Meanwhile, over at Racialicious…
Racialicious, formerly Mixed Media Watch, cross-posted the first 7-Eleven/Simpsons post. A few smart and painfully earnest commenters there call it cultural appropriation to draw an analogy to racial caricatures like Aunt Jemima:
Too often non-Black racial minorities will describe a pop culture racial offense to their group by likening the offense to a random element of anti-Black prejudice, and that needs to stop posthaste… That refrain only says that American society should treat those groups as fairly… as those most Americans supposedly consider the most reviled and problematic - African Americans…
African American history is not a random grab-bag for all other racial minorities to pull justifications from whenever they consider themselves oppressed by mainstream American pop culture. [Link]
I disagree:
The one-liner does not appropriate black history or relegate black Americans to the lowest rung of society, it draws a parallel with a 2×4 for the clueless mainstream. It’s the centrality of the black experience in America that makes it an effective analogy, not an argument-by-degradation. The parallel also works with caricatures of (for example) Jewish, Chinese and Irish-Americans.
Argument by analogy with something already familiar is one of the best way to persuade someone. You have to link it into something they already understand…
People must reference previous struggles, otherwise else every new minority has to re-fight the same battle. [Link]
on Thursday, July 5th, 2007, 6:50 pm in Issues, Simpsons, TV › 
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I couldn’t agree more with your comment.
Comparisons/analogies are a sign of respect for the strength and presence of black resistance to racism in America. Black Americans raised awareness, highlighted racism that was otherwise ignored. Desi and other communities respect the labour that went into that struggle, and wish to highlight how that struggle speaks to our own desire for respect.
To me, the discourse that’s going on is not one of; ‘lowly group x doesn’t put up with that, why should we?’
Its actually; ‘group x is so strong and present in their objection to racism, we hope that our worthiness for respect will eventually get into the brains of all Americans in the same way.’
What a load of crap!! That’s b.s. those comments are not only insulting but very,very,VERY selfish so hmmm let me see I have to fight my own battles as well as yours?!! I don’t think so especially considering that a LOT of other racail groups think they are better so frankly I don’t give a RAT’S ASS about what any of you are going through and Ill thank you to leave me OUT of your arguments cause I don’t care and I don’t want to hear about it and if anyone has a problem with the ‘tomahawk chop’ then that is YOUR damn problem!!
Ok, Lavern. I’ll razor out those pages in the history books just for you. By the way, Gandhi called MLK. He wants his rhetoric back.
Oh no, he didn’t!
Yes, at the risk of sounding flippant, I will be the first to admit that there is no shame in respectfully borrowing from those that have created and nurtured the discourse. We all stand on the shoulder of giants — whether we use others’ words to flesh out our own similar experiences, or derive insight from their struggles. Most identity politics movements look to each other for solidarity, and the most successful of those reject isolationism. One of the premises that modern identity politics is based on is that we can all connect at the level of humanity, and that our individual differences cannot be accounted for by a racial essence, but by specific personal experiences and circumstances.