Comments on: “On the Internet, society’s most intractable issues with race and class are increasingly prominent.” http://dcentric.wamu.org/2010/11/on-the-internet-societys-most-intractable-issues-with-race-and-class-are-increasingly-prominent/ Race, Class, The District. Mon, 16 Jul 2012 03:01:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Yofi http://dcentric.wamu.org/2010/11/on-the-internet-societys-most-intractable-issues-with-race-and-class-are-increasingly-prominent/#comment-124 Yofi Fri, 12 Nov 2010 07:17:00 +0000 http://dcentric.wamu.org/?p=1972#comment-124 I hear your comment Saheli, but here is what I see, and what I've noticed. Everyone is talking about what Antoine Dodson has done and money he has made for his family, but Antoine is not the subject here, his sister Kelly is the subject. The first question should be, how do we help a young women who has been raped and exploited? I think people have used Antoine Dodson's behavior to excuse the fact that rape is not a serious issue in the U.S., despite the horrendous fact that according to the Dept. of Justice, a female gets raped every 2 minutes in the U.S. THAT IS AN EPIDEMIC!!! Regardless of how popular this case has gotten, the investigation into who did this has stalled, if it ever took off in the first place. Even Antoine said that the police have gotten nowhere and are not returning the familys' calls. Meanwhile, Kelly Dodson is not only trying to regain a sense of comfort in her everyday life, but she has to do that for her 2 year old daughter who witnessed the entire incident! What does any of this have to do with Antoine Dodson??? Finally, what also needs to be asked is, what kind of sick people do the Gregory Brothers have to be, to see an interview of a woman getting raped and decide they want to make a comedic song about it? Evan Gregory has a wife...if she was raped, do you think it would be cool if someone called him and said, "Hey man, I saw your interview about the rape of your wife and I have a fat beat I would like to put behind that to make it an instant classic! What do you think?" That is SICK! And how his wife thought that was alright makes her sick and callous as well, along with all the other agents and lawyers who wanted to exploit Antoine. I am sorry for the rant, but I am an African male, and I think black people are dehumanized either by others or by ourselves to the point if no one says anything, there will be a generation of Black people soon who will believe we are subhuman. I'm won't stand for that. I hear your comment Saheli, but here is what I see, and what I’ve noticed. Everyone is talking about what Antoine Dodson has done and money he has made for his family, but Antoine is not the subject here, his sister Kelly is the subject. The first question should be, how do we help a young women who has been raped and exploited?

I think people have used Antoine Dodson’s behavior to excuse the fact that rape is not a serious issue in the U.S., despite the horrendous fact that according to the Dept. of Justice, a female gets raped every 2 minutes in the U.S. THAT IS AN EPIDEMIC!!! Regardless of how popular this case has gotten, the investigation into who did this has stalled, if it ever took off in the first place. Even Antoine said that the police have gotten nowhere and are not returning the familys’ calls. Meanwhile, Kelly Dodson is not only trying to regain a sense of comfort in her everyday life, but she has to do that for her 2 year old daughter who witnessed the entire incident! What does any of this have to do with Antoine Dodson???

Finally, what also needs to be asked is, what kind of sick people do the Gregory Brothers have to be, to see an interview of a woman getting raped and decide they want to make a comedic song about it? Evan Gregory has a wife…if she was raped, do you think it would be cool if someone called him and said, “Hey man, I saw your interview about the rape of your wife and I have a fat beat I would like to put behind that to make it an instant classic! What do you think?” That is SICK! And how his wife thought that was alright makes her sick and callous as well, along with all the other agents and lawyers who wanted to exploit Antoine.

I am sorry for the rant, but I am an African male, and I think black people are dehumanized either by others or by ourselves to the point if no one says anything, there will be a generation of Black people soon who will believe we are subhuman. I’m won’t stand for that.

]]> By: Saheli Datta http://dcentric.wamu.org/2010/11/on-the-internet-societys-most-intractable-issues-with-race-and-class-are-increasingly-prominent/#comment-123 Saheli Datta Thu, 11 Nov 2010 20:33:00 +0000 http://dcentric.wamu.org/?p=1972#comment-123 I was told about this meme by a white friend who stumbled upon it somewhat randomly. He was at first intensely uncomfortable at the idea that people were laughing at this man during a serious situation, basically because of his dialect and hair---i.e. because he's black. And of course all the people doing the making fun of him came off as hipster whites and (let's face it) Asians. He assumed that the reason that neither of us or anyone else he talked to had been sent the meme directly is b/c it's in pretty poor taste. But as he did some investigation (looking for exactly this kind of critical analysis) he read about how much Antoine has rode the wave: benefitting from a Gregory Brothers' autotune version selling on iTunes, appearing with one of the Gregory Brothers at the BET hip hop awards to 'reprise' the performance, and even creating a website to sell t-shirts and costumes from. We both agreed that while its unfortunate people wanted to laugh at him, it's pretty admirable and somewhat lucky that he had the determination and talent to take advantage of the situation, and that this might lead to more reasonable opportunities for him. He seems like one cool dude, who has a lot of pride in himself. Sometimes, the mockers face away and the essence shines through. I was told about this meme by a white friend who stumbled upon it somewhat randomly. He was at first intensely uncomfortable at the idea that people were laughing at this man during a serious situation, basically because of his dialect and hair—i.e. because he’s black. And of course all the people doing the making fun of him came off as hipster whites and (let’s face it) Asians. He assumed that the reason that neither of us or anyone else he talked to had been sent the meme directly is b/c it’s in pretty poor taste. But as he did some investigation (looking for exactly this kind of critical analysis) he read about how much Antoine has rode the wave: benefitting from a Gregory Brothers’ autotune version selling on iTunes, appearing with one of the Gregory Brothers at the BET hip hop awards to ‘reprise’ the performance, and even creating a website to sell t-shirts and costumes from. We both agreed that while its unfortunate people wanted to laugh at him, it’s pretty admirable and somewhat lucky that he had the determination and talent to take advantage of the situation, and that this might lead to more reasonable opportunities for him. He seems like one cool dude, who has a lot of pride in himself. Sometimes, the mockers face away and the essence shines through.

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