A question of racism...

F

fanuvbrak

Guest
My wife and I have collected antiques for years and years. It used to be that nearly every weekend, we'd head out into the country to scope out antique stores and barn sales or junk shops. We got a lot of nice stuff over the years.

One area that always interested me was old advertising. When we were traveling through Tennessee, we found two original Bull Durham ads from the 20's. They were in near perfect shape and we had them framed. Anyways, they've been sitting in their boxes since our last move. I ran across them last weekend and was excited to put them up once the front room was finished. I've done some research and it looks like one of these has been reproduced. It's this:

durham01.jpg


The other one depicts a southern black family on a porch. Two men are smoking and the slogan is "My, it shure am sweet tastan!"

I love the rich color in these and the fact that they're originals. But, they are kind of racist.

Sidenote: We have several black friends and they all love these.

What do you think?

And Mark, if this is out of bounds, please delete this thread.
 
Actually there was a place in Newport Beach called Sid's Steakhouse that was wallpapered with this kind of stuff...he had a ton of the racist stuff, too.

As racist as the posters are, they depict a time in America's history when things like this were allowed. I don't think you're a racist for owning them, since they are a collectible and I think that history should be preserved as long as it's kept in context....I wouldn't hang one in my living room (the "racist ones") but I think they should be preserved...
 
fanuvbrak said:
My wife and I have collected antiques for years and years. It used to be that nearly every weekend, we'd head out into the country to scope out antique stores and barn sales or junk shops. We got a lot of nice stuff over the years.

One area that always interested me was old advertising. When we were traveling through Tennessee, we found two original Bull Durham ads from the 20's. They were in near perfect shape and we had them framed. Anyways, they've been sitting in their boxes since our last move. I ran across them last weekend and was excited to put them up once the front room was finished. I've done some research and it looks like one of these has been reproduced. It's this:

durham01.jpg


The other one depicts a southern black family on a porch. Two men are smoking and the slogan is "My, it shure am sweet tastan!"

I love the rich color in these and the fact that they're originals. But, they are kind of racist.

Sidenote: We have several black friends and they all love these.

What do you think?

And Mark, if this is out of bounds, please delete this thread.
Click to expand...

I probably wouldn't hang those anywhere public. That said, I have a cross stitch that was hand made and framed for me by my mom's college roommate when I was born. It depicts me as a child sitting with two stereotypical black children eating watermelon. The woman who made it was crazy as a loon, and she has since been diagnosed as such. I'll never get rid of it b/c it's so bizarre and f'd up, and it represents part of my weird past. But I wouldn't hang it in my house. :shrug:
 
Mark Wein said:
Actually there was a place in Newport Beach called Sid's Steakhouse that was wallpapered with this kind of stuff...he had a ton of the racist stuff, too.

As racist as the posters are, they depict a time in America's history when things like this were allowed. I don't think you're a racist for owning them, since they are a collectible and I think that history should be preserved as long as it's kept in context....I wouldn't hang one in my living room (the "racist ones") but I think they should be preserved...
Click to expand...

My neighbor hung a confederate flag in his window the day after a black family moved in across the courtyard. Apartment complex never said a word. :facepalm:
 
It is interesting to see the progression of thinking over time. I remeber my great-uncle had a lot of that type of thing when I was a kid. I feel they need to be preserved as hsitory and to remind us how recently that type of thing was considered acceptable.

As a folk singer I find there are some songs that can be preserved by eliminating the "dialect" but there are others that are just too tainted by their past to be preserved.
 
Reminds me of a story about my grandfather.

He's 81 years old, and worked in the coal mines for about 40 years or so. Where we lived (my grandparents just lived a few houses down from my parents), everyone was a white coal mining family. There was one black family (the Blackstocks...really, that was their last name) in the next town over and my grandfather worked with that guy for 40 years. Now, my grandfather is about as far from politically correct as one can imagine, but he and Blackstock (nobody called him Ed, even though that was his first name) were best of friends.

Well, my grandfather got one of those 'lawn jockey' statues holding a lantern for his yard:
lawnjockey.jpg


The next time Blackstock was at his house, my grandfather said to him "Blackstock, did you see I got a statue of your grand daddy out in the yard?" :facepalm:

A week later, Blackstock had the same statue in his yard, only he painted his white. He made sure to let my grandfather know that he had his grand daddy in his yard too. :grin:
 
My thing is, there's nothing malicious in these posters. I've seen shit in antique stores that have offended the hell out of me. These seemed innocent and almost naive, but they are also thoughtless and ignorant.

I guess I'll just put them down in the basement next to my nazi memorabilia.


That last part was a joke.
 
Short answer: This shit is racist.

Long answer: There are actually a number of black intellectuals I've met who collect and work with this sort of material. I certainly don't think it should be hidden and never discussed. I mean, American racism happened/happens. I wouldn't hang them in my living room. However, I'd certainly lend them to a local exhibit on racism/the African American experience/whatever should someone want to use them.
 
Sad Navigator said:
Short answer: This shit is racist.

Long answer: There are actually a number of black intellectuals I've met who collect and work with this sort of material. I certainly don't think it should be hidden and never discussed. I mean, American racism happened/happens. I wouldn't hang them in my living room. However, I'd certainly lend them to a local exhibit on racism/the African American experience/whatever should someone want to use them.
Click to expand...


It's history. Racist or not, I think it should be preserved just like the Nazi stuff so that history has less of a chance of repeating itself.
 
Black individual displaying this kind of "art" = OK
White individual displaying this kind of "art" = not OK
That's just the way that it is.
I remember a restaurant in my youth called Sambo's. The menus had cartoons of "Little Black Sambo" printed on the back. And this was in California in the mid-'70s.
:facepalm::facepalm::facepalm:
And now to talk about something really important, Kerouac's YouTube clip reminded me that ROSARIO DAWSON IS PAINFULLY FUCKING HAWT!!!
:love::love::love:
 
fanuvbrak said:
The other one depicts a southern black family on a porch. Two men are smoking and the slogan is "My, it shure am sweet tastan!"

I love the rich color in these and the fact that they're originals. But, they are kind of racist.

Sidenote: We have several black friends and they all love these.

What do you think?

And Mark, if this is out of bounds, please delete this thread.
Click to expand...


Well here is one way to look at it, I'm guessing some people actually did talk like that back then so how is it different from modern day commercials using hip hop slang?

However, the depiction of the couple could be considered racist by some people.
 
All right! I'm seeing some slight revulsion about racism and the dregs of slavery.
Does this mean Eric Clapton is going to denounce his "devil at the crossroads Robert Johnson" thing?

as always, John Watt
 
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