Only black people....

Are engaged for 5 years or more

Never bother to divorce, they just separate for the rest of their lives

Are late to church, work and everything else, EXCEPT when the club is

free before 11:00pm

Refer to diabetes as "sugar" their leg as 'foot' and their arm as 'han'

Drive slowly around the town just looking for someone they can "hail"

Show up at weddings, showers, graduation, birthday parties, etc. with a new

outfit on, with their nails and hair done, but don't bring a present, then eat

like dogs and take a plate home wrapped up in foil

Consider "raving" a monthly expense

Leave bills (instead of insurance money) behind for surviving relatives

Have at least one relative with a curly perm

Will borrow money for a big wedding reception then live in flat with no

furniture.

Phone up all their friends to ask them if their 'reaching' a funeral

Have mothers who can use swear words and religion ALL IN ONE SENTENCE.

For example "Lord give me strength 'cause I am bout to knock the blood

@@*+- out of this bad_?%*@?#_ child"

Swear that the Irish man selling carpets out of a van gives them the

best deals, but don't trust a bank with their money

Have at least one relative that "almost cut a number one record"

Invite co-workers and all of their friends to their child's birthday

party, which happens to have a professional DJ, alcohol but only about 3 kids

and 50 adults in attendance

Have children who are great singers and dancers, but falling behind in school

Will drive a Lexus, Merc, BMW or Jaguar AND live in a council flat

with their Mum

Will pull up in the church car park blasting out Beenie Man on their stereo

Will display the labels in designer suits to wear to a class reunion and try to

return it the next day after spilling punch on it, only to tell the sales

person it did not fit

Will have on a new outfit every time you see them, but when you ask them for the

money they owe you they always say, "I'm bruk"

Will boast for 3 months about driving around in the passenger seat of their

friends rented mercs for an hour...

Will kit out their 12 year old car with a CD system, sat nav, playstation,

spinning rims - and still don't have no insurance or MOT

Play £20 worth of lottery numbers a week but won't invest in the stock and

shares (It's toooooo risky!!)

Will spend hundreds of pounds on name-brand clothes for their kids but won't buy

them a computer.

Think its wicked to give their kids water to drink, prefring to buy Sunny

Delight instead

Think its normal to put tomato ketchup on white rice

Will give their child a name that nobody but them can spell

Knows somebody with a video on channel u!!!!

================================================== =====

I was sent this email a couple of weeks ago and took offense at it. It was sent by a good female friends of mine, and we've since debated whether or not its as offensive as I've taken it to be, or whether I've had my head stuck in text books for too long and I've lost the ability to take the ish out of ourselves in a healthy manner...

I appreciate its based on stereotypes, and relies far too heavily on overgeneralisations, but beyond that, I ask of you all:

a) Do you see the humour in any or all of the comments expressed? (either way, please elaborate)

b) Does it matter to you who wrote the piece - i.e. whether it was written by a African or non-Africanperson?

c) Would you find it more or less humourous if it were written by a African asopposed to anon-African person?

d) Would you find it more or lessinsulting if it were written by an African as opposed to anon-African person?

e) If you were to encounter such views expressed by an African, how would you deal with them? Do you get into a long ting, or are you more likely to live and let live?

================================================== =======

I should probably sayI did find one of the comments funny - the diabetes = sugar foot = han one did make me smile and think of my grandparents butthis was about the only one that didn't make me frown, and some of the others really made me question what was going on? confused3

facetygal wrote:

Quote:

Quote: ... I agree with you that some ofthe satements aren't especially bad things and I think thats partly why I took offense... I think I read it as - a couple of

Quote:

Quote: these things can be considered part of our culture orhow we do things (sort of) and they shouldn't be taken the ish out of, rideculed or portrayed in a negative light...

Quote:

Quote: on the other hand some of the other comments are down-right offensive, implying we are stupid, greedy, selfish, poor parents, foolish with finances and only aspire to material wealth... Of course I'm not saying that there aren't some (too many) Black peeps who are about this, but I'm not having it that we are more so like this than any other group of people... and because all the comments were presented in a single email msg, I find it difficult to seperate and distinguish between the 'okish' ones and the down right 'no nos' - I bringgled up (sp?) & took offense at the lot!...

@AfriCariBrit

I do not really take offence to this e'mail

I know a quite a lot of people who do alot of what was stated in the e'mail you recieved...............but they ain't all black people, i know people of other raceswho do just such things!!!

Nah i didn't take offense to this email, i actually laughed at some of the things, especially the one about arriving at 11 to a club.

To be honest, a lot of them are true about some people. Some of them are funny, and some of them are tragic, because unfortunately people do think its more important for their child to have timberlands, than a computer. But i don't take it too seriously, there are some black people who practise the more tragic things, but i feel safe in saying that the majority don't.

@ Sweetz1 - I agree it aint 'race' specific and I resent that its being passed as such...

@ all - thanks for all the responses... I must be in a stubborn mood coz although I hear what you're all saying, It still gets me vex... even more so now I think I may be nit-picking...

...what about the identity of the person making such comments?? Would you still not take offense or challenge the comments if they were to come from a non-African person?