Uploaded April 2024 | Updated September 2026, 10 hours ago
Now, I'm not a racist. But everyone I've ever heard say that... was a racist. Sigh.
In a recent video, I talked about funny translations--ads and things translated into English that are awkward and.. funny. I thought--and I said so in that video--that maybe such an exercise was a racist thing to do. I didn't get a lot of pushback on that, so I guess what I did was alright.
But how about this? These are some figures I bought in an antique store about 20 years ago because... wow. They're just...wow.
But, after I got them home I began to have second thoughts. They're amazing, but clearly these are racist depictions. That is the essense of why they are collectible. So.. do I really want to have them? If they're racist, is my having them a racist thing to do? I rationalized: well, they're not mean. They're like characatures--art that over-emphasizes certain characteristics and is all in fun. Not intended to mock or degrade. Or are they? It's not MY intention to mock or degrade, but I can't really speak for the objects themselves, or who made them. I mean no ill-will by having them, ..so.. fine. All good. And I put them on display here in my house.
But then a neighbor was coming over one day for coffee. And she's black. And you know what I did? I took these figures and hid them. I stuffed them in a closet.. and they've been there ever since--until this moment when I pulled them out to make this video. I probably should be keeping all this to myself but, hey, I'm just trying to be honest, and maybe this kind of airing can be helpful to others trying to figure this sort of thing out.
So why did I hide them? I guess because I thought they might offend my neighbor. But where is the offense? In the things themselves... or in the fact that her neighbor, me, had them on display in my house? I was too much of a coward to find out and so... I hid them.
We're all about collecting on this channel. And these fall into the category of what is called "black memorabilia," and also, perhaps, "folk art." Many people collect such things. Many black people collect such things. Two of their labels call them "felt dolls" and.. that they are..firm and covered in felt and quite detailed. One is obviously a fisherman, one a warrior, and the one with boobs has a basket of bananas on her head. The bananas, among other things, suggest these aren't depictions of North Americans, as are the subjects of typical "black Americana," but are depictions of central or south Americans. And supporting that is the fact that these figurines were made in.. Brazil and their labels are in Portuguese. I don't know when they were made... or who--exactly--they are intended to depict.
I think of people who collect things like Nazi memorobilia. I don't have any of that so I can't even show here what I mean, but you know what I mean. Swastikas and things like that. What about people who collect that stuff? Is a person who has such things a Nazi? Of course not. But these days I've got to say Of course not...necessarily. It kind of puts a suspicion on them, you know?, that they even have the stuff. But, is that even fair? And we can even put these suspicions on ourselves, you know? And is that fair?
At the Immigration Museum on Ellis Island in New York I saw an exhibit of sheet music covers like this... Wow! I thought. Wow. I.. took these pictures of them hanging on the wall of the museum. Since I'm a collector,. as I took the pictures, part of me is thinking, man I've got to find some of these and buy them. But part of me immediately chimed in asking myself, hey, do you really want to own this stuff? It's amazing to see, but do you want a collection? ... No, I realized. I don't. I'll just take these pictures and have possession of these images, but I won't really own the paper. Huh. Now that's what we used to call, in the 1960s, a "cop-out." As if it's the PAPER that's racist, not the images.
Well, anyway, just to show you what kind of challenges life throws at you--as if you didn't already have plenty of your own stories--I bought a collection of sheet music some time after my visit to Ellis Island. About 50 pounds worth of sheet music. I just looked at the first few and saw that the stuff was old and just bought the lot. Now when I got to going through it several days later, I came across these. Great. Part of me is pleased because these things are valuable, I figure, and I spent pretty good money for that stack of music. But now I own racist sheet music. And not just the images, but the whole deal.. the PAPER.
Would some people prefer that these things be hidden away? Or even destroyed? ... Yes... but when we erase the past, we just wind up doing it all over again, to paraphrase a wise old saying. We can't progress if we don't know where we've been... Admittedly, there's a very large assumption in that statement: that we as a society WANT to progress. Some today don't.
Now, I'm not a racist. But everyone I've ever heard say that... was a racist. Sigh.
In a recent video, I talked about funny translations--ads and things translated into English that are awkward and.. funny. I thought--and I said so in that video--that maybe such an exercise was a racist thing to do. I didn't get a lot of pushback on that, so I guess what I did was alright.
But how about this? These are some figures I bought in an antique store about 20 years ago because... wow. They're just...wow.
But, after I got them home I began to have second thoughts. They're amazing, but clearly these are racist depictions. That is the essense of why they are collectible. So.. do I really want to have them? If they're racist, is my having them a racist thing to do? I rationalized: well, they're not mean. They're like characatures--art that over-emphasizes certain characteristics and is all in fun. Not intended to mock or degrade. Or are they? It's not MY intention to mock or degrade, but I can't really speak for the objects themselves, or who made them. I mean no ill-will by having them, ..so.. fine. All good. And I put them on display here in my house.
But then a neighbor was coming over one day for coffee. And she's black. And you know what I did? I took these figures and hid them. I stuffed them in a closet.. and they've been there ever since--until this moment when I pulled them out to make this video. I probably should be keeping all this to myself but, hey, I'm just trying to be honest, and maybe this kind of airing can be helpful to others trying to figure this sort of thing out.
So why did I hide them? I guess because I thought they might offend my neighbor. But where is the offense? In the things themselves... or in the fact that her neighbor, me, had them on display in my house? I was too much of a coward to find out and so... I hid them.
We're all about collecting on this channel. And these fall into the category of what is called "black memorabilia," and also, perhaps, "folk art." Many people collect such things. Many black people collect such things. Two of their labels call them "felt dolls" and.. that they are..firm and covered in felt and quite detailed. One is obviously a fisherman, one a warrior, and the one with boobs has a basket of bananas on her head. The bananas, among other things, suggest these aren't depictions of North Americans, as are the subjects of typical "black Americana," but are depictions of central or south Americans. And supporting that is the fact that these figurines were made in.. Brazil and their labels are in Portuguese. I don't know when they were made... or who--exactly--they are intended to depict.
I think of people who collect things like Nazi memorobilia. I don't have any of that so I can't even show here what I mean, but you know what I mean. Swastikas and things like that. What about people who collect that stuff? Is a person who has such things a Nazi? Of course not. But these days I've got to say Of course not...necessarily. It kind of puts a suspicion on them, you know?, that they even have the stuff. But, is that even fair? And we can even put these suspicions on ourselves, you know? And is that fair?
At the Immigration Museum on Ellis Island in New York I saw an exhibit of sheet music covers like this... Wow! I thought. Wow. I.. took these pictures of them hanging on the wall of the museum. Since I'm a collector,. as I took the pictures, part of me is thinking, man I've got to find some of these and buy them. But part of me immediately chimed in asking myself, hey, do you really want to own this stuff? It's amazing to see, but do you want a collection? ... No, I realized. I don't. I'll just take these pictures and have possession of these images, but I won't really own the paper. Huh. Now that's what we used to call, in the 1960s, a "cop-out." As if it's the PAPER that's racist, not the images.
Well, anyway, just to show you what kind of challenges life throws at you--as if you didn't already have plenty of your own stories--I bought a collection of sheet music some time after my visit to Ellis Island. About 50 pounds worth of sheet music. I just looked at the first few and saw that the stuff was old and just bought the lot. Now when I got to going through it several days later, I came across these. Great. Part of me is pleased because these things are valuable, I figure, and I spent pretty good money for that stack of music. But now I own racist sheet music. And not just the images, but the whole deal.. the PAPER.
Would some people prefer that these things be hidden away? Or even destroyed? ... Yes... but when we erase the past, we just wind up doing it all over again, to paraphrase a wise old saying. We can't progress if we don't know where we've been... Admittedly, there's a very large assumption in that statement: that we as a society WANT to progress. Some today don't.
