Common Place Entry

This is related to something I saw on TV. I was watching “The Fresh Prince of Belair” starring Will Smith. His cousin in the show, Carlton, a nerdy type of guy, is in a rich family and Will lives there temporarily with Carlton and his family. It’s a comedy, but everyone is black, or African American. And in that episode, Carlton and Will were trying to join a fraternity, and the pledge leader of the fraternity said Carlton “wasn’t brotha enough to be a brotha” and that he didn’t like “sell-outs”. The pledge leader made that assumption because he was rich and spoke proper English. Carlton, being a calm, hopeless, nerdy kind of guy surprisingly stated back: “You think I’m a sell-out. Why? Because I live in a big house or dress a certain way? Being black isn’t what I’m trying to be; it’s what I am. I’m running the same race and jumping the same river as you are so why are you tripping me up? You said we need to stick together but you don’t even know what that means. If you ask me, you’re the real sell-out.” This quote really gave me something to think about. It’s hard to explain why, but it’s just so true. I can’t say what it is I’m feeling now, but for the first time, watching my favorite comedy show actually made an impact in my thinking, taking on a new perspective of things. I guess we all make these stereotypes and race jokes too often. If you dress a certain way, you’re considered white, if you talk a certain way, you’re black, and if you have a Spanish last name, you illegally came in to America. But that’s not how it is. Sure, sometimes it’s true, but making these assumptions and jokes sort of is standard amongst us today. At school, a lot of what you hear is “Yeah, cuz you’re white” and all these racist jokes. Sometimes there are critics who say “Why you gotta be like that man?” and some people answer “It’s not mean mean. It’s funny mean.” But that only applies to the person who says it. No one else.