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Original poster

Is it racist to sing a song in a Carabean type accent

112 replies

SunnyDayToday · 18/04/2019 11:42

My 10 year old has just been told by friends that she is being racist by singing a song she heard that uses the words banara arama (or something similar) sung in a Carabean type accent.
My initial reaction was that it is no worse than singing 'Donald, where's your troosers' in a fake scottish accent, but now I'm thinking about it, is it racist, as traditionally Carabean people have been oppressed in a way the Scottish haven't?
And if so, how do i explain this to a 10 yr old? She is sensitive to the fact that it would be racist to assume all black people are accented in a particular way, and that it is wrong to sing that type of song (words or accent) in a mocking way.

OP posts:
Masai71 · 18/04/2019 13:39

Wrong... whites can be PREDUJICED against by anyone.

It's impossible to be racist against a white person by a PoC. It shows a lack of deep understanding of what racism actually is.

Its to do with history, privilege and who controls what.

Yes I'm predujiced as much as the next person, because we all have those. However am I racist? No, not in the slightest.

They are 2 different but often interchangeably used terms. Perhaps educate yourself about the subtle differences?

The irony should not escape you... a white person explaining to a PoC the nature of racism.

Whitesplaining much?

AhhhHereItGoes · 18/04/2019 13:44

If it's just for fun / the singer of that song has that accent then I think it's fine.

If you're mocking the accent I think that's different.

Btw is it not "Gordon Where's Your Trousers?" (Has an image of Donald Duck and Trump losing their trousers.

I don't know which is more disturbing.

huggybear · 18/04/2019 13:50

Ed Sheeran sings in an American accent? Wtf. He sounds perfectly Suffolk to me.

Masai71 · 18/04/2019 13:55

The racism I experienced growing up in the 70s and 80s was horrific from skinheads, NF and so called middle englanders

My half english DC are now experiencing being spat at in the street and mocked in the street for being other despite being 3rd generation and half Eenglish. I wonder how many of you have had a call from a DC saying they're being followed by a group of white kids taunting and can I please come and pick them up. So many many racist experiences that as a visibly non white person you lose count and became numb to it all.

Apologies for any offence caused but the truth is some of you DO live in ivory towers with zero experience of what that could ever feel like and find it acceptable to label a PoC for being racist themself?!

A black woman with a voice... pity I don't know my place eh?

Masai71 · 18/04/2019 13:57

Going back to the OP. I dont think its racist for the child to sing like that. Its how its perceived by a PoC that may hear it that defines if that particular act is racist.

CocoCharlie83 · 18/04/2019 14:00

Masai71 race includes a person's skin colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins. So stop being a racist in thinking no white person has ever been oppressed because it simply isn't true.

Try being Irish growing up in England decades ago and life wouldn't have been a picnic either. White people being discriminated against because of there race doesn't have to take anything away from what poc have been through or still suffer from.

Fatbutt · 18/04/2019 14:04

All racism should be called out but there are a lot of things which aren't racist but people like to pull the 'race card' out on. This ends up taking away from actual racism issues

some people take it too far though, my DD got called racist because on a drizzly day she covered her hair with her scarf...

ZippyBungleandGeorge · 18/04/2019 14:04

Is rastamouse racist? Someone gave us a book, it makes me a bit uncomfortable to do an accent when reading it to DS, but it's semi written in patois and when I googled it was written by someone of Jamaican heritage (as is the friend who gave it to us), is this me just feeling unnecessarily weird about it, or is it racist? I've only read the one book, rastamouse and his friends seem to be crime fighters, in the book DS had they busted a cheese thief. Genuine question, DH thinks it's fine.

Lifeisabeach09 · 18/04/2019 14:05

Is the song actually sung with a Caribbean accent? If, yes, then she is mimicking the song and not being racist, imo.

If she's singing with such an accent to take the piss, then, she likely is being racist-intentionally or unintentionally.

My DD has been singing a calypso song we like to dance to. She mimics the singer's accent. Calypso does not sound the same when sung with a British accent!

Masai71 · 18/04/2019 14:13

White people ARE discriminated against yes. White people ARE predujiced against yes

They do not however experience racism because the intitutions are geared up to ensuring privilege is extended to them.

The only way someone white could experience racism is by living in a non white country where the fact they are white counts against them with regards to education, health and work etc.

Please do learn the subtle but very vital differences between racism and discrimination. As a black person in this country I and many others experience racism AND discrimination.

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 18/04/2019 14:14

I have a feeling that often the rhythms of calypso songs match the rhythms and inflections of the Caribbean speech patterns don't they? So you could sing it with your normal accent (be that BBC, Scouse or Essex) but it would still sound a little like you were mimicking anyway.

It's a bit like you can tell what the Clangers are saying — there's more to a dialect than just accent.

VladmirsPoutine · 18/04/2019 14:15

Is rastamouse racist?

I know you didn't intend it to be but this comment has genuinely made me laugh out loud!

CocoCharlie83 · 18/04/2019 14:17

Last reply and I'm done as I don't argue with racists and you've already shown it in this thread. Just because someone has suffered racism doesn't mean it is impossible for them to be racist.

Racial discrimination is racism so please do learn...

Crocusflo · 18/04/2019 14:18

It's not wrong for a white person to put on a French accent or a Dutch accent or anything like that, but becomes a problem somehow as soon as the accent is deemed a "non white" accent. Which is ridiculous, because load of French people aren't even white.

Not racist.

Crocusflo · 18/04/2019 14:18

If you are mocking someone, it's different.

Hairynick · 18/04/2019 14:19

Somebody better tell yon fella in UB40 Grin

VladmirsPoutine · 18/04/2019 14:20

The only way someone white could experience racism is by living in a non white country where the fact they are white counts against them with regards to education, health and work etc.

I agree with your other points but on this I'm inclined to disagree. I'd suggest that even in this scenario a white person wouldn't face racism or discrimination. Given as you rightly point out in other posts - the historical context of racism and discrimination.

Crocusflo · 18/04/2019 14:22

scenario a white person wouldn't face racism or discrimination

You don't think a white person being denied education etc due to skin colour would be, at the very least, prejudice or discriminatory, if not racist?

Crocusflo · 18/04/2019 14:23

It's discrimination. Because it discriminates against the white person due to their skin colour. You can say it wouldn't be racist because of power, but singling them out due to X quality?

BareBelliedSneetch · 18/04/2019 14:23

It’s really hard to not read Benjamin Zephaniah in his accent, because he writes in his accent. If you read his poems in RP they would sound very very odd!

Eg:

Be nice to yu turkeys dis christmas
Cos’ turkeys just wanna hav fun
Turkeys are cool, turkeys are wicked
An every turkey has a Mum.
Be nice to yu turkeys dis christmas,
Don’t eat it, keep it alive,
It could be yu mate, an not on your plate
Say, Yo! Turkey I’m on your side.
I got lots of friends who are turkeys
An all of dem fear christmas time,
Dey wanna enjoy it, dey say humans destroyed it
An humans are out of dere mind,
Yeah, I got lots of friends who are turkeys
Dey all hav a right to a life,
Not to be caged up an genetically made up
By any farmer an his wife.

VladmirsPoutine · 18/04/2019 14:24

How many white kids do you know that have been denied an education in say Ghana because, and only because, they are white?

Crocusflo · 18/04/2019 14:25

How many white kids do you know that have been denied an education in say Ghana because, and only because, they are white?

I think it was a hypothetical. "The only way, would be if..." And you denied that that hypothetical would even count as discrimination. Surely it would.

VladmirsPoutine · 18/04/2019 14:27

In hypotheticals then everything is possible. Even the laws of physics can be written off in hypothetical thought experiments.

Crocusflo · 18/04/2019 14:28

"The only way would be if...XYZ"
"Even in XYZ scenario, it wouldn't be discrimination"

Definitely hypothetical.

Crocusflo · 18/04/2019 14:29

But in that hypothetical situation, it would be discrimination. You said it wasn't.

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