Introducing our debates
A disclaimer…
All the signed contributions to this site are personal. Some are controversial. The contributors don’t necessarily agree with what the others write.
An aspiration…
The founders of the site (G E-C and RDN) do hope you enjoy the images and ideas we present. We are not trying to make you feel guilty (if you are white) or resentful (if you are black). There is beauty, humour and joy in much of this stuff. Our online history museum is not sentimental about “the black”, though lots of the material we present is.
Our story…
“The blacks” either live in or left Africa. The beautiful, exciting “dark continent” has a tough history, and one which has been complicated (to say the least) by much of its contact with the white world, including slavery and colonialism. So the black story is one of “diaspora” or Exodus, and of exploitation and colonialisation. That hasn’t all been bad, but it’s easy to think of “the black” as a victim.
However, it is a huge mistake to see either Africa or its peoples - in or out of the continent - as just tragic.
This online museum doesn’t deny any of the grimness of black history. But both the black and white people behind this site dislike quite big bits of the existing debate. In particular, we don’t think victimhood is very useful to today’s blacks.
The site is, in particular, a celebration of one black man’s collection. George Eleady-Cole has amassed an extraordinary amount and range of black memorabilia. We use the material the way he does: as a window into how the black has been seen.
There’s not a lot of stuff around about how the blacks see themselves. So the museum is mostly – not entirely – about how the white has seen the black. Also, how the image of the black person has been used in advertising.
You might think lots of the material is racist. It probably is. But don’t imagine that there are many “hate” images. There aren’t. In fact, much of the material is patronising rather than nasty. Some of it is comic, and often in a rather nervous or envious way. Much of the material may be unrealistically cheerful.
The white has seen the black in all sorts of ways, and mostly in confused ways. The black worked “like a nigger”, but was lazy. He was happy-go-lucky but sinister. The black was over-sexed but childlike. The black was smiley but violent. He had rhythm, but he had punch: he was a crooner and a killer. The black was a victim, but was criminal. The black woman got a better press: she was a superb nanny.
Those were historic stereotypes, but some of have their modern equivalents.
If there is a curse to being black, it is that one cannot escape being stereotyped. One is either the black that won’t give up “blackness” or the black who has tried to become white. There’s no avoiding it: whites don’t face that problem, at least outside Africa.
Welcome to our site and its exploration of this sort of issue.