Those Crazy Stereotypes and Preconceptions You Might Have - Discuss!!!

Now this post is probably completely politically incorrect in that there are a few people out there, who may stumble across this blog and who may take offence to what follows:

It's not offensive however its just a collection of randomly selected race related anecdotes, I mean I'm sure we have all had countless debates regarding the meaning of prejudice, stereotyping and preconceptions etc etc. This post is completely the opposite of a serious debate.

I'd be the first to admit that sometime I do judge people based on stereotypical idea's or prejudices although not so much in a negative way. I am generally happy to accept people as they come. I grew up in a very multicultural area, went to a mixed and multicultural school, however this sometimes does not stop stereotypical  thoughts affecting my actions.

For example, when my mother's partner came round for the dinner for the first time many moons ago (for the purpose of this post I am pointing out that he is white), once dinner was prepared and dished up, I instantly offered him  Dun Dun Dun......

ketchup -Heinz

to splog all over his food, you see in my head at that time when I was quite young (I'm ashamed to admit that I was not that young lol about 14 or so), but in my head he was white so he wouldn't possibly want any pepper or anything spicy to eat he'd want to tone the heat down with ketchup. He said no and I did think wow, he doesn't want any ketchup.....this incident taught me never to assume.

On the opposite of offering a white man ketchup, I did do the reverse, now my parents are from the Caribbean and just to clarify for the uninformed Africa and the Caribbean are in two different places, we eat different foods, I get asked by my Nigerian friends if I've ever eaten Nigerian foods, and someone might ask me about St Lucian or Bajan foods, the point I'm trying to illustrate is that yes we are black but we (without going into any geographical details) speak different languages and eat different foods. So one day a long time ago one of my partners Ghanaian friends came round for dinner and what did I instantaneously offer him when the dinner had been prepared and served......Dun Dun Dun....

Hot Pepper Sauce - Hot Sauce

he was Ghanaian so in my mind I assumed he would want pepper sauce.  Again he declined and I was like oh awkward.

Don't worry, these days if you come to my house for dinner I will offer you a selection of condiments (no ketchup or pepper sauce will be forced upon you whether your black, white or any other race), as I've come to understand that people of different races enjoy all sorts of foods. I'm black but I enjoy Thai food, there are a lot of black men who if you are fortunate enough to get cooked for and they ain't cooking any Jellof, Jerk Chicken or Gari they are cooking Italian food.

However in my experience I am not the only one who has these little preconceptions, for example one of my ex work colleagues (thank goodness she became an ex work colleague fairly quickly she was one of those individuals who rubbed everyone up the wrong way with her ridiculous antics!). She was Russian and she kept on asking me about Jerk Chicken:

Have I ever tried jerk chicken, I told her yes I had (so yes I'd answered in the affirmative as far as I was concerned the subject should be dropped). However she kept on seeing me around the office and it was like a light bulb went off in her head, black woman she must eat Jerk Chicken, let me ask her again and again and again and she also used to comment that she herself loved Jerk Chicken.
She made it her mission to ask me the same question over and over again.
In the end I explained to her that I had told her already and that she should stop asking me this. (Now just to clarify I wasn't walking around giving off a Jerk Chicken eating persona, I don't think I ever ate it in the office around her, I could not even tell you the last time I ate jerk chicken, yes Jamaica and St Lucia are both in the Caribbean but we eat different things.

Another example when I was studying in university was an older woman I was in class with who again latched onto the idea of me being black and consuming Jerk Chicken, however this time she knew I was from Hackney and she was familiar with a food place called the Jerk Joint does anyone know if it's still open?. So she kept on asking me if I liked Jerk Chicken and I said yes and then She asked me if I'd ever been to the Jerk Joint, again I said yes I had been there once before, which is so far so normal. But again for some reason she kept on asking me the same questions over and over again whenever she got the opportunity to have a conversation with me. I did eventually have to take the same approach as above and inform her that we'd already discussed this and that she needs to go there herself if she has never been as she seemed fascinated with the idea of the place. To which she replied that she had already been! WTF? lol!
Then to top it off she proceeded to tell me that she had a friend who has 5 dogs and 20 pigeons and that she had taught the animals to kiss their teeth whenever she visited (even now as I am typing this out I am rolling my eye's in bewilderment)! Why did I need to know this?

LMAO WTF?

Now I did just put it down to a misguided attempt to make conversation with me, maybe they thought it wasn't enough to converse over a British pastime such as watching Eastenders, oh no we had to talk about Jerk Chicken lol but as I say I have had my own food related moments.

There is nothing wrong with being curious about another persons culture and traditions but lets not bug them about it.


So bdsser's have you ever had any wacky incidences born out of lets assume innocent stereotypes or preconceptions. I am not just talking to the black people  reading the blog, as I know that everyone has silly preconceptions  and I'm sure some poor soul has felt the affects of this.


Comment, share and join the blog!

Rastamouse... the childrens show we love (it's not racist!)

Although I don’t have a child under 5, I did take the time to watch an episode of Rasta mouse.

This was after reading up about the complaints and allegations of it being racist, stereotyping, and offensive…

Rastamouse provokes complaints of racism and teaching bad language...

Now my honest opinion…I loved it!  

Sure there were something’s particularly around the dress of the characters and the mannerisms that I thought were a bit iffy (for lack of a better word).

However overall I think it is great to have a superhero of which young British children of African-Caribbean heritage can relate to (as well as other none African –Caribbean children).

Also to have African-Caribbean culture represented on mainstream TV; and in a positive light is bloody brilliant. So I say bravo to the authors of the book, the BBC, Reggie Yates and crew for bringing it all together!

I mean the story line was wonderful (cheese went missing, Rasta mouse and crew set up an operation to catch the theft, the theft repented and made good); it was not only about solving a mystery, it had forgiveness and redemption, plus reggae music all wrapped up into one cosy 15 minute (or so) episode, and I can’t see anything wrong with that.

Now if you did not know, the Rasta Mouse books have been around for years; so why no one complained then is a mystery. It’s probably because in book form it only appealed to a certain demographic; however now it is on mainstream TV people has a problem with it!

Now to address the problems which I have read about in the many articles:

1) Levi Roots (of reggae reggae sauce fame) took a not so good view of the Rasta being portrayed as a mouse; as a Rasta man he would have preferred a Lion.

2) There was a mother on mumsnet who was afraid that if her white child was to call a ‘none white’ child a ‘Rasta’ that it might be taken as an insult.

3) There are conspiracy theorists who think that the cheese is a reference for marijuana;

4) Some parents are afraid of the use of patois or slang in the programme…

Well I say Pish Posh!

The show is true to its premise: ‘a bad thing turned good’ and on the Rasta Mouse website it does not say its going to represent true Rasta culture, fight racism, prejudice or fight stereotypes. It’s a children’s programme focused on being educational and fun; whilst staying true to the Rasta Mouse books it has been adapted from.

Now address the so- called problems…

1) I would rather have a positive, crime fighting, uplifting, peace-loving Rasta Mouse than no Rasta at all portrayed on mainstream TV; and I think Levi Roots did concede it is better than nothing.

2) I would rather my own black child be called a ‘Rasta’ in reference to Rasta mouse (a positive character) rather than being called any of the other names he has been called by random white children over the years.

Also I think it boils down to you as a parent and what you teach your child about other races/cultures, because to be called a ‘Rasta’ (or any other minority non white group name/reference) is not an insult unless you think it is, and intend to use it as such.

3) Regarding the complaints about the patois or ‘slang’ there are people in the world who actually speak in Patois and use the ‘slang’, which is why it is important that the show does not dumb down for the sake of a few.

Also you only have to read some of the comments after the articles about Rasta Mouse to know that people are not ignorant to Patois and ‘Slang’.

There’s a plethora of patois and slang in the comments section.

 So lets be realistic unless your child lives in a bubble with no contact with other races/cultures etc… they will know and use slang at some point; even if only to use as an insult!

4) As for the conspiracy theorist- I think that possibly they themselves must be smoking too much marijuana!

So anyways BDSS’ers what do you think? Rasta Mouse Racist, stereotypical and offensive?

Yah Man... speak your peace!