tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544913458028415917.post8815748220984056383..comments2024-02-24T03:14:25.170-05:00Comments on A Half Baked Life: NaBloPoMo: Paula Deen and Butter ChickenJustine Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190295175501659469noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544913458028415917.post-54091281262590766712013-06-28T03:39:31.797-04:002013-06-28T03:39:31.797-04:00ETA: Found the link!! Yay :) Going to try to find ...ETA: Found the link!! Yay :) Going to try to find out how to help Sive's schooling. I think you'll be interested in this feature: the journalist is really looking in depth in what can be done in South Africa to improve education for all. www.theworld.org/schoolyear/Jjiraffehttp://jjiraffe.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544913458028415917.post-8953870074295671712013-06-28T03:29:55.672-04:002013-06-28T03:29:55.672-04:00You nailed what I posted about days before I poste...You nailed what I posted about days before I posted it. I wish I had read this. Dang. You made all of the same points as Michael Tweedy. <br /><br />I agree with all of this, and I do think that the Paula Deen case is a bit of smoke and mirrors, in that we are nailing her for behavior that, while awful, isn't as important as what the SCOTUS ruled or the horrid racism I've seen criticizing our own President and First Lady. <br /><br />I just heard a wonderful and heartbreaking story about the most impressive young man in South Africa who had won important leadership awards and been sent to DC to meet with national leaders but then his mother passed away from AIDS complications and he was left trying to be the head of his household and struggling to make time for his studies. It broke my heart and I've been searching in vain for a link because I'd like to contribute to a scholarship fund. When an exceptional person like this young man struggles, it's just not fair. Not fair at all. :( Jjiraffehttp://jjiraffe.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544913458028415917.post-7015191796925833832013-06-27T22:51:25.061-04:002013-06-27T22:51:25.061-04:00My (white) grandfather used the n-word frequently,...My (white) grandfather used the n-word frequently, but was also well respected in the black community because he had many close friends there and because he helped numerous poorly educated black farmers secure loans and navigate government systems. Does that make him evil? <br /><br />I live now in a wealthy, homogenous community where I often hear people decry racism with such fervor. Having grown up in an area where whites were a minority, I wish I could find the right words to explain that while they are entirely right to condemn the act of racism, it is born of and sits within the context of something much more complex.<br /><br />We love to classify things. Something is good or something is evil. But most humans, like Deen and like myself, dwell in the grey areas in between. Where I grew up in the South there was verbal, economic and social racism within both whites and blacks both from outside and within these groups. It wasn't "Mississippi Burning", but it was still insidious. But with closeness also came a lot of good relationships that transcended racism and it's this part that I have a hard time explaining here in NJ. It is complex.<br /><br />As for Deen's food, I hate to hear those accusations. I was astonished when in the late 1990's the food I had grown up on was labeled soul food. I am happy African Americans have found identity and connection with it. But my people have been in the region since the 1700's and have presumably been cooking fried chicken and collard greens for a few hundred years so can some white folks can consider it part of their heritage too? My company hosts a soul food lunch once a year for African American Heritage celebration, and people look at me odd when I say how glad I am to have food like my people cooked. CSAnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544913458028415917.post-9530726914656700432013-06-27T10:46:24.410-04:002013-06-27T10:46:24.410-04:00I've been echoing your thoughts all week. I th...I've been echoing your thoughts all week. I think this would be a great opportunity to have a conversation about race (well, we are talking about it here, so that's something) but I feel Iike we will squander this opportunity and no progress will be made. People seem to be divided in this case, either Paula is all good and has been unjustly subjected to a witch hunt, or is all bad and deserves to be shunned. What if Paula is neither, but could become a better person through an open and honest dialogue that could maybe change her mind and the minds of others like her? That's the only way to see progress in such a sensitive topic, IMO.<br /><br />Thanks for tackling this issue so thoughtfully!Lisanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544913458028415917.post-21420278479739053782013-06-26T09:13:14.633-04:002013-06-26T09:13:14.633-04:00WHOA. This is really really dense. I will be thi...WHOA. This is really really dense. I will be thinking about this for a long time today. The standards we hold our celebrities to. Getting rich off of someone else's work/ideas. I don't have answers, but I feel like we could chew on this one post for several days and have a feast. <br /><br />This was such a clusterfuck because it firing Paula Deen, a lot of other people lost their jobs too. And it becomes a question of who we surround ourselves with. How much control do we have over who we surround ourselves with. What about racist neighbours you can't move away from. If you socialize with them, are you supporting the person and then supporting the mindset? Lollipop Goldsteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01020874415819057995noreply@blogger.com