Race and the Black Culture Part 1

“Differences should be celebrated, not eliminated,” says Darryl Colon, the first guest on the new season of Cuckoo 4 Politics. Darryl, who has several advanced degrees in the field of psychology and mental health, explains that differences among races are nothing more than genetic adaptations to regional climates. Yet, the enormous power of imagery, particularly the medium of film, has profoundly influenced the way races feel about themselves and each other. He explains that Black characters, particularly Black men, who behave in a way deemed unacceptable by society, will never make it to the end of a film or novel. “Unacceptable” behavior, oddly enough, includes acting with bravery, intelligence, or initiative. Michael recalls that in the 1986 movie “Top Gun,” two minor but recurring Black characters were not featured in the film’s epilogue sequence the way all the white characters were. Even movies like Black Panther have hidden messages suggesting dire consequences for Black characters who act too decisively or with too much confidence.

This kind of messaging has a profound effect. Darryl cites a famous study called the “Black Doll/White Doll '' experiment begun in the 1940s wherein children, both Black and white, were shown a Black doll and a white doll and asked which doll was beautiful, intelligent, good. Up until recently, throughout each experiment, the children chose the white doll. Black people, Darryl says, have been fighting off stereotypes assigned to them by Europeans 500 years ago in an effort to justify the slave trade. Before then, people from the African continent were making major contributions to science and letters, like the basis of the Pythagorean theorem.

Another major contribution is Hip Hop music, which, though originally dismissed by mainstream radio as being too “urban,” is now celebrating its 50th anniversary with stars of the genre dominating media and branching out into parallel fields like fashion. Michael opens and closes the show on this topic, as well as the declaration of Juneteenth as an official holiday. While many corporations have embraced the holiday, many of their celebrations are off-key if not exploitative. Michael quotes, “Black history should be viewed as another way to celebrate us as a nation, like the Fourth of July.”

Quotes

• “All these racial differences are genetic adaptations to environmental factors, but we use them to separate and categorize and say one’s better than the other, but it’s all BS.” (18:06-18:19 (Darryl)
• “There was a time when you only had Ebony magazine or Jet magazine to see someone like yourself. But when you looked at other national magazines, even in this country, you would only see predominantly white models on the front covers.” (19:49-20:06 | Michael)
• “Movies are huge in terms of their impact on how people think and what they aspire toward. The impact of media and film is incredible. Everyone wants to be like what they see in the movies.” (28:20-28:37 | Darryl)
• “Racism as we know it today is a very recent development in the course of human history. Prior to that people from the African continent contributed to the world’s technology, science, culture, art and trade as much as anybody else. Europeans had to develop an anti-black narrative in order to justify the institution of slavery.”  (29:56-30:47 | Darryl)

Links

cuckoo4politics.com

https://www.instagram.com/cuckoo_4_politics/

https://www.facebook.com/Cuckoo-4-Politics-104093938102793

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm