http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22EkUGnoJfM&feature=related
The link above has a few clips of a character named Uncle Ruckus from the show "The Boondocks". Uncle Ruckus is a black character who offers negative commentary on his own race. Throughout the series he tries to promote the ideas of the 'white man' and devalue the opinions of the 'black man'. What kind of situations foster this type of person that rejects their own in-group to promote the out-group to their category? Is there a benefit for him to back up the white people and devalue his own group? Does this leave him with no group to identify with at all now?
This relates really well to the article I read for this week. It dealt with homegrown stereotypes. It seems to me like the charming character of Uncle Ruckus is completely dominated by homegrown stereotypes. Practically everything he says relates to the overlying stereotypes for this country, and because whites are the majority race, it comes off as negative commentary towards his own race. The U.S. as a whole has the stereotypes that blacks are poor, lazy, and law breakers, where as whites are rich, powerful, and superior. It seems to me that Uncle Ruckus speaks and acts out these stereotypes, it just adds an interesting (and I suppose comical?) edge being that he is black.
Well I think this was an interesting post and a question that is rather difficult to answer. Well there are a lot of situations in which blacks reject their in-group. Me personally, I have done that is a number of ways, but I haven't completely disengaged myself from the African American community. As we saw in the movie Crash, there were two black males who actually went and perpetuated the stereotypes they were being linked to. Not to generalize all black people, but there are a lot of them who engage in behaviors that are considered rude, disrespectful,unthoughtful, and many other adjectives!!! As such some blacks including myself, don't want to be linked to that kind of behavior so we chose not to associate with them. Let me give you an example. The mindset of the African American community is rather negative because of environmental issues along with complaining,"hatin",ignorance,and greed to name a few. Some examples you often hear among blacks are "we cant do it, we aint never got no money, what did so in so do to get that." If you always focus on negative stuff, it's really hard to get a positive outcome wit a negative thought processes. Being positive produces prosperity. Personally, I don't want to be around negative folk of any color. Instead of talking about what we "aint" got lets talk about how we can get and be thankful for what we do have. Greed is another problem among blacks. The mindset of give me more and some of what you got promotes greediness which is shown a lot. Keep in mind that I'm not speaking nor am I saying ALL black people, but I know some black folk that would eat a Fillet Mignon and take the last crumb of your plate. Or they might have 1000 dollars in their wallet, but tell you strait to your face that their broke, and might just ask you for some money in the process. You see some black women with their hair and nails done, a coach purse, and a Mercedes Benz spend all their money, but will show up at the rent place to get assistance or they would be on section 8. This is greed and ignorance!! By having a greedy mindset, this causes them not to take care of money. This is mostly displayed by rappers because they go out an buy 100,000 dollar chains,buy Bentleys etc. This shows that they usually spend the money as fast as it comes in. Stealing is another thing: Since blacks are usually at a lower social economic status, theft is prevalent. They feel the need to take from others because they don't have instead of simply just asking or working just a little harder in order to get something. I could go on all night but these are reason why some black people don't want to be bothered with this type of foolishness. To elaborate about promoting the out-group, I don't thinks its so much promoting white people as it is doing the right thing. I see myself having more white friends because they have promoted more positive behavior. Even though my second family is white,I still value and identify with the in-group in certain ways, but I don't chose to engage in some of the principles they use as a whole. Yes there is a benefit for backing up the majority. I don't care what anybody says, in order for a black person to be successful, they need to have someone of the majority in there corner. A white person helped my get into college, gave me all my jobs, provided for me when I was in dying need, helped me with reading music, and many more. This is the society we live in. Even the richest Black person had a white person in their corner because they supported their dreams and believed in them. This does sometimes leaves you with no group to identify with because standing for whats right cause people to turn their back on you. By me going to college, some black friends of mind don't talk to me hardly anymore. Putting on clothes that actually fit leads to people making fun of you. by showing these examples, this shows how the in-group can leave you no where to turn to. Ive learned through these experiences and observations that in order to be successful, you have to stand alone sometimes for the right principles. Since my second family is white, I identify with them as well. So basically somewhere in the middle I can identify with a certain group.