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I feel like you did what I did. After the "Is Rashida Jones Black?" debate, I searched the net and the most I got her saying "I'm ethnic" and the Galmour article you referred to. The article about how Kidada grew u black and Rashida grew up white.
I've met Bi-racial people who claim black. and I met Bi-racial people who identify as "Bi-racial". I've met Bi-racial people who pass (Don't know any who identify as white but how would I know, they are passing).
So the whole, "Of course Rashida is black, here dad is Quincy Jones" sounds like some BS to me...but I don't have the energy to argue Rashida Jones blackness with anyone because its a nuanced complex subject. I feel like she has claimed different statuses through her life which is her right...I guess...but I am not sure anyone can say without a doubt she is black.
>Upfront, lemme say that I have no problem with black ppl in
>satirical comedy or even with them being rich and in the top
>5% of black people financially. I like seeing black people in
>different kinds of film (one of the reasons I love "Sorry To
>Bother You"), and I don't mind us being depicted as rich. I
>understand that people often watch tv as sort of an escape
>FROM their reality (it's why I enjoy sci-fi), and that's cool
>as long we understand that that's what it is.
>
>Just wanted to get that outta the way.
>
>I'll start with the cons so at least I'll be ending on a
>slightly more positive note.
>
>Cons... (verbose but there are only 2 major ones)
>Let's start with what everyone said about staying until
>episode 5. The show doesn't change after episode 5. Tyler
>Perry's speech is the only great thing about it, and Tyler
>Perry said the exact same thing on Sway In The Morning just 3
>months ago. He even said more and added alot more depth to it
>on Sway. If you're watching this and pushing yourself to make
>it to episode 5, just watch that Sway interview and save
>yourself a LOT of time. If you don't like the show before
>then, you won't like it after. Also, even IF the show got
>better after episode 5, that's over 60% of the show that sucks
>lol. There are only 8 episodes. Moving on...
>
>He's the only person from his old neighborhood depicted as
>responsible with any decency and social awareness. His friend
>Broadway is a proud deadbeat dad, and his whole family has
>immediately visible issues. Ionno man... that was really weird
>to me. It looked like he was telling us how he views the
>bottom 95% of black people, b/c the only other normal black
>people in the show were somewhere around his tax bracket.
>Moving on...
>
>Before I say this next part, please read this:
>KIDADA: I was kicked out of Buckley in second grade for
>behavior problems. I didn’t want my mother to come to my new
>school. If kids saw her, it would be: “your mom’s
>white!” I told Mom she couldn’t pick me up; she had to
>wait down the street in her car. Did Rashida have that
>problem? No! She passed for white.
>
>RASHIDA: “Passed”?! I had no control over how I looked.
>… Today I feel guilty, knowing that because of the way our
>genes tumbled out, Kidada had to go through pain I didn’t
>have to endure. Loving her so much, I’m sad that I’ll
>never share that experience with her.
>
>^^That's Rashida and her sister talking about growing up. In
>the same article, Rashida talks about how she felt comfortable
>with her white grandparents while her sister didn't (solely
>due to their skin color). Please notice that she's talking
>about NEVER HAVING TO ENDURE the pain of being black, being
>rejected by white people, etc. That was her sister's pain...
>and her pain was that she couldn't feel her sister's pain.
>And that's why I think her black mannerisms in this show
>looked so off to me. Even when she was giving the speech about
>black women's struggle during the interview, it just didn't
>look authentic at all to me. She moved and sounded like a
>white woman who still says "flava." I feel like Mary Elizabeth
>Winstead would've looked exactly like that, delivering the
>same lines. Maybe that's supposed to be part of the
>authenticity, but I can't take it seriously coming from
>someone who has literally said she never experienced the pain
>of being black. This is the worst kind of trolling.
>
>
>
>Pros...
>I thought some of the humor was good. It legit got some laughs
>outta me. Enjoyed the way he highlighted how under-appreciated
>(black) fathers are. The private jet scene right after he says
>he's gonna be a hero for his family, I thought was the
>pinnacle of that here. The way family issues are handled here
>is well done imo. The fight with no resolution, the sibling
>jealousy over the intimate partner, worrying about their
>daughter being a potential ho, etc.
>I can appreciate his effort to tie everything back to slavery.
>There's some attempt at consciousness here that I can dig,
>even if I think it's half done... at least it's there.
>
>
>
>Overall this was hard for me to sit through, but I paid
>attention just to see what the hoopla was about. I just feel
>relieved that it's over. I'm also not a comedy sitcom type of
>person either tho. For people who are a fan of this kind of
>show, I'd probably recommend it just based on my list of
>pros.
**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson
"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"
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