Negroes Need White’s Cast Off’s
July 26, 2008
As a boy I loved the Arthurian legends, and let’s be honest, what young boy could fail to be captivated by those tall tales of magic, chivalry and swordsmanship.
Because of this I was quite looking forward to the new BBC adaptation of these legends, even though it would be primarily aimed at children.
Initially I was saddened by the news that ‘Merlin’ as it was to be called would be based on Merlin and Arthur as two boys and would not follow the old legends in any way shape or form.
I have mentioned before that it seems to be in fashion at present to criticise movies and TV for not featuring enough black faces, Spike Lee recently criticised Clint Eastwood for not having any, or enough, Negroes in his movies. Next, incredibly the head of equality in the UK has claimed that British television is too white!
This kind of attitude in turns both angers and worries me. I am angered by the way that our so called leaders on race relations, are able to be so racist with complete impunity and I am also worried for the future. Everything that Negroes have spent the past 400 years working for in this country could be destroyed by a few idiots.
It seems that once again I have to point out the blindingly obvious to those that should know better, Britain is a white country. I am not sure why so called black leaders have difficulty understanding that simple premise. Zimbabwe is a black country, I don’t think that anyone would ever argue with that, but 1% of the population is white. South Africa is another black country, even though 9.2% of the population there is white. In Britain 91.2% of the population is white, just 2% black, yet we hear constant references to blacks being under represented, although I am not sure where.
Philips singled out The Vicar of Dibley as an all white programme, however if one should ever visit rural areas (and I do frequently), Negroes are a rarity. Just the other day I was watching a programme where Janet Street Porter held some kind of party in a Yorkshire village, there was not one single non white face there out of 100 people. Porter isn’t racist, the show wasn’t staged, this is reality in some places.
Viewers praised reality shows like the X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing and The Apprentice, in which ethnic minorities were defined by their talents rather than their skin colour.
We get back to the same argument again it seems. The Apprentice had 16 contestants. Four of the contestants were non white, which is 25%, meaning that white’s were under represented, just 75% instead of 90%. Strictly Come Dancing had 14 contestants, 2 were black – 14%, whites made up 86% of the contestants so again under represented. Asians and Chinese etc were not represented at all, but this appears to be OK, and this is what concerns me.
The programme’s that are given the Trevor Philips Gold Star all have one thing in common, over representations of blacks, the less whites the better and who cares about the Asians and the Chinese? Basically what he is suggesting is tantamount to saying that there are too many white people on television. He also apparently singled out Desmond’s as a good example, a completely black television programme which just adds to the duplicity of his statements. Even though blacks are the minority, all black television programme’s are deemed to be not only acceptable but preferred, but all white ones are are viewed as racist. He does, probably inadvertently raise an interesting point with Desmond’s that I will return to later.
Another black Caribbean man said: “They don’t portray black people doing different roles and in every aspect of every field, like doctors, lawyers and architects.”
I am sure that the ‘researchers’ must be feeding these people their lines. One only has to take Holby for example, from memory there are at least 3 black doctors on that programme.
The fact is I feel the opposite, I feel that there are too many black, particularly black, faces on television today and unless everyone lives in London, it isn’t normal. This over representation should be picked up the Racial Equality Commission and toned down, instead they seem to jumping upon the band wagon and encouraging such behaviour.
Others agree.
Samir Shah, a member of the BBC’s board of directors, said this had led to a “world of deracinated coloured people flickering across our screens – to the irritation of many viewers and the embarrassment of the very people such actions are meant to appease”.
I am certainly embarrassed as this now means that white liberal buffoons with tick boxes are panicking and fulfilling their quotas in other ways, like making Queen Genevieve black. As if blacks now need the helping hand of taking white roles.
Is this the situation that Negroes have found themselves in? Gone are the days where we have to work hard, extra hard to achieve things others take for granted, now it seems black don’t need to try, to create or reach positions of authority, they can happily survive on handouts where white people decide to give them a certain role by ethnicitising it.
I remember a few years ago there was much talk about a black James Bond. This again infuriated me with lots of white people suggesting that it was ‘about time’ for a black bond. Many of my white friends asked my opinion, probably assuming that I would think it a good idea, and were quite taken aback when I said it would be a hideous insult.
James Bond is white, he was created by a white man, based on a white man and inspired by contemporary white men. He’s an old Etonian and they don’t come much whiter than that. Making Bond black would be an insult to both whites and blacks.
My view then was that we Negroes don’t need white cast offs (Bond had gone out of fashion) or sympathy. We have our own writers actors, producers, directors etc. Rather than a black Bond there should be a black character written by a black man, based on a black man and inspired by black men.
The Jason Bourne franchise has proven that there is room is this area for a black character, although I am not in anyway suggesting that Bourne should have been, or should be in the future, black. He too was written by a white man.
Samir is right, the misdirection of having too many/not enough black faces on television is not the real point, the real concern is where are all the black writers, authors and producers? Desmond’s that I mentioned earlier was an all black programme, written by and starring talented Negroes. I can’t think of a television programme like that now. Admittedly many have black faces, but not black talent.
Furthermore ’stealing’ white characters, be they fictional or not is only going to anger white people, who seem to be the only race in Britain that can appear racist, are constantly told how racist they are and told time and again by this self elected leaders of race, that they are, by their very nature, racist.
For those who seem to think that white people will just put up with it, and are placid and content, just take a look at this site which I stumbled upon whilst searching for the Daily Telegraph story. Making comments such as:
Another white invention , TV , used against us.
There was a time when negroes were content with watching smoke signals .
I have some sympathy with them, after all I grew up disillusioned, part of a race that I felt at times wasn’t accepted or represented. Bizarrely it is now an increasing number of white youths that feel this way.
I think that his comments also raise some interesting points, firstly the state of the English education system is appalling, American Indians used smoke signals, Negroes used drums, secondly Tarzan is no longer shown in the school holidays (any viewer of Tarzan would know about the drums) and thirdly they truly feel set apart and discriminated against, whether they are or not is irrelevant, if that is how they feel that is how they feel. Finally the first three words also saddened me, ‘Another white invention.’
It makes me sad as he has a point, where are all our authors, inventors, the creators and pioneers? We now have a situation of equality that as a boy I could never have envisaged, yet Negroes seem further removed from that kind of equality than ever before. Today it seems as though we have to steal white inventions, we have none of our own. We do not lead the team, which we once aspired to do, instead we get given a place at the expense of some poor white kid, because of our colour, how ironic is that?
January 3, 2009 at 5:17 am
[...] I have covered this topic before and discussed my reasoning at length, but there is more to this instance of political correctness for me than simply random programme’s using black faces. There seems to be a continuing ethnicitising of Doctor Who and I cannot understand why. [...]
February 23, 2009 at 12:47 pm
You raise some damned fine points. I’ve always wondered how “black leaders” & whatnot could so shamelessly demand handouts and appeasement whilst refusing to get with the times and join society. In America, any black with a pulse and an interest can get a full scholarship, whilst whites have to fight hard to get scholarships. We have all kinds of silly programs like affirmative-action and racial quotas which serve as a sort of modern segregation, teaching the black community that instead of working hard to succeed, they can just skate by on the strength of whatever the white man throws their way. If they don’t succeed, it’s the white man’s fault, and they needn’t apply themselves at all as they will inevitably be the victim of discriminatory whites.
Any kind of white pride is now frowned upon in the west, and it seems people of my generation are held accountable for things we did not do. We are barred from being proud of our heritage, and our heritage and achievements are endlessly ridiculed. We are told we aren’t good enough for the skills positions in football (American) and other sports, and we are constantly taught that we are somehow funky or otherwise not good enough. A successful black man is hailed as a sign of progress and a point of pride, but if we are ourselves proud of “white” achievements it is heresy.
We’re seeing an interesting point of role reversal right now. Whites of my age are marginalized in a most unnatural way and we are forced to endure cultural humiliations. The playing field is now immeasurably unfair. The irony is that this teaches blacks and other minorities not to fight for a better life, and it forces young white people to work even harder to succeed. This will just strengthen the success gap, the Bell Curve, and all that jazz. In the end we’ll both be losers.
February 25, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Some interesting points and observations Mr. Wigley. I agree with you completely regarding positive discrimination. In Britain a law is to be passed to make it perfectly legal to pass over a white man in favour of a woman, or a black man with the same qualifications – apparently to even the balance. An awful idea and something that will only reinforce the perceived persecution of whites, and do little to encourage blacks to work hard.
This is what becomes of spoiling people. If you give someone everything that they want, they do not value it and worse when something is subsequently denied, they are outraged and feel hard done by and therefore look for a reason behind it. We cannot claim to live in a Meritocracy, whilst giving certain sections of society a leg up.
I worked very hard throughout my life and I can look back today and be proud of my achievements. I can also look anyone in the eye, white or black, and know I have earned everything that I have got. I find it most troubling that future generations will not be able to do the same. They’ll never know what they received through ability alone, or through the colour of their skin. This must surely eat away at them and breed resentment. Competition and obstacles force us to better ourselves, removing them, well that just leads to complacency and otiosity.
We are seeing this among the black community at present. In my school days blacks were on a par with whites in terms of exam results, today only a third of black males leave British schools with decent grades. They no longer regard academic study as relevant, or cool and this attitude only leads to disappointment, resentment and finally incarceration.
I agree, and it saddens me to know that young white people feel this way. We fought for equal rights and equal recognition, not cultural superiority. It was never the intention of blacks to fight for recognition and equality at the expense of whites. If it is OK for Negroes to be proud of their race, then it stands to reason that white people can be proud of their race too.
I have always found it quite ironic that some black leaders appear to ridicule the white race and play down their achievements. It may not be perfect, but compared to life just a few decades ago we truly are much better off than we thought possible back then, or at least I did.
Of course white history has had its black moments (if you’ll forgive the pun), but none that anywhere near cancel out the great achievements.
The further irony of belittling white people is that such action only deepens resentment and sends white pride underground, to fester and spread. We of all people should know what happens then.