  WHEN RACISM AIN'T REALLY RACISM, AND OTHER REASONS WHY MY PEOPLE OCCASIONALLY GET ON MY NERVES...(WARNING! THIS BLOG IS ESPECIALLY INARTICULATE) unabashedly, every thursday night i watch the apprentice. granted, i understand that the whole donald trump aspect--among other things--means that i should not be addicted to this show, but i am. and would you know that the donald played me? yes, folks, he played me. now...as a, um, racialized viewer, when watching gameshows and whatnot, i root for the black people.
i don't know why, i just do. perhaps i believe that if they win somehow that's a credit to the race or whatever, but what's important here is that i am generally inclined to back the colored folks. that was, until i started watching the apprentice. omarosa. sweet jesus!!! i knew my whole "raced viewer" theory was going straight to hell when i saw the first episode.
introducing herself, she stood in front of the capitol--or some other government building in dc--arms crossed proudly saying some shit like, "i'm omarosa, and i'm from the projects. " wtf? for the six or so weeks she was on the show, she proceeded to get on my--and every other viewer in america--last nerve. one episode in particular, she called a white female contestant racist after, according to how the scene was constructed, this contestant said to omarosa, "that's the pot calling the kettle black. " now we all know that that phrase has no racial origins. so at the time, omarosa just continued to irk me.
once omarosa was "fired" last week, she started making the rounds on the talkshow circuit. on the view, she revealed that her cry of racism was not a response to the "pot" but to the "n" word. this part, according to omarosa, had been edited out. not to be outdone, ericka (the white contestant who believed that omarosa was indicting her as a racist) showed up on the view the next day to defend herself. now...i'm not going to say who i believe. but i will say that occasionally i think my folks cry racism when it ain't really racism.
so...i have decided to provide several examples of when something may be a racist statment or have racial undertones, and when it may not be, in order to prevent future confusion: 1) not racist/racial: someone (not af am) who you don't know very well, say at an english department gathering, asks you to dance. racist/racial: someone (not af am) who you don't know very well, say at this same english department gathering, asks you to teach them how to dance. 2) not racist/racial: in the midst of a conversation tells you they went to a restaurant and at some point mentions that the restaurant was a soul food restaurant. racist/racial: tells you that they had the best fried chicken and collard greens last night, and y'all weren't even talking about food, or even talking at all. (that actually happened to me. ) 3) not racist/racial: while reciting a rap song someone fails to bleep out "nigga" (in your presence).
racist/racial: in greeting you says, "whatup nigga? ", as if they forgot the historical connotation of non-blacks using that term. **caveat: occasionally people say inappropriate things to be funny, but essentially just come off as insensitive assholes. i'm not advocating violence, but i do support humiliating them in such a way that is educational. stank you smelly much 
