“(Racism) is not about one-on-one. Anyone can like an individual.”-Joan Rivers.

Whoopi was wise to end at “People say dumb stuff sometimes.” She was about to give Joan Rivers some Paul Mooney-level street cred.

The black man in the office is judging you

Whenever people ask the question, “Is the U.S. post-racial yet?”,  I always laugh at the assertion that we could ever be post-racial, even if our President is black. The current generation experiences race differently, but we do experience it. Shows like “The Office” and “30 Rock” not only address race in ways that are humorous, but are nuanced, very much like racism in current times. However, what we should not become is a society that is not talking about race.

A story to illustrate my point:

A few days ago, I was talking with my roommate on the phone in the break area of my job. I was sitting next to some of my co-workers, including an African- American man in his early 50s. My roommate asked if I thought she would get to my cousin’s house for dinner on time, to which I replied “Girl, you know we’re black folks. We’re not going to start on time.”

The co-worker in question mumbled something about how I shouldn’t say things like that about black people. I replied, “I’m not talking about all black people; I’m talking about MY family members, who are black.” He continued to mumble something about how I’m supporting and reinforcing a stereotype. I said “If you took offense to my remark, I apologize.” To which he replied, “ Oh, it won’t happen again.”

What?

One mark of where people are in terms of identity awareness is when they react to one aspect of injustice by perpetuating another. My co-worker, upset with me for (in his opinion) making a statement that encouraged the oppression of blacks, attempted to use his male and (questionable) age privilege to put me “in check.”

One thing I like about the place that I work is that providing constructive, immediate and respectful feedback is a norm that is established from training and mentioned often. Ever since I read the book, “Critical Conversations,” I’ve adopted the belief that the main factor that can erode any working relationship is a lack of respect. Without respect, you don’t have an environment where you can provide information that will help someone improve, as well as receive such information without being threatened.

I asked my co-worker if I could talk with him quickly and privately before I left. Once we were off to the side, I re-iterated that I apologized for offending him with my comment. I told him that while I invite anyone to call me out on anything I do or say that bothers them, I told him that in order for such a confrontation to be productive, I ask that I be engaged and not just reacted to.

Through this serious but calm conversation, we came to the conclusion that what we were dealing with was a generational issue. To him, making a remark about how being black means that my family is unlikely to start dinner on time is the same as, in his words, rappers calling other black people “nigga” in song lyrics. On the other hand, I felt I was acknowledging that time is a cultural construction, and that every culture addresses the importance of time in different ways.

But most importantly, our conflict represented a generational difference in how race should be dealt with in mixed spaces. My co-worker took the most issue with the fact that I had made that comment in front of two of our non-black co-workers. He was from a generation when black people took personal responsibility for how non-black people (mostly white people) viewed us as a racial group. We had to be on our best behavior around them, lest we cause them to view all of use stereotypically.

I personally hope that I never live in a “post-racial” society, but if this is indeed a goal we should aspire to, I want to live in a society where race is not ignored, but put into a proper context. Where each of us is accepted for ourselves, including our cultural selves. Where there is a firm and universal understanding of the difference between “in-group” and “out-group” with regards to comments like the one I made.

Most importantly, I want to live in a society where we don’t have to act in fear of being culturally misunderstood. I am not going to accept the burden of giving someone else permission to be racist, and no one else should either. Antoine Dodson should not have black intellectuals jump down his throat for being himself on television and reacting to his sister’s attempted sexual assault. I understand where my co-worker was coming from, but if the current state of cultural relations should teach us anything, color-blind post-racial “racelessness” should not be a goal. Our President is racially black, culturally multi-heritaged, and, despite his education and experience, should not be judged for not starting dinner on time.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcL1Dxth0WA

www.youtube.com/watch?v=asxegXChUVU

One rainy afternoon in Philly, after departing from a lunch meeting  with a colleague, a woman approached me as I turned towards Lancaster Walk. The woman was worn, disheveled, obviously in need. I braced myself for her request:

“S’cuse me, Ma’am. I’m 4 months pregnant and I’m hungry. Can I get some money for a sandwich?”

I looked back at the 7-11 on the corner, and proceeded to make her an offer:

“Well, there’s a 7-11 on the corner. I’d be happy to walk over there with you and get you a sandwich.”

The woman hesitated:

“Well, I wanted to go to 30th street station so I can get out of the rain.” she said.

“You can get the sandwich to go, and still eat at the station.” I proposed.

“Well, see, I wanted to go to the Au Bon Pain in the station. I like their sandwiches.”

I stood back, unable to hide my amusement. I raised a brow at the woman and said:

“Good luck with that.” I turned and continued down Lancaster Walk.

Long before the battle of West Philly Crackheads vs. my ’98 Corolla began, long before the days of getting cuss out by Chicago vagrants (I once offered a homeless dude a dollar after he asked for 87 cents. He told me to fornicate with myself), I shrugged off sidewalk pseudo-philanthropy as a mere trap of middle-class privilege-driven  guilt, and reasoned that I was doing homeless people more harm than good if I gave them money. Still, I would give homeless people money at times.

That was before I went to Ghana, West Africa in June 2008.

I’ll start by saying that Ghana is the most spiritually rich place I’ve ever been. The people there have an openness and commitment to hospitality that is genuine and startling. God is everywhere and everything, and even people in the most desperate of situations know that He has a plan for their lives, and they are grateful. Ghana is also like many developing countries, in that social services are not on par with need. I saw no homeless shelters, soup kitchens or other services for street citizens there. What I did see was real hunger, and real determination. People there asked me for money, but it was often in exchange for something, such as a handmade bracelet.

I got hustled of course, but at least the hustles were creative. While staying in Tamale, a group of young boys from a neighboring village asked me for money for a soccer ball, since their team didn’t have one to practice with. I gave them a Ghanaian dollar. The next day, when my group visited their village, every other young man had the same story: Soccer team needs money for a ball. Why a village with less than 500 people had so many soccer teams is beyond my understanding.  It made me think back to the boys who stood at the intersection of 87th and the Dan Ryan Expressway back home, raising money for their baseball uniforms. I didn’t fault them for their underhandedness because they were truly trying to survive.

Of course there are people who are homeless in America that are not drug addicts, and are in real need, I know that. I also know that the social services we offer to homeless people in the U.S. have their downsides . But here are some unspoken facts about homeless in America:

• Panhandlers make serious tax-free cash: Paul Michael from Wisebread.com wrote a fabulous article about the upsides to living on the street. Some panhandlers make hundreds of dollars a day, tax free. This isn’t hard to believe when you think about how many people pass the average panhandler in a given day, and how many people give them at least a dollar or some change.
• Giving money to panhandlers doesn’t address the root of the problem:
  • Best case scenario: Pregnant homeless woman asks me for a dollar. I give her a dollar. She asks the next person for a dollar, and they give her one as well. Pretty soon, she has enough for a meal. She gets a meal. She eats it. Then she’s back to square one.
  • Worst case scenario: Pregnant homeless woman asks me for a dollar. I give her a dollar. She gets enough people to give her a dollar until she has enough for a dime bag. She buys a dime bag, and a sandwich, if she has enough money left.

The problem with both of these situations is that the woman is not getting help that will get her off the streets for good. She’s not getting help with her addiction, health, job training or housing assistance. There are agencies and charities that provide services like this, and my money would go farther if given to them.

• Giving money to panhandlers absolves us of our role in the problem: Our society is based on a system of power and privilege. Because of this, as hard as it is to face, the fact that someone doesn’t have a place to live or means to support themselves  is directly related to the fact that I do. We’re all interconnected. This also means that I am responsible for thinking of way to become a part of the solution, not the problem.

So, what are some potential solutions?

• Volunteer time and money at a local charity/agency that helps the homeless. Not just money, but time  is important. Many homeless people are looking for services and people that allow them to receive help while maintaining their dignity, such as the Living Room Cafe in Chicago, IL.
• If a homeless person asks you for help, engage them. Don’t just hand over your money. Ask them questions. Ask them what they need to help themselves. A woman once asked me for money to get on the train, so I gave her my weekly pass. She was so moved that she hugged me, because she got what she was actually looking for.

So don’t give into guilt when a panhandler asks you for money. Think of your role in the larger problem of poverty and homelessness. Find comfort in the fact that you have committed to acting in a way that will help that person, and people like them, in the long run.

NOTE: If you haven’t seen Slumdog Millionaire, this article has some spoilers. Consider yourself warned.

If you know me or have read my posts, you know that I loved the movie Slumdog Millionaire. As a film buff and new film student, it has all the elements for me: Screenplay, cinematography, score and music to name a few. So it was no surprise to me when the movie won most of the technical Academy Awards it was nominated for. The movie literally made my heart full and was one of the most satisfying experiences I had with a film since-well, I can’t remember the last time I was so moved, inspired and in awe of a film.

Okay, enough gushing. You can’t talked about this film without talking about the cultural element that made the film rich for some, and troubling to others. The film addresses issues of poverty, crime, discrimination in a way that is not hopeless enough for some, and too gritty for others. Some Indians have spoken out against the film, saying that it casts a negative light people who live in the slums of India. Some claim that the movie made the slums of Mumbai seems like a petri dish of society’s lowest, filled with gangsters who are willing to blind children to increase profits, and doesn’t acknowledge the fact that good can dwell anywhere, even in the most deplorable conditions.

To which I reply: It’s a movie.

Notice that I didn’t say it’s just a movie. Movies are powerful for a reason. They appeal to our most primal sense: Sight. We process images faster than we process any other source of information input.  I have learned various tenets in screenwriting that help me understand why movies like Slumdog shouldn’t be made to conform to people’s comfort levels with current reality.

1. Make a world. One of the first things I learned in my screenwriting class is that the screenwriter’s first obligation is to create a world in which the characters live.  This is most obvious is movies like Star Wars or The Matrix, but all movies do it, even docu-dramas. The world will not look exactly like the world we live in, and it shouldn’t, for reasons I’ll discuss below.

2. Think visually. The sight of a man burning out a child’s eyes with acid is more compelling than a man giving a child a story book. Yes, there is good everywhere, but the bad is more emotionally affective, and easier to visualize.  Because of this, evil is often a more effective tool for movies than being a good Samaritan.

3. Characters need to be interesting. This is related to the second point. Despite public outcries to the contrary, people do not want to see movies about themselves. What are you doing right now? If you reading this, you are probably sitting in front of a computer. Now think: Would you pay $10 to see yourself doing what you’re doing right now? Movie characters have to be “more” everything than us– sexy, smart,attractive,unattractive,  honorable, deplorable, savvy, loser-ly, you get the picture.

And while I hold this movie truths to be evident, that all is fair in the name of true art, I have to acknowledge the fact that I am not the average American. I have an advanced degree, I grew up in culturally diverse environments, I’ve traveled international and I read pretty regularly. What all of this means is that I have been trained to be a critical consumer of information and media. I don’t see a film like Slumdog Millionaire and think “Wow, I never knew India was like this,” rather, I think, “That was an amazing story.” Authors like Mitu Sengupta are troubled by the fact that many will look at the film and let the imagery form their perspective on Indian culture. This is a legitimate concern, and groups such as the NAACP and GLAAD serve as media watch-dogs for marginalized groups for that reason.

What can the average person do to make sure they aren’t using the media to shape their opinions about other cultures?

1) Read. The news, books, magazines, you name it. Even some blogs are a good sources for unbiased information, believe it our not. The key is to have as many sources of information on a topic as possible.

2) Talk, preferably to people you don’t normally talk with. If you live in a small town that’s not diverse, talk to your librarian, a teacher, a service work, anyone. Talk to local business owners, especially of ethnic restaurants, and places such as dry cleaners, nail salons, convenient stores, and so on. (NOTE: There is a reason that there is an ethnic trend in the owners of certain small businesses.  Read more about ethnic labor niches here).

3) Watch.  Don’t just see one drama, see a documentary. Don’t just watch one news station, watch them all. The key is to become comfortable with perspectives that are different from your own.

Personally, I’d rather see more education take place than fixing art to make sure that people won’t think that all *insert marginalized group here* do *insert negative behavior here*. I believe this because more education is always better than less challenge. Besides, it will make sure that people like me always have something to do.

Slumdog Millionaire won almost every category it was nominated in, including Best Picture, and I’m happy that I won’t need to boycott the show like I threatened to if the movie didn’t win that category.

This year’s Oscars definitely had a younger, multicultural vibe to it, which was refreshing. I watched the whole show and didn’t notice it was four hours long. A few personal highlights for me:

* Will Smith’s flub and off-handed “Boom, goes the dynamite” reference. it appears that Will Smith is a Youtube freak like myself.
Here’s where the reference comes from (fast forward to 2:30):

*The Slumdog/Wall-E Best Song medley. It was exciting and joyous, and Fatima Robinson choreographed it! MULTICULTURAL!

*Hugh Jackman, with his cute self, doing the recession opening.

*Ms. Tina Fey and Steve Martin. Tina is my nerd girl idol and Steve Martin is still funny and relevant.

*Sophia Loren. Over 70 and on super-swag status. Whatever it is, she needs to bottle it and sell it.

*Both “Milk” acceptance speeches. The passage of “Prop 8″ is a shameful blemish on our democratic history, and Sean Penn and Dustin Lance Black didn’t allow the public to forget it. BRAVO!

A few snags:
* The “return of the musical” thing with Beyonce. For someone who performs as well as Beyonce, she seemed a little out of place.

*Jack Black’s joke about Dreamworks. It’s was funny, but it felt awkward.

*Kunio Kato’s “Domo arigato Mr. Roboto” joke. Cooning hurts me, even if it’s not my culture. Rise above, man. Rise above.

In short, this was the most social justice friendly Oscars I’ve every seen. I hope it’s a sign of things to come.