Yeah..that can be viewed as being racist..

who happens to be black.

Black people suffer racism everyday, this shows insensitivity

This level of "insensitivity" will roll off Bolt's back like water off a duck.

LGBT, we don't demand that the offended party "get over it," or "you're just being PC" or dismissing the real experiences of others.

Just when it comes to black folks, it's o.k. to explain away their experiences and their feelings.

If some people are offended by Ellen's remarks, please try and understand why--and the very real historical importance of racist imagery in this society.

If you offend someone you should look to make amends and understand why that person or group of people would take offense. Could not have said it better myself.

I'd bet if the fastest man in the world were white, she'd have tweeted the same thing.

Michael Phelps, a saddle, and a gold medal on a stick.

Is that one non-racist simply because Michael Phelps isn't black?

How bout saving the outrage for real stuff that matters.
I think Bolt knows racism, and he re-tweeted it himself.

it's silly season.

We got gentrification, trigger-happy police, employment discrimination, school underfunding, racially slanted sentencing by judges, confederate flags, and voter suppression laws... we got so much real racism in this country. Why go and make up stuff?

Pictures of black subjugation are racist. Pictures having fun with strong, heroic celebrities are celebratory. You have to want to be offended to not see the difference.

and therefore may not see something, but I saw "hitching a ride on the fastest man alive," not "degrading a Black man."

Again, I admit it's possible there's nuance I'm missing.

I viewed it as well.

and have seen some of the Olympic coverage - yeah, I can see how it could be distasteful. It was probably meant just the way we saw it, but given the fucked-up coverage plus cultural context, it was inappropriate.

... are probably looking under their bed for racists before going to sleep at night.

as is McCarthyism on the left, about our boogeyman, racism.

Both communism and racism are evil, tho demagoguing is too.

... work?

tia

Unless someone offends them they don't give a shit.

OMG! How racist!

describe the civil war, or the ratification of the 13th amendment as being a "recent" events.

... via jails... Right in the Constitution...

Either way... Don't have to go back to civil war for the animals thing... Go bsck to Ferguson

...... I don't care if the Usain was black, white, red, yellow, green, blue, or whatever. Her pun was a comment on his incredible speed, and nothing more. Anyone who sees racism in the comment needs to get a life instead of making a foolish caricature of the one they've got.

... people who are overly dismissive about it at 9

Its really a sad way to live. I know I could be offended every day if I went around looking for it & twisting whatever I found to suit me

and by doing so you are accomplishing nothing that addresses the heart of the matter.

You are missing the point. If I tell a joke or make a "pun" and in my mind it is completely innocent and meant to be light hearted, but due to perhaps a lack of culture awareness, however brief, that person my pun was intended to charecterize finds it offensive, then it falls on me to apologize and understand why that individual found the joke to be offense. Culture awareness is always one of the hardest aspects of life for most people to understand, and all of us are guilty of failing that test every now and again. I do not think Ellen is a racist, and I do not think she meant anything by this pun, but nevertheless, others - many people of color, did find this offensive and borderline racist, and Ellen did the right thing by apologizing.

Welcome to the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Today Ellen's just going to sit there and not say a word. Enjoy the show.

Ellen had nothing to apologize for and Usain Bolt even retweeted the photo himself. I will take my cue from him if you don't mind, and it seems to me you should be directing your ire at him also since his reaction pretty much mirrors my own.

He obviously knows about this country's history and centuries of oppression against POC, but he did not grow up in America and have the same life experiences as those POC who did. That is not saying his opinion doesn't count, but it also doesn't mean that because he retweeted something that he may not have a complete understanding of what many POC in this country would have a better and more tangible understanding of having to deal with many forms of both unintentional racism, and racism that is born and bred out of a lack of culture awareness. I do not intend to hold this one against Ellen, as I said I believe she is not a racist. But there is a lesson that can be learned from this and that is to respect and not dismiss the objections of others, even if you yourself may not see the same offense. Just because you do not see it doesn't mean others don't as well.

You have your opinion. I have mine. We've both got the right to have them. If you want to make this about racism, that's your choice. I simply choose not to make a mountain out of what doesn't even qualify as a molehill.

understand why this IS racist and plays right into stereotypes about how blacks are superhuman animals who "can run fast".

white people are just plain evil, aren't they?

over and OUT

black men that I don't know about?

Ellen was being funny and everyone knows that. Not everything is an offense. Sometimes a joke is just a joke is just a joke.

From a friend's FB post....

Enslaved blacks were referred to as "human beasts of burden". It was a common practice for wealthy Yt slave owners to be carried around from place to place by their slaves, either in hammocks, palanquins (sedan chairs), or on the backs of slaves. It's ironic that the same ones who called the ancestors "lazy" refused to walk anywhere on foot, but allowed themselves to be carried around everywhere they went by barefoot, oftentimes malnurished slaves.

I have heard of slaves carrying objects with people on them (like the sedan), but I have a hard time believing that anyone rode on the back of a man who was likely dripping in perspiration in the heat of the south. That seems highly unlikely.

I've even heard of slaves being forced to pull carts like ox and horses, but, no, not riding on backs.

Whether literally riding on a slaves back or being in a chair, it has the same dehumanizing effect. After all, what did people usually ride and what typically pulled the carts?

http://usslave.blogspot.com/2012/04/human-beasts-of-burden-carrying-sedan.html

Making a joke about someone whom Ellen apparently genuinely likes and who has been on her show is not dehumanizing. Maybe he has a sense of humor.

I understand why comics refuse to play on college campuses, now. You can't joke about anything without insulting someone somewhere.

"more Irish than the Irish themselves," particularly from white liberals, who are a big subset of Twitter users peddling that Ellen tweeted in a racist fashion.

is the problem. As a friend said it is a picture of Ellen riding my slave born great great grandfather. When someone points out that it's painful defending it because that isn't how it was intended is indeed casual racism as it disrespects the feelings of the person who actually feels pain at the sight of such an image. Acknowledging and wanting to spare people pain is just basic decency and kindness.

It's actually not a picture of that, regardless of what your friend says.

Dismissing how people respond that image which recalls a time when African Americans were treated like animals is downright fucking hateful.

it didn't bother him, does he not count for some reason?

But to dismiss the very real painful reactions people have to seeing the image devalues the experience and very humanity of people who find it painful because they are aware of the historical context that gives it meaning beyond what people who ignore history want to see.

since that history will always be there. That makes black people fragile for all time and a silly joke like this painful where it wouldn't be if he just weren't black. Takes away from him in a way. And it is not seeing the fastest man in the world, it's seeing a victimized black person, victim of racism. Whereas a white victor could just enjoy his victory. Not sure if I am getting this across, but it just strikes me as wrong to think of him as a slavey descendant first and winner of the Olympic race second.

REALLY???? The objection is not him personally. It is to an image that is a throwback to a time when institutionalized racism was thriving in the worst way. People should know their history and care about how it continues to reverberate. He may not have the same anscestoral connection that African Americans have, but this image that appeared in the media is not any less painful because of that.

Are blacks being "fragile" when they object to a display of nooses, too?

Is it black fragility to know that "If current trends persist, it will take 228 years for black families to accumulate the same amount of wealth as whites"? http://money.cnn.com/2016/08/09/news/economy/blacks-white-wealth-gap/

Is it a display of fragility to be aware of the fact that that condition is a function of inheritance of money and or property, marketable skills, name and reputation, and white skin?

"Equality" as it is understood in US culture is a myth. History matters, "colorblindness" is an effort to erase it and a display of respect for white supremacy. The fact that black people being sold were marketed as having unique physical capabilities? White owners and leaders used black people for entertainment. And today, many black parents are very sad when their children choose to pursue careers in industries that have been so exploitive for so very long, rather than pursue engineering, science, or other careers that are not as risky, don't destroy their bodies, and don't put them on display.

So, pretend there is no relationship and celebrate individual glory but if a person is unwilling to recognize and give a damn that it is connected to the ugliest part of our history they are endorsing white supremacy.

surely you can see the difference? I just think if you think of it this way it goes on forever. When are black people going to be able to enjoy equality to the extent people can laugh at Ellen's silliness whether the fastest man is black or white? He won the race and should get to enjoy it on the same terms as a white winner. Ellen did that because he was a winner.

Why aren't they thankful that it is police killing them instead of the Klan? Or maybe they should be grateful that they are incarcerated at a higher rate in a prison system that permits slave labor instead of working on plantations of private owners? Oh, wait, there is such a thing as private prisons that grow food and the 13th Amendment permits indentured servitude in prisons.

Slavery is not over and the promises of the civil rights act have not materialized. Pretending that all is well because of some individual successes may make some people believe there is "equality."
But the truth is we still have have significant education, health and health care, employment, economic disparities AND an over representation in an institution that thrives on constitutionally protected slavery.

Focusing on individual success that required some luck along the way may bring comfort to people who want to believe in the illusion of equality, but really all it does is keep white people comfortable with INEQUITY. Here ya go, "enjoy these successes and you will forget how many of your family members have been imprisoned, harassed by police, died to early because of health disparities, did not receive the education that would have opened more doors......" Do you really deny that that is the rule and claim the exception should make people forget about what they see and live in their daily lives?

off on another issue, but is it going to be that way forever? Ellen's antics raise all that?

We know we're human. But we will never be equal if others treat us as something other than REAL human beings with REAL feelings.

I know it's hard to see black people this way because the stereotype is that we are strong and resilient people. And we are. But the problem is that since people view us as "strong and resilient" they seem to forget--on a conscious or unconscious level--that we are HUMAN BEINGS!!

This treatment continues to this day.

Remember the Mike Brown killing, for instance? Remember how Darren Wilson characterized Mike Brown as a "beast" and a "demon" which made him afraid, and therefore he had to kill him?

Remember Tamir Rice? Remember the 911 caller described the boy as a "man" even though he was only 12 years old.

These are only a few examples of unconscious racism at play. We all suffer from this, even Usain Bolt. Even most black people on a subconscious or unconscious level suffer from **internalized racism** so of course he may not even be attuned to the significance of what happened.

This doesn't mean that Ellen is a racist. It doesn't mean that Usain Bolt is a racist. What it demonstrates is how society has internalized negative images of black people as something other than, again, human being.

Sure, Bolt is the fastest man on earth, but he is still a human being!!!!

a human being, a very talented one. I don't know that it would be better if Ellen did not do anything at all, in a way that could be ignoring his achievement whereas she would not have for a white guy doing the same thing, as it would not bring up unpleasant connotations - it's kind of like another white privilege. Maybe she could have found another way to photoshop herself in - that's her thing and it can be funny.

Just because Bolt doesn't realize it on a CONSCIOUS level does not mean that others won't.

When many Native Americans complain about Washington Redskins team paraphernalia as perpetuating negative images about American natives in this country, there are also a few members of that community for which it cognitively isn't a problem--they just refuse to see it. But on a more conscious level, those who have been confronted with this imagery all of our lives (or caricatures) all of our lives--ON A CONSCIOUS LEVEL--are more attuned to it.

Rather than dismiss these experiences, try and learn about this history in our country. Learn from it and try to understand WHY it is painful for people of color.

of slavery in the south. Numerous horrible images.

Ellen hitching a ride to run errands on the back of the fastest man in the world (whom she knows) is not one of them. In fact, I've never seen an image of a white person riding on the back of a slave. I'm sure it would have offended their sensibilities to do so.

I will take your word for it that people looking for offense will find it in that photo.

There are people for whom being treated like animals is a defining part of their history. A picture that places a man who resembles people who were treated that way in a photo with a similar context is indefensible.

To make the claim that she didn't know any better is one thing. To defend the image is like defending the confederate flag on the basis of heritage when everyone knows it is an image that reflects much more.

Geesh.

Apparently, the black folks defending Ellen who don't see anything offensive didn't get the latest memo.

Good night.

have internalized sexism and misogyny, too.

Again, we internalize these things and don't even realize how they affect us.

See the famous Kenneth Clark "Doll Test". The black children who were identifying negatively with black dolls didn't even realize that those dolls were a reflection of themselves. It's *internalized* racism manifested in self hatred.

WHY people are viewing this as racist.

The history of racist or racialized imagery in this country is REAL.

Most people have internalized these images so much that we don't even realized that they're there.

Because if the answer is yes, I'd recommend you keep looking. Basing an argument on anecdotal evidence, such as a "friend's FB post," is one of the fastest ways to lose a debate.

My friends are scholars in the black studies department at the university and they know history. Pretend it isn't racist and bask in a twisted culture that finds killing people or color to be okay because they would have been scared too. Pretend there are no differences in how the media presents people of color "looting" while white people "survive" and that it influences what believe believe about the intentions of unarmed people of color.

Dismissing well documented history is a denial of the experience of injustice and therefore a defense of the disparities.

And the fact that you rely on such sad binary thinking just reflects poorly on you.

If you don't believe it look it up or take a look at the link I posted that has photographs. I checked the history first. You are free to dismiss it as not actually being part of history that matters, but how is claiming that it doesn't affect today's US culture and policy truly different from saying black people should "get over slavery."

...how do you expect me to explain it to you in a way that would make sense? DU doesn't have a feature to let me draw in crayon to make this more clear for you.

You are trying to smear me as a racist because I don't agree with you, but you're failing at the effort, badly. Quit while you're behind, perhaps.

because of a long history of dehumanization, there are a few possibilities that lie on a continuum. But everything on that spectrum perpetuates and enables ideology that may be casually insensitive to or outright malicious. There is a pretty wide range between carelessly dismissing the influence of white supremacy and fully endorsing it with malice.

More explicitly, denial of historical and current ugliness a person just doesn't want to know about - defending that denial- Just not giving a damn that it happened and how it might make people, whose life circumstances are largely rooted in that history, feel - feeling comfortable being a part of enabling it - enjoying perpetrating it.

As many bystanders, you appear to be on the careless end. Racism does not require malice or hate.

Pretty disgusting behavior, IMO. Since every effort to allow you to argue without trying to call me a racist has failed, now I get to introduce you to my Ignore list.

Come on people, lets at least be able to look at ourselves with criticl enough eyes

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