I nearly covered Common’s breezy Us Weekly “25 things” list last week, which is a much more lighthearted topic than this story. Common recently visited The Daily Show to promote his role in Run All Night. The topic of conversation shifted towards current events involving race. Common — who recently won an Oscar (along with John Legend) for the song “Glory” from the Selma soundtrack — delivered some surprising suggestions on how to end racism in the United States:
“We all know there’s been some bad history in our country. We know that racism exists. I’m … extending a hand. And I think a lot of generations and different cultures are saying ‘Hey, we want to get past this. We’ve been bullied and we’ve been beat down, but we don’t want it anymore. We’re not extending a fist and saying, ‘Hey, you did us wrong.’ It’s more like ‘Hey, I’m extending my hand in love. Let’s forget about the past as much as we can, and let’s move from where we are now. How can we help each other? Can you try to help us because we’re going to help ourselves, too.’ That’s really where we are right now. Me as a black man, I’m not sitting there like, ‘White people — y’all did us wrong. I mean we know that that existed. I don’t even have to keep bringing that up. It’s like being in a relationship and continuing to bring up the person’s issues.”
[From The Daily Show on YouTube]
Well. It can be exhausting to discuss a heavy subject like racism, but awareness of the atrocities that happened (and continue to happen) is key. Forgetting the past won’t solve what’s currently going on in Ferguson and many other areas. It wouldn’t have prevented what happened in Mississippi yesterday. It won’t stop racist fraternity boys from chanting terribly racist songs. Racism won’t be solved in a simple manner as Common suggests. As expected, the #Common Twitter tag isn’t a happy discussion. A columnist (Stereo Williams) at The Daily Beast also wrote a detailed analysis that’s well worth reading.
Here’s a clip of Common’s appearance on The Daily Show.
Common posted this photo to his Twitter page.
Let Love Rule pic.twitter.com/oKlM2Ad7od
— COMMON (@common) March 19, 2015
Photos courtesy of Common on Twitter & WENN
That sounds really great, Common. Time to start.
I get exactly what he’s saying. It has to start organically and locally. Today. I attended Mass (yes, I’m Catholic) and I am always amazed at how diverse the Catholic congregation is. All colors, all nationalities, young, old, straight-laced, tattooed – you name it. You can randomly collect people off the street and that’s what a typical Catholic congregation looks like – at least in the city I live in (of 1 million people). And it’s wonderful. WONDERFUL. We say the Lord’s Prayer, all holding hands and then offer each other the sign of peace after words… hand shakes, hugs, words of “peace be with you”. It’s this indescribable moment (particularly to non-religious people) where we don’t see each other as our “labels”, but rather the rainbow of “God’s image”. It’s really a beautiful and heart-warming thing. I usually float out of there 2 feet off the ground.
Wow that’s really lovely
The victims of racism can not end racism.
That’s not what he’s saying.
I hate to ruin the feel good but in part, that is what he is saying. That by not harping on the past and harboring ill will about past wrongs we can all hug, hold hands and move on towards a post racial ideal.
Victims of racism can not end racism.
THANKS IMO Like so the people that have been Victimized by Race Inequality are supposed to lovingly wait for the structures in Power to Pls Stop You Guys?? cause love and kindness has been working out well??
Give me your hand RIGHT NOW, Princess QQ Buns!
QQ
You are our everything 🙂
“Imo says:
The victims of racism can not end racism.”
I don’t agree that victims are so powerless. Victims can play a HUGE part in ending racism. That’s what Common is saying. Victims of anything can always help with the healing.
You cannot heal a wound by constantly picking at the scab.
Katherine
*sigh*
Healing begins once the abuse stops.
A victim has no joint responsibility with the perpetrator. Any suggestion to the contrary assigns the sufferer an active role in his/her victimization. And at least some of your comment would make more sense if racism were actually, you know, over.
Yeah it’s kind of hard to forget racism in the past if it affects today.
People in the US have this weird relationship with history where they think that if they just don’t talk about it or it was long enough ago that it doesn’t still affect them. It’s bizarre. The past affects the present and the future, especially if no one learns from the past. There is no way to end racism without looking at and bringing up the past. It’s impossible.
Imo, no one is saying the victim has any responsibility. But it is within their power to help in the healing process. There are victims who rise above their victimhood and even play a leadership role in the process. Dr. King was a victim but he never played the victim. And his power grew out of that.
It will be people like Common who will help resolve racism and its effects on people – both on the recipients and on the perpetrators. The notion of completely ending abuse and racism and discrimination in its many forms with its many varied victims is rather naive but the state whereby it is completely unacceptable and swiftly dealt with is an achievable goal.
I agree with you. Common is so far removed from the everyday struggles people of color have to endure.
He’s rich. When you’re rich, they focus on your money. When you’re poor, they focus on your race.
Exactly. Just like women can’t end sexism and gays can’t end homophobia. It takes the other party acknowledging the hell we’re put through in the first place and take real action to fix the injustice.
What does Common think black people have been doing, since BEFORE slavery ended? The level of abuse suffered was justified by saying that they had to be broken so that they wouldn’t break into Master’s quarter and kill the family. Even though they were never harmed. Not during slavery. Not when it ended. 70 YEARS (!!!) go by unharmed, and yet, Jim Crow was used to justify further laws and atrocities committed, to further depress and suppress anyone not white because “FEAR”. 50 more years go by and that fearmongering is still used to abuse the generations since then thru archaic drug laws, false imprisonments and an abusive police force who were originated with members of the KKK in major cities all over the country. And still, NO VIOLENCE AGAINST OUR AGRESSORS as a unit. Common, SIT DOWN with this bull when our hand has ALWAYS been outstretched for peace and it’s been bitten by dogs in return. /end rant.
Yes. He’s gone ‘New’ on us. This is delusion.
Yes to all of this.
Yes.
Another human dazzled by his wealth so much; he forgets the fight. I’m sorry Common went there. I’m sorry Pharrell went there.
Go ahead and extend your hand. Go ahead and draw back a nub. lf whites aren’t racist. If the terrorism visited upon them is crime-driven by black folks. All black people, the overwhelming percentage of them: are neither criminals nor terrorists, nor bad people.
Whites need to carry that thought. Black people, God bless us, should function better. We need our own businesses, and stop letting white music executives demand that they depict us as animals. Our whites who have seen the horror continuously visited upon us? Become heroes.
Lots of Civil War heroes…lots of white people have been willing to die over this issue.
I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of KKK as a terrorist organization. I am stumped that this has not been as vigorously opposed, as say, ISIS.
I like Common a great deal and he seems like such a warm, genuine, sweet person, but I think in his position, it is easier for him to forget about the past. For others, the past is the present. (See Matt Taibi’s book The Divide. The targeting and arresting of black people on petty crimes and trumped up charges is rampant throughout the country, not just in Ferguson, MO, as recently revealed by the DOJ.)
Right now, I’m stuck in a place full of racists and it makes me sick and depressed every day. These morons barely even hide their contempt for people of color and assume that if you are white, you must feel the same. There is no talking to them or reaching out a hand, because they are too dumb and ignorant, yet at the same time, so sure of their veracity in their opinions and outlooks. It seems to me that media outlets like Fox News have only empowered these racist views and I’m afraid that people of color who reach out a hand will only have that hand slapped back or shot off in return.
Say what? I was with you until you mentioned Fox News as an outlet for racist views.
Uh…newsflash.
Remember when a Fox News anchor said racial profiling was necessary because something about people’s skin tones and how to determine “the bad guys?” Yeah, that actually happened. And that is just one incident out of many in which Fox News has been racist.
Right Mimif? Tifzlan?? like uh Is that a surprise?? Fox News PEDDLES In Dog Whistles and not even disguiseable Innuendo About Black people, Black Mothers, Black Teens, immigrants from south of the borders ( we are all not paying taxes and are Mara Salvatruchas carrying drugs) , the president and his provenance ( cause Black) , rap Music (cause remember that’s what cause the SAE chant that these guys from other states acknowledge is a Thing they Chant PERIOD) … Daily even
Wait, what kind of newsflash, fix?
Fox News is racist, sexist, and everything in between.
How is it not?
QQ, you forgot all of us ~secretly terrorist~ Muslims – or so says Fox!
@tifzlan, I can’t find anywhere that a Fox news anchor said that. Do you ever listen to them or just listen to things about them?
I’m not saying I agree with everything they say or do (they have that disgusting blond political idiot who makes me see red as a guest sometimes). But they get a lot of undeserved hate thrown their way too.
After the Justice Department report about Ferguson’s police department came out, I watched Fox News to see how they would cover it. They didn’t. They only covered the fact that the Justice Dept. decided not to file charges against the officer in the Brown shooting. They COMPLETELY ignored the fact that police officers were pocketing bail money, targeting minorities for more searches when they were significantly less likely to be found with contraband on them, having contests to see how many infractions could be brought up on each traffic stop, etc.
Racism by omission is also a thing.
Crumpet, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/fox-news-reporter-worries-that-typical-bad-guy-terrorists-will-escape-if-skin-colour-is-covered-9967340.html
There you go. It didn’t take too long to Google. I try not to listen to them because i actually want to have good days with low amounts of stress but sometimes, i come across a video of a segment they did on Hannity or something and…. and i don’t think the hate they get is “undeserved” at all, let’s put it that way.
tifzlan: Thank you for that. What an idiotic thing to say, I agree.
Oh, please, do not stop reaching out. There are white people out there who WANT to take your hand, *Down With The Bullies*!!! (Some of us, actually have good character, and virtue).
She didn’t say all white ppl, she said the ones in her area. And yes Fox does foster racist views when they don’t condemn racist frat bros and place blame on rap music. The N word wasn’t the biggest problem with saes chant, it was the lynching of blacks.
I haven’t lynched a soul – and I am willing to make any adjustments necessary, to my character and whatever else is within my power, for peace on earth. I believe that all folks, subject to any sort of disenfranchisement by “the system”, need to *Join together* for change. Why is this so difficult to see?
I heartily dismiss fox,and could care less about who listens to, or likes rap, However, I am a teacher, and I care very much about children. I stand up to bullies big time, which has been a huge problem for me, afterwords…
The world is full of ALL sorts of people that are going to treat you less kindly and respectfully than you deserve for a whole panoply of reasons. Some black people are treated worse than white. Fat people are treated worse than thin people. Ugly people are treated worse than pretty people. Poor people are treat worse than rich people. And then there are people who are treated worse or better depending on their politics or religion and who is doing the treating. My goodness, some people are treated better simply because they dress better or drive a nicer car. This is the world we live in… where we’ve become so utterly obsessed with labels that we’ve done nothing but give people shallow reasons to judge us beyond our characters. In fact, there’s not point in getting to know anyone anymore. Just “check” their label and – quite apparently, based on the way people act – that tells you everything you need to know about a person. We have literally stripped humanity of it’s humanity.
He’s absolutely right. But it will never happen, because it is in the nature of homo sapiens to stew. Myself included.
It’s all well and good to try and move forward but if you can’t change a racists opinions and views ( which i don’t think you can when narrow minds are so closed ) how can people affected daily stop being upset? They can’t.
well, common’s idea could forge a strong bond and cultivate comraderie among those of all colors who are tired of the division. And these people *do* exist, and this group includes white people. So investing in those who wish to be aware of the past but not be tied to it forever and who wish to create new re: common’s focus on helping one another, is not a bad or even unrealistic idea, IMO.
I have my hopes up for the younger generation-as in below 15 years old. Yes, some kids will continue to learn racist attitudes from family or environment, but many today [see chris rock’s comments about his daughters and how they look at him like he’s crazy when he asks if anything was said or done to them at school] are like ‘wha????’ they are not clueless about the past but it’s a different world for them.
Shifting demographics too, in the USA, in the last 20 years-will be a factor. How, I do not personally know but things will be changing.
I love him.
LOVE. so very, very much.
Perfect. I wanted to respond but couldn’t come up with the words. I’m going to print this and hang it on my wall.
So tell me what your solution is. (?)
Uh-huh. Walk into a memorial and tell them to just ‘get over it’ for the sake of tolerance, see what kind of champion for peace that makes you.
Don’t even start with those lost souls coming to defend Paula Deen’s honey-baked ass, including the 100 guys who signed up for her cooking course, Steve Harvey et. al. Sometimes I think people’s notion of ‘forgiveness’ in regards to black people involves them sloughing off their dignity and laying prostrate. Not doing it.
I don’t think it’s a matter of “get over it”. That’s not something one “gets” over. It’s part of one’s history and legacy. We all have sad hardships in our past and even hardships we endure today. That is life. I think what Common was trying to say is “don’t hold a grudge” – move past that. It can’t be undone. Personally, I take great offense to being assumed to be a racist because I’m white. I’ve had friends of all sorts all my life. It’s just how and where I was raised. Friends are friends. No one in my family was EVER a slaveholder. In fact, my European heritage is very sad and working stock….”peasants” to be precise. Black people in early America were consigned to the cotton fields. My family in Yorkshire, England was consigned to the silk mills. We were all indentured. Obviously, it was worse for the black people because most of them were ripped from their native homelands – that can’t be overlooked. nor should it it be. But most of us – no matter what our race or nationality, likely come from the “lesser” classes that were treated like dirt. My grandpa, a Jew, had to flew his homeland of Austria and live underground in Poland for a while, was rescued at some point by the Prussian Army. Can you imagine that kind of life? So what I think Common is saying – and he’s very poetic and wise – is that at some point, we have to put that heritage behind us because most of us have that kind of heritage. Bigots will be bigots. As they say, you can’t fix stupid. But most of us just want to live in peace and make friends and have fun with our co-workers and support each other any way we can because we aren’t – and likely never will be – part of that 1% that has existed since time immemorial that has treated the rest of us like crap. We aren’t crap. We’re people. Good people.
My co-worker – black female, well educated, many years of experience, pleasant and professional – went to a job interview. The prospective employer was so enthusiastic and stated that the interview was a formality. Until my friend walked in and the employer realized she’s black. They ignored her and the interview never took place.
Several years ago I received a phone call from a (different company) rep asking that I come in for an interview. I told her that I could come in several days later but apparently I had everything they were looking for so they wanted me to come in that day. Guess what? When they saw my face the job was suddenly already filled.
Another pal always fills out the EEO request that companies email before an interview. She wants them to know she is black so if that turns them off she won’t have to waste her time. She just received her MBA and has many years of experience in the technology field.
I could go on. Racism is not just in the past but the here and now.
THIS!!!!
IMO – it is dignity that overcomes all.
So, your answer to black Americans is to be dignified while being discriminated against? If we won’t accept discrimination then we are undignified? Your view of this subject is so simplistic I don’t understand it.
Speaking your truth in a public forum is very dignified. Whatheheck – when wolves howl at the moon, do you suppose that they will find their pack?
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I Chose Me…totally gets it. Let’s move on to more exciting things to talk about (especially amongst women)…. like…. SHOES!!! I still think we (women) should come up with some kind of entrepreneurial business where we pool together, buy a truck and drive around selling used clothes, shoes, bags (the stuff we usually give our friends when they “shop out closets”) and have the added bonus of cupcakes and champagne cocktails!! 🙂
But the atrocities of the past continue today Lonnie.
Exactly.
Didn’t a man get literally LYNCHED recently?
I honestly expected more from him. It was disappointing to hear that he thinks that black people should be the ones to extend their hands out to white people and help end racism. Like I don’t like that it is always black people expected to turn the other cheek and let it go to make white people feel better. Why as a black person must I bend over backward to end racism. I am not being racist towards myself, I’m not discriminating against myself, yet somehow it is my problem to fix while the people who are doing these things just have to accept my hand. That seems really backward.
No one person is able to end racism – I believe that he is not asking you to turn the other cheek so much as find friends with other races – and that takes two of us. There is a problem – and the solution is friendship, ultimately.
It’s easy to say “forget the past”, but some are still raised with those views of the past and don’t want to change what they’re taught. People have been extending “their hand in love” for ages, but still just get crap back. Whatever Common.
As guilty as I am supposed to feel as a white person, my hand has been bitten plenty, when extended…(although I also have a best black friend where race is much more invisible to us). However, another’s angry response, does not mean that I give up – doing the right thing has nothing to do with anyone else, *only myself*.
Don’t ever stop trying despite the results and continually challenge yourself and those around you. It starts with each indivudual. And don’t judge – if a poc doesn’t accept your overtures there could be a million valid reasons why – sometimes pain is inexplicable.
Thanks for that, Imo.
“And I think a lot of generations and different cultures are saying ‘Hey, we want to get past this. We’ve been bullied and we’ve been beat down, but we don’t want it anymore.”
Finally a black person who includes other cultures and ethnicities while addressing racism. I have been really frustrated whenever black people call racism and support for them but never do the same for people from other ethnicities who have also suffered racism. Latins, Asians, Middle Easterns and even whites have endured racism around the world.
A Mexican teenage boy was shot by the police a few months ago and nothing on the news nor did any black people do a demonstration of any kind. And yet they expect us to be part of any demonstration they do – otherwise we are labelled racists.
Before anyone attacks me – I work in a multicultural environment and I support anyone who has suffered racism regardless of their skin colour. I just want some other people to do the same.
I get what you’re saying, but if they do not know it occurred how can they be part of a demonstration. Was there even any kind of a protest to be a part of? You said it was not even on the news, so it may only be knowledge to a small group of people. Also black people are not forcing anyone to be a part of any protests or demonstrations that are going on. It’s nice to have the support of others, but no one is forcing anyone to go.
Ahh…NO
I grew up in Southern California, and went to a multi-racial junior high and high school (70’s). Back in the day, it was blacks and Mexicans, who would go at it on the playgrounds… Racism exists everywhere – even in Germany (subjected as we are to continual reminder) – even in Korea, where the Amer-asian children are abandoned both by the Korean culture, and the American government. Heck – I picked up children from the streets to feed and comfort… It’s surprising when living out of the country, to find how racist everyone is – why looks at genocide in Africa – and they are blacks killing each other!
Our Constitution is our saving grace, in all of this: ideals for all of us to bring into being. You have to be somewhat idealistic, to keep trying to get it right, here on earth.
Your comment made me think of something Quincy Jones once said about how traveling in Europe as a teenager affected him :
“It gave you some sense of perspective of past, present and future. It took the myopic conflict between just black and white in the United States and put it on another level because you saw the turmoil between the Armenians and the Turks, and the Cypriots and the Greeks, and the Swedes and the Danes, and the Koreans and the Japanese. Everybody had these hassles, and you saw it was a basic part of human nature, these conflicts. It opened my soul, it opened my mind.”
-_____-
This whole comment is a big whole nope…
Where to begin?
Ugh.
While I understand that most cultures have their own history of hardship, the journey of African Americans is one of the worst (best) examples of man’s inhumanity to man. Anyone who thinks racism is a thing of the past and can be resolved with a handshake and a smile doesn’t understand racism. For some it is the past, the present and the future.
I am sorry about the Mexican young man who was shot but that incident does not compare to the reality that black males face on a daily basis and as a black female I am sick of Latinos trying to compare their experience to black Americans. Our stories have very little in common.
This is all very true.
I have a crush on him.
I really like Common but I think some of his statements are problematic. When he says forget about the past he forgets that the past shapes the present and even the future. When you look at why racism and inequality exists in America today it’s because of past systematic racism that still influences society today. For example, looking at housing policies in this country, a study came out talking about the most segregated cities in this country but most of these cities are the direct result of past systematic government action that concentrated Blacks in the ghetto (e.g. Redlining, Urban Renewal, the National Realtors Association sanctioning all-white covenants that allowed exclusively white neighborhoods well into the 60s). Where you live effects every other aspect of your life including the quality of education you receive, the food you eat, and even job opportunities. To say well Black people are just preoccupied with race and need to just get past it with love when there are people who won’t even acknowledge these realities is disingenuous. There are people in this country who say everyone has equal opportunities to succeed in this country and if you don’t succeed, well then it’s your fault. Well guess what Common, you can preach about love all you want to these people but if they can’t acknowledge that there are minorities that started and continue to start at a rung lower than people of other races (which influences why they don’t succeed) then what have you accomplished except some feel good platitudes that don’t get to the heart of real race issues. Why not put this much pressure on the people that choose to deny remedies to address such inequality and systematic racism rather than on the people who at least want to get a dialogue started so that we might actually do something substantive to address racism? So yes I will extend a hand out of love Common, but if you keep denying and discounting the experiences of systematic racism then I have just as much right to call you out about the past, which determines my opportunities in the present and the future.
Existing economic structures and educational opportunities, are the biggest hamper to progress, for everyone, but especially for blacks and immigrants, IMO.
Yes.
Better to get your wisdom and information from people such as Brother Dr. Cornell West than from a likable and well-meaning, but not-so-wholly-informed entertainer.
Eh. I can see why people are very upset on social media. It sounds very…simplistic especially coming from an artist who has an history of conscious music (I’m thinking about “A Song or Assata” for example). I wonder if he’s realised why his speech was warmly received at the Oscars while John Legend’s was received with silence and perceived as uncomfortable.
It is simplistic. There’s overt, covert, and systemic racism. It’s a very hippie kumbaya way of looking at racism. I love that he’s idealistic ,but forgetting the past is silly.
White people are individuals too – perhaps Common has friendships with other people (who happen to be white), that he trusts, and perhaps he thinks that friendship and respect are a solution.
I believe everyone needs to focus on the future – on solutions. The problem is obvious!
I don’t understand your point. Racism is deeply embedded in this country. There’s more to it than having white friends.
FingerBinger, when everyone is indignant together, politicians change their minds…and our laws – therefore, our lives.
It’s more than laws, it’s perception and attitude.
You can’t move forward while looking in a rearview mirror. People need to rise above adversity. Black leaders need to get into black communities and preach education and staying off drugs. They need to offer incentives and show how progress can be made. Instead, people like Rev. Al and Jesse perpetuate hate instead of love and feed into the violence. Where are people like Dr, King who want to make the world a better place? Black communities need strong black leaders to help end the stereotypes and create a positive environment.
White people, smh. Yes, we are all on drugs and we need someone to straighten us out, really?? F**K you!!!
Most black ppl I know don’t even like Rev Al, they know he can get press for their issues so unfortunately he is used. But don’t be stupid enough to think we follow him or that he preaches hate. He’s an ambulance chaser not a black panther.
Well said!
Al only shows up when he knows the media is present. I live thirty minutes away from a murder zone, not a night goes by without at least one black male dying. Two nights ago two were killed on the same street, within two hours of each other. Where is Al? Where is Jesse?
Oh thank God. You have no idea how happy I am to hear that.
As a scientist, it makes sense to me how we evolved to be ‘racist’. It’s called tribalism, and it’s how groups of people learned to live together and reject outsiders who might not have their best interests in mind. But it is incredibly problematic in societies today. I honestly don’t know what the answer is, because I don’t think humans are capable of change on that level. We will ALWAYS prejudge based on appearances – it is too hard-wired to eradicate. What is the answer?
No doubt the white man has committed horrible HORRIBLE atrocities, and we should not expect them to be forgotten.
No, racism preaches hate. Get that through your stereotyping head.
Word!
The New Black strikes again, smh
Like Pharrell and Tiger Woods.
TI, Oprah, Lee Daniels, Don Lemon, endless list
I can’t with his thinking and how some here support it.
Dunno why. Makes perfect sense to me. Then again, I was around for things like the Civil Rights era and Woodstock… so my perspective may be different. I saw race relations improve. And then, in the last 6 years, I’ve seen them utterly disintegrate. Can’t imagine why.
Hmmm……what happened six years ago that could have had a negative effect?
Either you’re lying or you’re delusional. Either way you need to read several books then again you may be wasting your time due low comprehension. Why should any person have to kowtow to racists? Clearly you believe in respectability politics which not protect you.
I remember having this discussion in a class while in college. One of mt classmates stated that we have to educate others and my immediate reaction was why should I have to be the one to educate. Then while discussing more I realized that there was a lot of pint up anger and in order to let that anger go (it was starting to take over other aspects of my life), you have to extend a hand. Reading this quote just had me thinking about it. I know that extending a hand is going to end all, but someone has to start somewhere.
Yes, hatred and anger only hurt those who are experiencing it. I agree it would be healthy if people could let more things go. It’s amazing how deep some of this stuff is and we don’t even realize it.
A lot of people profit from the past – monetarily, politically and in terms of holding themselves out to be better than others in a moral and ideological sense because of past wrongs. They will fight tooth and nail to keep the rest of us from moving forward. Sorry, Common, nice idea, but it will never work.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it___George Santayana
The past should never be forgotten, but I’m not sure that is literally what Common is attempted to articulate.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I took it to be inspired by Martin Luther King Jr speeches, where he said, paraphrased, “We’ve come far, but not far enough, and we have longer to go”. Maybe Common is pushing forward, forward from now, better from now, and not better from yesterday, which wasn’t very far at all. (?)
I don’t think he meant forget. It just shouldn’t be dragged on.
No part of history should be totally forgotten. I also believe he’s pushing forward, and it would be really nice to do
I’m not sure what you mean by ‘dragged on’? From a historical perspective American slavery ended yesterday, and we still have people rewriting history, that the civil war was more about state rights, instead of slavery, attempting to erase that entire portion of history.
But I do recall that his Oscar speech was highly inclusive, and he referenced different groups of the disenfranchised, regardless of background. I think a greater collective would move things forward. Maybe I am misinterpreting his words, now.
Very true. Instead of trying to forget the past maybe it would be better if all sides could discuss and try to understand the past, without letting emotions and generalizations get in the way all the time. Or at least that is what we should be striving for. I remember when 12 Years came out and you had (assumedly) white folks getting all defensive on the web about it, like why do they have to always make us white folks look bad? I responded to one of those by saying there is no need to feel defensive about the past, but you should be able to logically look at past events and realize why they are wrong and how to never make it happen again.
Pfft. History made them look bad, that has nothing to do with me. Imagine, those people complaining about black people making THEM look bad, ha! In the words of Bart Simpson, ‘The ironing is delicious’.
“Since we had to pay for the food ourselves, thanks for nothing.”
Bart Simpson saying grace before the family dinner.
He’s wise.
Once the Oscar haze clears he may walk this back a little. And when he does I promise to forgive and move on to a brighter future.
+1000000!!!!
Nobody says forget about the past when it comes to the Holocaust. It is discussed and memorialized repeatedly (as it should be) and there’s a certain nobility attached to being a survivor. There’s a movie, documentary, book , every year about WW II. But nobody wants to talk about slavery, or its ramifications, in the Americas. Move on, get over it, be a bigger person, insert random quote from Martin Luther King. Instead of forgetting about the past, we need to understand it. Slavery should be taught in schools (slavery, not the civil war), so we don’t have to hear people saying after 12 years a slave that they didn’t realize it was so bad – yes, it really was! The papering over and the false equivalencies about racism, these things just lead to more spats and more anger, because people don’t know what they’re talking about. Tough issues- sexism, racism, child abuse, trafficking, war- aren’t going to be solved by pretending they don’t happen or they’re not really as bad as they seem.
Very true.
History has to be remembered and taught in schools correctly. When I studied my family tree, I learned about my family long ago being brought to America from Ireland as slaves. I was never taught in school about the Irish slaves who were treated worse then African slaves.
You’re kinda making my point about false equivalencies here.
There’s history everywhere that is wonderful or some that isn’t so great. It needs to be remembered forever, but plenty that’s in the past can stay there. I remember reading history about Irish slaves in America and wondered why we didn’t learn it in school. I’m black and I hate when I hear people still bring up black slaves when talking about racism.
Thanks for proving bonsai’s point.
Oh wow. I’m (almost) speechless.
Seriously?? It’s not just the slaves who were treated abominably. The Tuskagee Syphilis Experiment was only ended in 1972!! 20 years after the discovery that penicillin cures syphilis. It makes me sick to think about.
http://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm
And my doctor doesn’t understand why I won’t get a flu shot.
Whattheheck: I don’t blame your distrust. But in the case of the flu shot, I think you are safe. If you are in a high risk category, you should get it.
^^^ Agreed 100%.
Yes @bonsai mountain!
Right, because the Holocaust happened somewhere else so we don’t care about making the Nazis feel guilty. I understand where he is coming from – like in practice forgiveness ALONG WITH education and acknowledgment of what happened and continued to happen, can be a more practical way to move forward. Constantly telling white people they are evil can make even the best-intentioned person get defensive. However, ignorant white people are not going to just become enlightened on their own. And while MLK preached non-violence, the civil rights era certainly caused some violent reactions from the powers that be, and it took a lot of aggressive action, even if it wasn’t “violent”.
It has a lot to do with being willing to accept that knowledge though. The biggest issue I see, as someone college aged on a relatively white campus, is that so many people grew up sheltered, and simply don’t want to confront that. They don’t want to see themselves as “the bad guy”, even if racism is essentially taught by the system. So they reject the knowledge. No one’s perfect, sure, but many people don’t even try. It’s a little disheartening, but there’s still hope for that to change.
YES–up until the past few years, my local high school did a piss poor job of talking about slavery/racism. I mean, some teacher’s TRIED, and my ENGLISH TEACHER actually did a better job of talking about Jim Crow in a 50 minute class segment than all my history teachers….when we were reading To Kill A Mockingbird and I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.
It took a white teacher, who was from Detroit i.e. half his family is black, to REALLY get into slavery. Like he has an entire unit, and he gets into the really horrible stuff like showing 10th graders pics of black people who’ve been lynched and burned alive….and he gets really passionate about it. Probably because, unlike most of the other (white) people in my town, he understands the shit we have to go through every day, that he won’t ever have to.
Nope. Chris Rock was right when he said that progress re: race relations in the US is measured on how white people (generally) behave. This isn’t a two-sided issue.
Exactly right.
Exactly. Who’s telling all of these people that I have the power of mind control and can simply will the hatred out of people via my ‘Good Vibes’ initiative? I think we’re pretty forgiving. I don’t understand how so many people can think that black people have to be responsible for both black people and white people.
I don’t believe that it is possible to forgive someone who hates you – one is too busy scurrying for survival. It’s almost like another subject…
However, laws are on the books, and are direct in influence, over what happens in our lives. Change is a process! VOTE.
As I said above, it’s not just laws that govern us but also perception, attitude, fear, money, tradition, policy. You can change a law but you can’t change our perceptions.
I believe that perception-changing and consciousness-raising is the point of education. Public forums are very helpful in this as well, for the adults. Public broadcasting is helpful (PBS). Even though humans have a tendency to label and distinguish between “others” – evolutionary science teaches that we also learn and evolve with knowledge! Perhaps when we are able to view what we can accomplish together – like taking down the obstacles that “Occupy”, brought to the fore – we will see that we have lots to do together! Again, speak your truth, share your ideas, and vote!
This is too rich – this is the same Common who continued to push a complete lie and discredited narrative of “hands up”
Talk to me about what happened to Martese and then I’ll give you the time of day
And I’m pretty sure Shakespeare tackled this in the Merchant of Venice
He seems like a good man and I’m sure he means well, but he really needs to realize how simplistic and problematic that line of thought is. It’s pretty disappointing tbh. Hopefully he’ll come through.
The simplicity works for him because although I’m sure he suffers from racism, as do all people of color in the U.S., he is one of the very few on the winning end of another insidious bigotry: classism. Of course, racism and classism are all wrapped up together, but his perspective comes from a different place than that of most folks in this country – both white and people of color. Economic privilege does not end one’s suffering from prejudice, but it sure can allow one to overlook all of the systemic issues that still exist for the majority of people who do not have such privilege.
And to concur with those above who already said it:
1. History should never be ignored; we should always learn from it (Read Zinn!)
2. People of color are not responsible for changing the bias against them – white people are the ones who need to change
3. People of color deserve to and have the right to be sad, mad, and even livid about the systemic oppression and racism that they have faced and still face. We are all human; anger and sadness are NORMAL reactions to the injustices that have occurred and continue to occur to certain members of the human race based solely on their appearance.
Yes, to all three of above suppositions, but speaking to the idea that white people need to change – how do you do it? What are viable and direct solutions? Can we change *anyone*? We can change *laws* (and a few minds) by appealing to what is Self-Evident – that we are all created equal…
@wolfpup I think a great place to start is in learning about the pervasive effects of white supremacist capitalistic patriarchy and how this system born out of amd justified by various discourses of power (i.e. porno-tropics,Edward Said’s concept of orientialism etc.) have had devastating effects on the colonized. It is interesting to me
That Common talks about the need to forget the past. One of the colonists most powerful tools in which to justify their power was on framing history so that they would be the point of origin or the bringers of knowledge to anarchist spaces of history i.e. the dark contient aka Africa. They felt Africa existed outside of actual linear history and therefore justified a lot of the policies and evil that went on there. Common says to forget this past and a lot of pasts but how does one do that when they directly feel the consequences of colonialism to this day. So many of many friends from former colonized areas feel its effects. My own family doesn’t even have a point origin outside of that which the colonists set. I can only account for my families origins from the starting points of indentured servants from India and slaves from Africa. I cannot access what my family was before like many others may be able to and that is only a small example but nonetheless it is powerful when one thinks of cultural identity and pride in one’s origins with colonialism effectively erased in many areas in order to exploit.
@ frivolity I agree with all your points. Well said! @ wolfpup I think Whites do it by not denying and discrediting POC experiences in this country. By not becoming defensive, angry, and automatically shutting down any type of dialogue that calls out the past behavior of Whites in this country (even those that “did nothing” to oppress poc back then still benefited from the status quo that held back minorities by simply not being one. Also by not opposing policies (yes even affirmative action) that seek to facilitate equality and equity in this country. We talk about education being the great equalizer in this country but then we create policies that deny minorities a chance to achieve parity with their White counterparts because a lot of White people now see education as some sort of zero sums game where a policy that assists a minority kid equates to taking away their own kids’ resources or spot. Well with that kind of mentality things don’t change. People (especially some Whites) need to realize that policies need to go beyond simply equality. Yeah all people are created equal, but minorities haven’t always been treated equal, which is where equity comes in (ensuring a group denied equal treatment receives their fair share). Equal treatment in the present doesn’t alleviate the inequalities of the past. If laws are only made that promote equality after centuries of historical inequality then the end result will not be equality for the group that has been oppressed. Laws must also consider equity oriented solutions and Whites must change their mentality that this is unfairly taking something from them by doing so.
Lauren and Layday, I appreciate your comments. Education is troubled, if we listen to the news… As an educator, I will share my fix for the problem. Reduce classroom size – simply that! While it is impossible to actually teach 36 children (even adequately), all of the special ed teachers and computer gizmo’s, will not change the dynamic of a a smaller classroom of children (12-18 students) that a teacher could actually assist. Honestly, after doing my student teaching I decided that I would never teach in a regular classroom – I couldn’t live with the knowledge that *I* would be failing youngsters in that setting; as my adviser had (watching with my own eyes). I worked in the field for 25 years – but never where I thought I would fail others.
Common is a very intelligent man, so maybe he was just having trouble articulating what he was trying to say. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. You cannot live in the past, this is true. We all learned that from the Great Gatsby. However, you must learn from the past. I do not think that we as a society in America have learned enough from our past mistakes and atrocities, which is why we still see acts of blatant and insidious racism taking place today. In the grand scheme of human history, it has not been long at all since people in this country believed black people had no souls. Since they were written on ledgers as pieces of property like livestock and dishes. Since they were seen as subhuman and tortured without anyone batting an eyelash. Since people were forced to use different restrooms, different water fountains. Since human beings were spat upon in the streets or hung in trees for talking the wrong way to the wrong white person. Just like the Holocaust, we cannot deny that human beings were treated as soulless creatures.
There is so much that is so deeply rooted in the past that we can never stop looking back. Systematic oppression, the cycle of poverty, police brutality. The days of Jim Crow really are not that long ago when you think about it. Even things like gang culture and drug dealing. If you think these things just popped up one day, you would be wrong. Extending a hand, rising above, well they are great in theory, but much harder in execution. We must always learn from history.
Slavery and pillage are as old as time – so are bullies and snobbery. I would like to root it out from everywhere, and we should start in the highest of places (the snobbery of royals and what has happened to their territories so be-fated by them; and their privileges, almost beyond the law, displayed as a bright star on their shiny foreheads)…but I am surrounded by my life only, and what is possible for me. I am part of the resistance!
Thanks for your support.
Funny Common should say this when Fox News repeatedly called him a “gangster rapper” and a “thug” when he was visiting The President not too long ago. Yeah, I get what he’s saying… but in order for people to forget, they have to be given the space and opportunity to do so… a little humility would help.
This is just like people telling Armenians to forget the Armenian genocide when Turkey hasn’t even recognized it or apologized for it. It’s hard to move forward when there’s an open wound that is not being treated.
Well gee…someone who has some common sense but I doubt that people are ready to let the past go because it is too easy to turn the races against each other. God knows if we all just got along we might have too much power and wouldn’t take all the crap the politicians keep dishing out.
spoken like a true white person….
Mmm-hmm.
I feel as if when black celebrities think they have been accepted by white america they pull this stuff off. Trying to write off the past isn’t going to solve a thing, in fact, you are giving into what most racists want by trying to gloss over it and making these events seem like they happened ‘forever ago’. Just a month ago he won an Oscar for a song talking about the oppression of black people and how that oppression still takes place today with Ferguson, Garner, and SAE chants. We have to discuss these issues, and yes, often bring up what went wrong in the past, in order to help change the current situations we face because history will definitely repeat itself if we keep forgetting. Also forgetting the past means forgetting those victims who died at the hands of racism too, and quite frankly, I refuse to do that too.
hear, hear
Yup. Did the Hand of Love do anything to save the black man who was lynched about a week ago, or is that too far into the past to bear acknowledgement?
Fortunately I don’t have a history of racism against my family going back many generations, so I’m lucky I don’t need to deal with that. I will risk offending people by saying that, in my view, resentment against racists is understandable, but if someone lets that get in the way of creating a better life for their kids, they are hurting themselves and their descendants more than they are hurting the racists.
We have a large Chinese community in my area. The current generation has been born into wealth or at least middle class. But if you talk to the older generations, they have stories told by THEIR parents and grandparents of how terrible life was for immigrants in the 19th and 20th century. Some were forced to work for peanuts (because they were illegal, or because they were simply not white) that could never be enough to both live on and put their kids through school. But instead of giving up, they did the backbreaking work and got together with others in their community to pool what little money they had to send the brightest of their kids (boys) to college. In turn, once those boys had white collar jobs, they would repay the community by sponsoring other kids. After several generations, their community is now pretty well off. The first generations didn’t reap the benefits of their backbreaking work, but their descendants did.
I know this won’t work for everyone, and I’m not saying people should simply “forgive and forget” racism. But at some point you gotta weigh the benefits/harm of staying in the same rut. Should people be forced to do backbreaking labor for less than minimum wage because the system allows minorities to be exploited? No, of course I don’t believe that’s what SHOULD happen. But I also think that people should deal with the sh!t that happens to them in a way that will also benefit future generations. Sometimes we do need to sacrifice for the sake of our descendants.
Getting rid of racism is certainly one way to create a better world for future generations. But if that isn’t happening — or, while it’s happening concurrently — people should also look at what else they can be doing.
These posts just highlight the fact that many have either no clue or a very simplified view of what racism is and the effect it has on the black community. Comparing Asians being paid peanuts to the enslavement of a people who were forced to give up all that they had and all that they were is a** backwards.
I didn’t say the situations were identical. I think blacks had it much worse than asian or hispanic immigrants. And so did native americans. My point is, who is being hurt RIGHT NOW? Do you think the whites care that blacks are stuck in generation after generation of poverty? Sure, SOME do care. But not all, and I would go as far as saying not most. I don’t know how long blacks (or any other minority) are going to wait around for whites to make everything right, before they realize that the whites don’t want to change. Why should they change? The status quo benefits them.
Minorities have good reason to be upset, and they are the ones suffering because things are not equal in this country. It is fair? No. But saying that whites are the only ones who can change the situation (as someone posted further up) because victims can’t change, is not only wrong but self-defeating.
Do you want to know who would agree with your position? The racist white establishment. They are perfectly happy with change being solely in their own hands, because they will withhold that change when it suits them. Minorities who give the whites that power are only hurting themselves. What I’m saying is, don’t hold your breath waiting for the racists to change. Do whatever you can personally, no matter how unfair it seems, to make a better life for your kids and future generations.
But enslavement isn’t isolated to black people. My ancestors from England were not “freemen”. They were forced to work their baron’s silk mills in Yorkshire for generations. At one point, I had 12 ancestors living in a one-room roundhouse. This isn’t just about race (we can trace how the Jews were mistreated going back to the days of the pharaohs). It’s a socio-economic thing. The poor – regardless of what color they are – have gotten the short end of the stick since the beginning of time.
Not a clue.
I don’t think anyone was trying to argue about “who had it worse”-in the USA, I’d say that would be the African and Native Americans. But on the other hand, we can also acknowledge that other minorities have suffered from racism and discrimination without it becoming an argument over which instance is worse.
What’s the old French proverb? “Praise the God of all, drink the wine and let the world be the world”. That’s really at the heart of what Common is saying and it’s my philosophy as well.
That is not what he is saying at all.
Really? I think it is. The point of that proverb is to take the world (and the people in it) as they come. I take all people as they come; regardless of where they come from and look like. I’ll talk to anyone and everyone and what I’ve found in my half century on this planet is that most people have FAR more in common than not. The focus is on that. Not holding on to the bitter past, but taking things as they come to you. And for whatever reason, nice people come to me. Maybe because I’m nice to them.
The world has @-holes of all types. They come in all sizes and shapes and colors. But it is full of good, well intended people, also in all sizes and shapes and colors. I am equally as offended by any racist and do not buy the concept that only white people can be racist. I’ve known plenty of white racists unfortunately; it makes the hair on my neck stand up. Concurrently, I’ve heard racist comments out of the mouths of people of color as well. Equally as unacceptable.
I am admittedly weary of references to events hundreds of years ago when couched not in the context of history but in the defense of what is owed someone today.
So from that perspective (to bring it back to Common): I agree with him about moving forward. I won’t be held responsible for what others did, no more than I would hold someone else responsible for the acts of others. I cannot change what I did yesterday any more than you can. But we can all be better, not bitter, today and tomorrow–if we chose to.
Forgetting the past is why there are anti-vaccination people. People who exist now that have never experienced why there needed to be vaccinations and think that vaccinations are harmful.
There are people now on the internet who wonder, why is blackface offensive? why can’t white people say the n word? There are actual people who wonder those things. That’s why the past should not be forgotten.
Well stated, Majicou. Spot on. 🙂
I worked for a company for 12 years. Ironically after they met my boyfriend who is black, I was fired a month later. I don’t know if it had anything to do with it, but I can’t help but wonder. The company I repped was in the mid-west, maybe more close minded then here in Miami?
The great Southern writer, William Faulkner, of Mississippi writing about Southern history, said:
“The past is never dead. It is not even past.” (from ‘Requiem for a Nun’)
White logic:
9/11= Never forget
Fallen Soldiers = Never forget
Genocide of Indigenous people = Get over it
He looks pretty black to me..
I was addressing the overall sentiment. Not this specific person.
Spot on. Highlights their mindset in NEVER taking responsibility for their shiz.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”
-Santayana