming, and so will never be because everything around them has become broken and dead.

Common courtesy is no longer common.

Excuse me. Pardon me. Thank you. Opening doors.  We’ve lost all of that and it’s been replaced with an overabundance of information that most people have no idea how to process.

Instead of applied knowledge, people regurgitate phrases that they’ve heard too many times and get emotionally attached to the phrases in discussions they are ill equipped for, using the phrases by rote in place of understanding.

This detachment from knowledge includes religion, particularly because most Christians have never read the Bible, yet they rely on the preacher to (mis)interpret and deliver (mis)understanding. How else could a religion based on a man who loved everyone be used to separate people—in his name no less?

And it is separating us.

Before America, religion brought people together. But the bastardized form in this nation is designed to separate. And many people who claim to be about love will hate me for saying it.

Culturally and socially, things are eroding and falling apart.

The economy is falling apart.

From entertainment to the news, those things which were once standard are falling from grace.

Everybody has a blog, and misinformation abounds.

The housing market has fallen apart and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men may not be able to put it back together again.

When you study structures, there are necessary outcomes.

If you set up a social dynamic, you will get a specific result.

In this liberal democracy—theoretically, there is no substance to this system. The democracy side is all rhetoric and theory—it can only be actualized under certain circumstances.  It only creates classism, racism and materialism and debauchery. Ultimately, every system has its Achilles heel—it’s inherent contradictions which will ultimately bring down its people to their demise, from the Romans to the Egyptians—America is no different.

We have reached the point of overproduction and underconsumption.

Take a look at McDonald’s and the Dollar Menu. Why is food suddenly cheaper? Everything else is rising, but food is now cheaper than it was years ago. Really?

There are not enough jobs and not enough demand for the services that exist, even though morons still tell young people to go to college and get a job.. Historically, we can track where we are.

When you get to the end phase, you see the wildness.

We’re headed to a Third World existence.  While people can’t conceive of it happening here, it can and it will. People can’t conceive of it because many people who are two paychecks away from poverty imagine themselves to be “middle class.”

But the US will be like the vacation spots where there are only the ultra rich and people who cannot eat.

In the course of natural order, things will get a whole lot more ruthless and people will become more screwed up.

And they are screwed up. Rudeness is the order of the day, even as people demand to be treated with kindness right after taking their stress out on someone innocent. Soccer moms fight each other and in the pursuit of beauty pageants, children have been assaulted by each other and by parents.

Strippers of yesterday would be called modest in comparison to the way nerds move today. Dances amongst young folks are so hypersexual, they are more sex than dance.

Sex is killing our children, but sex education has been under constant assault.

And without education, more mothers are having children without a male parenting partner and no one wants to ask some simple questions:  If the man was a deadbeat to other women/children, why have sex with him and add to the fatherlessness? Even if there is no man in the home, why can’t the single mother teach her kids what is right and wrong? And, if the child support system has failed to provide proper support to children, why is it being supported?

Black people imagine that saying “Nigger” in public is revolutionary and everyone uses our Civil Rights struggle as a platform without contributing anything to history or to us while we take it on the chin from any and everyone and then ponder the abject lack of respect we endure?

At the end of the day, we are all linked together, yet even the most united of groups in this nation are disconnected from the remainder, and we all should understand that when one falls, we all sink a little lower.

With diminishing morals and standards, politics and policy, American is slowly grinding itself to an end.

We think we are untouchable, but if we are not careful, we could soon see the end of everything.

Darryl James is an award-winning author of the powerful new anthology “Notes From The Edge.”  James’ stage play, “Love In A Day,” opened in Los Angeles in 2011 and will become a feature film in 2012. View previous installments of this column at http://www.bridgecolumn.proboards36.com. Reach James at djames@theblackgendergap.com.