Jonathan Capehart, a blogger for The Washington Post, did a piece today on the viral sensation that is Antoine Dodson (pictured holding baby). Dodson, whose sister was the victim of a violent crime, was interviewed by his local news station after the incident. You know those interviews. The one's where you shake your head, cover your eyes and hope that white people aren't watching.
No one was prepared when the victim's brother, wearing a kerchief about his head and ready for his close-up, took center stage and told a local Huntsville, Ala., news reporter exactly what was on his mind.
A news report from Huntsville, Ala., about an attempted rape unfortunately became fodder for inboxes across the world. Antoine Dodson, who came to his sister's defense, became an instant Internet sensation.
Some viewers called in to WAFF-TV to complain that "interviews with people like Antoine reflects poorly on the community."
"People like Antoine?"
It's so funny to see mainstream black folks attempt to publicly explain exactly what about this clip being on the evening news bothers them. They refuse to use the word "ghetto," "queen," "gay,""embarrassing," or "niggas." I think its amazing. Just for fun, I tried to describe the clip in one sentence not using any of those words. Couldn't do it.
It's OK, black folks. Calm down. Seeing people acting "ghetto" and "foolish" on the evening news is nothing new. Not sure how this made The Washington Post. Individuals in our communities have been embarrassing the black race for decades, but now, our local embarrassments have gone international. This creates a dilemma for us.
See, it's easy to sit around with your friends and laugh (or cry) about this, but it's harder to chat with Susie May about it when she sends the Youtube link around the office, where you are the only black person.
Are you supposed to act offended (though you're really not)? Do you laugh with others (and feel like a Tom)?
Ahhh...the lovely duality of being black and American. You want to support your community, but at the same time, you think some things are ignant as hell too.
But you don't want to give white folks ammunition, so you say nothing. Except to each other. It's just the way of post-racial USA. Give us another 300 years, we'll figure it all out.
It's like the guy who just shot up the beer factory in Connecticut. Now tell me, how many of you heard that story and thought to yourself, Please don't be black?
As for me, I stopped caring about what white folks thought a long time ago. So while the rest of you parse words and feign outrage, I'll be somewhere laughing my ass off at the fabulous ghetto queen that is Antoine Dodson. Now run tell dat.
28-July-10 - An Ohio woman who helped counsel countless couples experiencing marital discord was found stabbed to death on Monday. The suspect is her husband.
27-July-10 - Mocienne Petit Jackson, a Netherlands woman who claims to be the child of pop sensation Michael Jackson and Diana Ross' sister, Barbara Ross, has filed documents in a Los Angeles court, according to TMZ.
23-July-10 - Could it be that Rangel simply forgot the rules? Did it slip his mind that he wasn't supposed to use his letterhead to get corporate donations for a building named after him, as charged? That's not the Charlie Rangel I knew, but that Rangel will surely be exposed when his trial starts.
23-July-10 - R&B heartthrob Brian McKnight, who was accused of being a long-lost baby daddy to a 14-year-old Florida boy, is not be the child's biological father.
22-July-10 - Staying out of trouble is not an easy feat for rapper Foxy Brown, who was arrested in Brooklyn on Wednesday for violating an order of protection, according to TMZ.
23-July-10 - A child pyromaniac is suspected of murdering his mother and siblings, setting fire to his home, and then slitting his own throat with a razor.
22-July-10 - Ieshuh Griffin is a legislative candidate from Wisconsin who seems willing to do whatever it takes to get elected. In the five words that candidates are allowed to put on the ballot to describe themselves, Griffin put the phrase, "Not the white man's b*tch."
21-July-10 - DeFarra Gaymon, a father of four and the CEO of Credit Union of Atlanta, was shot to death in a Newark, N.J. park known for male prostitution.
20-July-10 - Snoop Dogg and his wife revealed to People Magazine that the discovery that their then-6-year-old daughter, Cori, had lupus helped bring their family closer.
