I saw an interview with Chris Rock and the subject of race relations came up.

 

He says it is 100% on whites for the relations to improve. He said it's like Ike and Tina Turner's marriage. Tina's only role was being beaten. IF it was going to improve it was 100% on Ike.

 

Thoughts?

Mtn Ref could have come up with a better analogy than that.

My thoughts are Chris Rock is an idiot. It takes both blacks and whites being willing to make progress for any changes/improvements to occur.

Q: What would you do in Ferguson that a standard reporter wouldn’t?

 

I’d do a special on race, but I’d have no black people.

 

Q: Well, that would be much more revealing.

 

Yes, that would be an event. Here’s the thing. When we talk about race relations in America or racial progress, it’s all nonsense. There are no race relations. White people were crazy. Now they’re not as crazy. To say that black people have made progress would be to say they deserve what happened to them before.

 

Q: Right. It’s ridiculous.

 

So, to say Obama is progress is saying that he’s the first black person that is qualified to be president. That’s not black progress. That’s white progress. There’s been black people qualified to be president for hundreds of years. If you saw Tina Turner and Ike having a lovely breakfast over there, would you say their relationship’s improved? Some people would. But a smart person would go, “Oh, he stopped punching her in the face.” It’s not up to her. Ike and Tina Turner’s relationship has nothing to do with Tina Turner. Nothing. It just doesn’t. The question is, you know, my kids are smart, educated, beautiful, polite children. There have been smart, educated, beautiful, polite black children for hundreds of years. The advantage that my children have is that my children are encountering the nicest white people that America has ever produced. Let’s hope America keeps producing nicer white people.

 

Chris Rock on Ferguson, Cosby, and Obama -- Vulture

His analogy is spot on IMO.

My thoughts are Chris Rock is an idiot. It takes both blacks and whites being willing to make progress for any changes/improvements to occur.

This!

 

Views like Chis Rock's does nothing but add fuel to the fire. If we're going to blame one side only, nothing will be talked about and nothing will be improved.

I saw an interview with Chris Rock and the subject of race relations came up.

 

He says it is 100% on whites for the relations to improve. He said it's like Ike and Tina Turner's marriage. Tina's only role was being beaten. IF it was going to improve it was 100% on Ike.

 

Thoughts?

 

And that's why relations aren't improving. Both sides need to recognize the problem and have meaningful discussions. It can't all be on one side and it's ridiculous to say otherwise.

What would you tell him as to why he is wrong?

His analogy is spot on IMO.

So, there are no black people that aren't nice? No racist black people? It's all the fault of whites?

And that's why relations aren't improving. Both sides need to recognize the problem and have meaningful discussions. It can't all be on one side and it's ridiculous to say otherwise.

 

It's also important to understand why the other side feels this way.

 

Him saying this starts the discussion. Will people bail on the discussion now or will they go look at what he is saying and then try to have a discussion about it? Or will they get their feelings hurt, kick and scream, call him an idiot and then leave the discussion?

His analogy is spot on IMO.

 

The way Clyde put it, yes.

 

What he actually said, no. Being repeatedly beaten is absolutely up to her.

 

"If you saw Tina Turner and Ike having a lovely breakfast over there, would you say their relationship’s improved? Some people would. But a smart person would go, “Oh, he stopped punching her in the face.” It’s not up to her. Ike and Tina Turner’s relationship has nothing to do with Tina Turner. Nothing. It just doesn’t."

So, there are no black people that aren't nice? No racist black people? It's all the fault of whites?

 

You going to read the link and then respond to his comments? That's where the conversation starts on this. I agree with Chris Rock. He's also not an idiot.

This is where he loses me.

 

"Owning their actions. Not even their actions. The actions of your dad. Yeah, it’s unfair that you can get judged by something you didn’t do, but it’s also unfair that you can inherit money that you didn’t work for."

It's also important to understand why the other side feels this way.

 

Him saying this starts the discussion. Will people bail on the discussion now or will they go look at what he is saying and then try to have a discussion about it? Or will they get their feelings hurt, kick and scream, call him an idiot and then leave the discussion?

 

I agree but the problem is that the white people will go back to their white friends to discuss and the black people will go back to their black friends to discuss and then nothing gets accomplished....again. It's so frustrating.

Yes is my answer to the question posed in the thread title.

 

I agree with some of what Rock says, particularly regarding Obama's election being "white progress." I think his Ike/Tina analogy is a really poor one though.