Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

to think this would be totally unacceptable in a "white" rapper

44 replies

macdoodle · 29/06/2008 22:25

Am genuinely not sure but left me with a deep feeling of unease...
Lovely day out with DD1 (nearly 7) - were down bay area (summer festival type thing) - was an asian rapper on stage (?bollywood type famous person).....anyway was pleasant atmosphere - vast majority of audience were asian (as was clearly well known asian performer)...but as multicultural area fair spattering of other races (I am non asian FWIW)....and everyone having good time - DD1 bopping along waving hands in the air (as instructed by said rapper)...
Anyway next thing he shouts/raps very loudly - " if you're proud to be asian wave your hands in the air" - and atmosphere changes significantly with a roar from the asian crowd and a sense of unease from others ....
DD1 looks at me a bit bewildered and says "mum do I have to stop waving my hands" (as obviously she can't be proud to be asian as she isn't)....
Wasn't really sure what to say to her and some of the asian audience nearby even looked a bit awkward - I have always taught her that all races are equal no matter colour, race, sex etc etc....
Anyway we left - it wasn't fun anymore
Now I have no problem with being proud to be asian (and NO offence intended to anyone of any race)....BUT I am trying to teach my DD that everyone is equal ....
Was just wondering what would have happened if a white rapper had said "wave your hands in the air of you're proud to be white" ...and how this is considered any more acceptable

OP posts:

Aduckorsomething · 29/06/2008 23:19

With the exception of Vanilla Ice, all white rappers are rubbish. He at least kept it very real.

Aduckorsomething · 29/06/2008 23:20

Sorry. Forgot about East 17. No disrespec to Walthamstow.

Aduckorsomething · 29/06/2008 23:20

And Westwood.

fuzzywuzzy · 29/06/2008 23:27

vanilla ice nicked the melody for his song ice ice baby and tried to deny it, and lied that he was in a gang and had a scar from being shot in the behind. His reality was a tad different from the rest of the worlds.....

Aduckorsomething · 29/06/2008 23:31

Vanilla Ice weren't no thief. If you had been in a gang wouldn't you lie about it? So misunderstood. Come to think of it, why wasn't he at Mandela's gig this weekend? He has done more for cross-cultural race relations than Leona Lewis!

PS reality is just a state of mind.

wherearethekeys · 29/06/2008 23:33

I know my dh is very proud of his parents and grandparent for surviving/thriving. They survived the Japanese occupation. They lived through and escaped from communism. Neither of his parent were educated past 12 years old. His grandparents couldn't read or write at all. The house dh was born in was 1 room with a earth floor and a fire for cooking on. Now they have a sucessful business and are well off through sheer hard work. Dh and all his siblings have been to uni and have good jobs.

I don't think he is proud of being chinese though, just proud of the individuals. I'll ask him when he gets home.

My (white) great grandfather walked from dundee to sunderland with all his children to find work in the shipyards. My grandfather was a jarrow marcher. They died before I was born and it never really occured to me to be proud of that achievement. My mother and her siblings are all sucessful. We have come a long way in a couple of generations.

I'm rambling now, I really ought to be in bed

HermanMunster · 30/06/2008 01:16

as a white male i've noticed similar things.
ethnic minority groups being proud is seen as empowering and re-adjusting the balance etc.
now i have a big problem with such groups being accepted in a soceity that immediately paints any white-pride groups as being inherently racist.
personally i find both of these types to be equally disgusting and racist.

HermanMunster · 30/06/2008 01:17

"With the exception of Vanilla Ice, all white rappers are rubbish. He at least kept it very real."

sorry but what about eminem and the hill top hoods?

Blu · 30/06/2008 10:01

Macdoodle - sorry, it does sound a little as if you are over-thinking or something. I wasn't there, didn't hear the tone of voice it was said in etc, but I honestly do NOT think that one person being proud excludes or criticises another. I can see why a child would take it at face value - a bit like 'simon says' - was he to respond to the instruction or not - but does that mean it was an issue of equality, racial divide etc? I hope we can all be a little more robust than that!

Hoorah for the return of the rarely-spotted Scummy!

ladystardust · 30/06/2008 12:22

Doesn't anyone remember jumping, waving and shouting along to 'Sing if you're glad to be gay'?
I would hazard a guess that most of us who did weren't.
I don't think any permanent damage would be done to anyone who joined in someone else's party.

Chequers · 30/06/2008 12:29

Message withdrawn

Twelvelegs · 30/06/2008 12:33

Why say it? It was more likely that everyone was British than Asian, given that most of the audience may have at best visited an Asian country!! It is needless to make the distinction asking some people to be proud of their origin and , by default, making others feel excluded.

hammertime · 30/06/2008 12:43

Chequers, people do say that they are asian even if they have never been to an asian country but their parents or grandparents were from asia. It implys racial backround rather than country of birth. Saying you are european implys white even if you are not from europe, eg white north americans.

FrannyandZooey · 30/06/2008 12:46

LOL about glad to be gay
I heard him sing it once and stop to point out "you know, anyone can join in with this....you don't actually HAVE to be GLAD"

HermanMunster · 30/06/2008 13:44

i really don't get the whole being proud of your race/nationality etc.
it just doesn't appeal to me and i fail to see how you can take pride in something you had no control over and have probably had no input to either. i mean fair enough i can understand being proud of direct relatives or anscestors who have done great things. but being proud of your skin colour just makes no sense to me.

Tortington · 30/06/2008 13:48

i do get bursts of patriotism

and i do understand that - esp within a certain context - like a sporting competition

the OP was not in that context.

The op wasn't about nationality - but about race.

Yes is would have been unacceptable to say that from a white rapper i think. I don';t think PC excuses should be made

if eminem had come on stage and said " if your proud to be white wave your hands in the air"

holy shit would have let loose

its simply not on

hatwoman · 30/06/2008 14:06

pmsl at scummy's rap. esp at "not unproud". marvellous.

I think it's an interesting situation described by MacDoodle - and I agree totally with the points people have made that there is a difference between talking about being proud to be Asian/black/Jewish/other dicriminated against group and proud to be white/majority etc. I guess it's maybe a shame that the rapper didn;t capitalise on the good atmosphere and, as well as talking about proud to be Asian talked about being proud to be here; proud to be together; proud to be enjoying the music. but MacDoodle - i think you can use it as a chance to explain more to your dd - about why people might talk about being "proud to be Asian" - to me telling our children that we're all equal is only half the story - not saying you haven;t already done this but we do need to tell them too aboyut certain horrendous parts of history - as well as ongoing racism/discrimination - if she can understand why it's great for someone to stand up and shout about being proud to be Asian then you can make her feel included by dint of her being non-racist and egalitarian (ie you could fill the gap that the rapper left...possibly on the grounds that it wouldn;t scan well...do rappers "scan"...?)

bohemianbint · 30/06/2008 15:04

I think the whole thing's a bit barmy. You don't have to go far back in history to see that most nationalities, not just the English, have been responsible for some pretty outrageous shit. The Spanish in the New World, the Dutch in Africa, the Japanese in China, etc etc. All nations have things they should not be proud of.

I just think that I can only take responsibilty for myself. I am not 500 years old, I will not take responsibility personally for the clearances in Scotland for example, because lets be honest, when you go back that far my ancestors probably were Scottish and the ones in England were probably being oppressed by capitalism or greedy landowners. I hope I haven't ever oppressed anyone and that's good enough for me. I'm not really sure what's to be proud of about being from anywhere to be honest. I'm English, until you take it a couple of generations back. It's all out of my hands. I'm glad I live here, most of the time.

wittyusername · 30/06/2008 21:41

what Blu said

As a black woman, being proud of my heritage doesn't mean that I therefore think all others are pants.

Flip

1 2

Swipe left for the next trending thread