One of my signs of the apocalypse.

[raybear]

Last night after discussions of the possiblity of being a house boy and on my way to pick up Damon so we could hang out before he leaves town for two weeks, I passed a greasy diner quasi-Sonic's/Checkers type restaurant that had a sign out front with the following announcement:

TRY OUR NEW GHETTO FRIES

I nearly had an aneurysm and crashed the car. The use of that word will be the death of me, I swear. What the fck does that sign even mean? And why, oh why, do people use that word in such flippant privileged stupid white ways?

P.S. I was not even driving through a "ghetto".

Comments

[lenny-wick.livejournal.com]

now where i live the brown people are in such a terrible minority, that when i see ghetto fries or black people selling toothpaste i just grin. i think, they must be good.

Maybe the idea is, where she lives, people of color are so rare, even seeing them in advertising is thrilling. I can understand the gist of that, even if it does ignore a long and ignoble history of using goony images of black people to sell product (rice to toothpaste). Not many people know this history, but it's there, and is still filtering out in its most egregious Stepin Fetchit, Amos N Andy forms.

The "ghetto fries" thing just sounds up to no good, especially as it sounds like it's a white suburb in the south. That especially sounds like it's up to no good. The action of poaching on inner city black life (which I'm guessing is the meaning, and not a reference to Nazi pogroms) is so fraught and complicated, there's no sense in getting into it here, but white America can be awfully fucked up.

As a white guy who has spent more time in the barrio than in the ghetto, I have no idea what ghetto fries are.

Why has Elvis popped into my head? "In the Ghetto," that treacly, soft-hearted condescention of a song.

[clockwatcher.livejournal.com]

not that this adds to the discussion at all, but all day, i've been thinking of the dolly parton version of the elvis song thanks to this discussion.

[bigfatmama.livejournal.com]

Maybe the idea is, where she lives, people of color are so rare, even seeing them in advertising is thrilling.

so sad and true. i'm like, see! folks are trying to sell stuff to black people! so they are here! a community of toothpaste buying black people! and ghetto fries falls outside of this i'm afraid. and the pms was/is riding me hard today. and i've read raybear on this one before and where i totally am absolutely in favor of the white folks taking on the education about racism etc. i was not thinking of it like that.

AND dommeyrass has a great point because i do the same thing. as raybear and the thanks my man thing. but a close relationship with and respect for african american people and culture does not an african american make. and i'm over my damn head trying to stay legit in my own racial regions.

so i take the hand slap and give ray respect and take my lesson learned here today too. and you know ray, you have some cool friends.