What older people really mean when they describe a black guy as “clean cut”

What older people really mean when they describe a black guy as “clean cut”
Graph by kenny_schmitt, via our GraphJam builder.
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What older people really mean when they describe a black guy as “clean cut”
Graph by kenny_schmitt, via our GraphJam builder.
If the shoe fits…
… eat it?
…or something like that.
you did not say first
2nd
So what do old people mean when they call a white guy clean cut? That he’s not a drug addict? I hate racial crap being assigned to entire people groups. By the way, are all the people in the old people group white. By implication, does this mean that if a old black person calls a young black man clean cut that they think he’s just a bit too white.
I think the author of this chart is a bigot.
Congrats, you win the Duh Award!
Congrats on being an idiot.
you going to give ewwee your trophy? because he’s right.
When people complain about annoying old people, they usually mean conservative white, homophobic white people.
And usually when a white guy is called clean cut, it means he’s not a hippy (Or some derivative thereof.)
yes because we all know that there are just scores of these people running around discriminating against blacks and gays. You need to get out more.
I suggest watching less of Hollywood.
if you think it isn´t happening, you need to get out more.
…thank you for thinking it is happening right now…annnnd now…and there it happened again couldn’t you tell?…
You must not live in the south. I thought like you did…. and then I actually moved to the south and realized otherwise.
What this person means is that they met one biggot in the south, so they’re all like that.
Pot, meet kettle.
I agree, I have been down south often. And the people are individuals, just like everywhere else. I have seen great acts of kindness shown by a white family toward a black family who had just suffered a tragic death. Though they did not all belong to the same church, they were given food and assistance and the comfort of friendship through the loss of their little daughter. I have also seen KKK meetings in broad daylight. Guess what? KKK meetings also happen here in PA where we are about an hour and a half from NYC. You know the tri-state area, which has a tendency to vote Democrat almost all of the time. What an anomaly? This is why painting people with broad brush strokes is so unintelligent.
Just as long as you remember that when it comes to racism (and especially anti semitism). Europe is actually worse than America. Trust me, I have extensive experience with both continents.
People who associate “annoying” with “conservative” and use words like “homophobic” to describe beliefs the disagree with clearly harbor prejudices themselves.
Yeah this is a CLASSIC example of “hidden bigotry”. I bet the guy who made the chart doesn’t think of himself as a bigot at all, in fact he probably thinks he’s on the side of the “anti-racists”.
In fact, he’s revealed that he HIMSELF thinks that BLACKS SHOULDN’T ACT “WHITE” – I.e. the graph autor thinks that blacks SHOULD act in the manner “old people don’t percieve as clean cut”.. Whatever that means, it’s a bigotry inside a racism, wrapped in an enigma.
Or he is an African American that was continually insulted when Obama started running for president and every talking head on the news channels of the old white variety went out of there way to describe him as “educated” and “clean cut”.
Thanks, Derrida.
Or he’s calling it as he sees it. But w’evs.
the author of this chart isn’t a bigot, they’re merely saying what OLDER people mean. yeah it’s rasist, but it’s the OLDER PEOPLE, not the author.
racism win
lol
it’s still funny, douchebag.
wait, i think i misunderstood. nvm.
Oh no you di’in’t!
by black he obviously means ghetto in the hood g ganbangin da streets tapin hoes yo, not “actin like hes african american”… its not rly racist if u take it by what he means, not his bad wording.
“Acting black” as in Lil Wayne, not Denzel Washington.
does it have anything to do with the elevation of their pants in relation to their waist? the guy that made the chart may be racist, or maybe he is pointing out a racist tendency of others. but if you look in the suburbs of america, “acting black” is for everyone now. this doesn’t seem all that bad, whats bad is when being educated and intelligent is considered to be “acting white” in the black community, and is looked at as being bad. what do racist white men fear most? an educated black man.
no actually, more of an aggreivated black/yellow/red/white/ person with a gun/knife/bat and me with a wall to my back. Nothing to fear from people with some education behind them…well maybe loosing a discussion…but thats allowed.
the point is one guy, or a group of guys that are armed and ignorant can only have a small effect on the immediate world around them. lets talk Dr. King, lets talk Malcolm X, lets talk Barack Obama and there are many many more. these educated, intelligent articulated men changed a whole nation, maybe even the world. So yeah, maybe you are only concerned with yourself your immediate surroundings and your immediate future, maybe thats all your mind can grasp, but these men know there is more to life than that, and so do i, thats why i support equal education to ALL. i think private schools rob our species of potential by diverting resources for education from sniveling over privledged children who are going to grow up thinking that the idea of getting something for nothing is acceptable, such as day trading and short selling. these things drain money from the economy like tick and leeches. our species needs to move away from the idea of selfish individualism that not only allows greed, but rewards it. this ideal gives a huge advantage to the unscrupulous man void or any morality whatsoever, and has actually been confused with the American way. if thats really the case, we are doomed to fail by our own ideals. individuality and creativity are the pinnacle or human evolution, how greed and materialistic values worked their way in there, still working on that one.
I taught high school in the public school system, but I had my daughter in a Catholic high school (she actually was the one who wanted to go there). I cannot say enough good about Catholic high school. We just loved it, even though we aren’t Catholic. Teachers in public school, (even or especially those in affluent areas) often have their hands tied because the parents don’t like the failing grade their child actually earned. Or, can’t believe that their children are the little beasts they are. You know, parents who actually get a monthly bill for their child’s education are so much more invested in insuring that their children succeed than those that don’t. On “Meet the Teacher Night,” my classroom was almost always empty for the entire three hours. Don’t get me wrong, most PS teachers work very hard and are heartbroken when their students don’t grasp all that their education affords them. I really think a good education is determined by the individual’s parents.
That’s the thing though. Of course you are going to speak favorably toward a private school because you sent your daughter there and were content. I am sure lots of parents would love to send their kids to a private school, with improved facilities and highly qualified teachers, but they can’t because they cannot afford it. If you want to make public schools more reputable, you need to drop that snooty attitude of yours, and actually do your job and teach.
You know, parents who actually get a monthly bill for their child’s education are so much more invested in insuring that their children succeed than those that don’t.
Even though that may be true, this just shows how ignorant you are…not everyone can pay that bill that insures that sought after quality education, if if they desperately want to afford it. If success is determined by the affluence of their parents, then that says something about the lack of equality in education in our country. I find it appalling that you sent your daughter to a private school when you teach a public school; it shows that you don’t even trust the system you work in. If I were in your position, I would have sent my kid to public school even if I had the option to send them to a private school, so I wouldn’t look like a hypocrite.
I suggest to you to read the book “Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools” written by Jonathan Kozol. It is in this that I learned a very unfortunate, but true adage in America: “It is not survival of the fittest, it is survival of the children of the fittest.” The more affluent the parents are, the more of a chance their children can succeed in the world as they are riding on the coattails of their parents’ wealth…not just their personal achievements. If you ever seen an inner-city elementary or high school, it is depressing as hell…the teachers don’t want to teach, the school building is dilapidated, the equipment is dangerous or outdated; and you wonder why kids that grow up there become jaded and drop out at school; they feel like they were given up on from the start.
Let me give you the rest of the facts. I think these would have helped to determine the content of your last post.
First of all, I told me daughter she was going to go to the local public high school, which had a sub-par reputation, with a very low percentage of students going on to high school. She was the one who contacted the local Catholic High School. We indulged her by going to one meeting with the enrollment councilor simply because we knew we couldn’t afford to send her there. As it turned out we could only afford half of the annual 5000.00 dollar tuition, and that would have been a serious stretch for us. We thought that our daughter should have a real world experience in which the facts of our financial lives would hit the fan and she could accept going to the local high school without complaint. If we had simply said no, then we would have had a sullen and oppositional kid on our hands. We really thought it was a done deal.
The Catholic school registered us for a scholarship offered by an agency in Ohio, which after several months gave us 1500.00 dollars to add to our 2500.00 dollars. We were still 1000.00 short. When I told the school’s principal that we did not have the remaining 1000.00 and that we would enroll our daughter at the public high school he simply waived the other 1000.00. The school had an excellent reputation and we had no excuses to offer our daughter. During that time we were living in an FMHA subsidized home that had under 1000 square feet of living space. Since we had to report our income to them they knew exactly what we were making.
Because my parents didn’t value education and because my father was a raging alcoholic who beat me until I was black and blue every week, I really didn’t do well in school. I believed him when he told me I wasn’t worth anything. So I left home and dropped out of school when I was fifteen. Later on I got my GED and even later when I was 42-years-old I went to College to become a teacher. I was really surprised that I kept getting A’s; before I knew it, I was hooked. I managed to graduate at the top of my class with honors. I never had anything less than a 4.0. I was hired straight out of college at 44 by the best school district at one of the top rates of pay anywhere in the country for a starting teacher. The district is one of the most affluent areas in the country since we are only an hour and a half out of NYC and Philly. Nonetheless, my students were the lowest performing students in the district with a below level reading proficiency. They hated reading, they hated school, and their parents almost never came to “Meet the Teacher Night.” I loved teaching and every hard won victory meant something to me. My own success meant something to me since I was the first person in my family to graduate from college. I worked toward completing my Masters Degree in Reading with all of my professors at the local state college where I attended encouraging me to go on for my doctorate. I would have too, except what I didn’t know was that my boss in Curriculum and Instruction wanted to give my job to her close friend who was set to graduate with her Masters in Reading the same year as I was. I was told I could quit or be fired the day before I was to be tenured but not with out the threat of being reported to the state as incompetent being held above me head. I sobbed hysterically through that whole meeting. You can’t know how hard I worked to be the best teacher. I didn’t stop crying for almost a year an a half. Interestingly enough, I learned six months ago that the entire school district had held a vote of confidence on my old boss in C&I and that to the person, they all voted that she was incompetent and that they had no confidence in her. Well, its cold comfort to me now. I can’t sue the district I live in for damages, can I?
I still see quite a few of my students since I live only four blocks from the High School. Several of my “loser kids” are going to become teachers. Not English teachers mind you. One of them is an EMT, the other one is taking a business
degree. Its very gratifying, but, I haven’t held a job since. I do freelance design work and barely make my monthly mortgage. So much for being privileged. Its hard to get a job when you’re fifty.
Back to my beautiful daughter. The Catholic HS didn’t have a licensed guidance councilor so the state provided two. Because the school was religious, the guidance councilors could not have an office inside the school, so they were put into a trailer in the parking lot. My beautiful daughter wanted to go to PA Governor’s School for Global Entrepreneurship at Lehigh University (something else we could not afford). The man who was my daughter’s state supplied guidance councilor told her that she shouldn’t bother to apply to the program because she would never be accepted. Thank goodness my daughter didn’t listen to him. She was accepted. She eventually graduated #8 in her HS graduating class. This year she will graduate from college in NYC with a degree in finance. She speaks fluent Arabic and fluent French. She has a minor in Middle Eastern Studies and currently holds a 3.85 average and works for her own food, rent, and clothes. She also has over 100,000 dollars in student loan debt. We cannot afford to help her financially.
Everything you mentioned in your post, I have read in my Sociology textbooks and in my Education textbooks. Thank goodness I have learned that while these studies report some facts they neither define truth or reality. Because if they did, I would be living in a trailer court with an eighth grade education and a serious drug habit. Nothing is out of reach if you want it bad enough. I told my students that, and now that I am getting a sense of my self-worth back again, I can believe it for myself too. My apologies for any grammar, punctuation, spelling, or usage mistakes, its late and I don’t care as much as I should right now. I hope this helps clear up any notion you might have of my supposed lack of sympathy for those who can’t afford a private school education. Or my devotion to my students. For some I was the only one who gave a damn.
Oops! Correct the second sentence to read: … with a very low percentage of student going on to college. Not high school.
One more thing. Forty percent of the families at this particular Catholic HS were receiving some sort of assistance either from the diocese, an outside organization or from the HS itself. Only 60 percent actually paid full tuition.
32.5 percent of teachers in NYC send their students to private school.
45 percent of all Senators send their students to private school.
Obama sends his daughters to private school.
15 percent of teachers in Ohio send their children to Private School, which is still significantly higher than the general public. Google it.
Thank you for enlightening me on your situation. And for that I do apologize for attacking you in my post, because naturally not knowing your personal situation, I could only reply to what you only said in your post. I am glad that you were one of the teachers that actually cared about the education of your students.
However, just because I changed my opinion about you, I will still strongly hold my opinion. I personally had a similar situation concerning the quality the migh schools in my area. Although I enjoyed some of my high school years (you should know how cruel kids can still be there), it was very…how should I say, “unbalanced”. The school population was predominantly black and hispanic, the quality of the building was low, the textbooks and library books were outdated, and some teachers gave a feeling that they really didn’t care. Meanwhile, schools in the neighboring town, just a few miles from my home, was practically the opposite; student body was 99% white, school facilities were well maintained and everything was top of the line. For a long time, I didn’t understand why this was, until I looked at the people who lived nearby the schools. Near my school, the residents had a slightly less than average income, or they were from the Orthodox Hisidic Jewish community. These groups affected the budget of my school in their own ways: the former beinig that the amount of money from taxes paid for the school would naturally be lower, thus a lower budget, and the latter, who didn’t send their kids to our public school, would come in busloads to vote against budget elections for our school. In contrast, the other schools’ residents had above-average incomes, as most of them possibly owned businesses, or were doctors, lawyer, etc. As you can see, their situation would allow their schools to have a larger budget.
In short, my strong opinions are fueled from my personal experience. I do again apologize for attacking you, but it still doesn’t change the fact that I am appalled that the difference in qualities of education from school to school in just NEIGHBORING TOWNS.
No problem. No offense taken. And, you are entitled to hold your opinion based on your experiences. It is very tempting pigeon-hole people in large groups because its easier to think that if we can identify the problem on a large scale we can solve it more easily or more quickly. Unfortunately it’s not so, The devil is in the details. Otherwise all these problems would have been solved a long time ago. There are so many variables. It’s like moving a beach one shovel-full at a time in a heavy windstorm. Can be done, just not in my lifetime.
Sorry that you went through such a tough time in school. I used to be called all kinds of unflattering things in school too. I didn’t have nice clothing that was in style. My girl was actually grateful for the uniform because it leveled the playing field. We always bought hers at the end of school uniform sale.
Alas, life doesn’t always work out the way you plan, no matter how hard you work. I feel sorry for my girl. Right now I think it would have been been better, and more prestigious, if she had gone to school to learn how to clean septic systems than to be a finanace major in NYC.
Oh, if you want an even more relevant work of Kozol’s, read “The Shame of the Nation” as well.
You mean like Tiger Woods, Denzel Washington, Obama, Alan Keyes, Michael Steele,
Colin Powell, Will Smith, Don Cheadle, Samuel L. Jackson, Mike Singletary, Tony Dungy, Michael Jordan, Tyler Perry, all of the Wayans Brothers….
I could keep going on. But you are right 95% of all the white men I know, regardless of age, are terrified of these intelligent and educated black men. Its especially conflicting for those white men that like sports. Even worse is how demoralizing it must be since almost all of their wives can’t wait until Will Smith takes off his shirt in his movies.
You exaggerate A Lot, u point out irrelevant things, and ur arguments are pretty crappy. Your probably the most racist person to post on this pic in all honesty, Get a life.
a white person fears nothing more than a educated black man? i mean seriously, are u from the 60s or what. I’d probably fear an intelligent Asian or Russian more Probably, and it wouldnt be any more demoralizing than any white asian or mexican guy Really, Unless your racist. Get over urself -.- i hate racist anti racism arguments, their pure fail
1. I was being Sarcastic. I think you missed that.
2. What makes you think I am white.
3. Go back to school, pay attention, and learn to spell.
never said u were white, learn to read, its obvious ur an angry racist black person who uses retarded arguements that could apply to ANYTHING and make NO SENSE at all and i bet i have more of an education than you, abriviations dont mean someone doesnt know how to spell mkayy. first time on internetz?
4. I am not black.
5. I am a former reading teacher.
6. I currently design websites for a living.
Just keep hanging yourself.
I am not sure how it’s obvious that I am an angry racist black person.
idisagree,
I think you should read my other posts before you comment again. It will help clear things up for you.
i don’t get it
still don’t get it
No, it’s not “clean cut,” it’s “well spoken.”
It’s not racist, it’s a comment on racism. By “black” the poster means the stereotype for a young black male. If the post wrote instead “ghetto” or “uneducated, disrespectful, and impoverished”, it wouldn’t be as much of a comment on racism.
It’s about the fact that a “clean cut” (or whatever you want to call it) black guy is not “black” anymore (and by a racial dichotomy, that makes him more “white”).
well said.
So it’s not racist because when the poster wrote “black” he meant “uneducated, disrespectful, and impoverished.” Gotcha.
Chalk it up under the column of comments that are Completely Missing The Point.
are you a torpedo??
cuz your missing the boat.
Win!
What about my “missing the boat?”
It’s not racist because he’s referring to these peoples’ perception of what “acting black” is, not his own. That’s what the quotes are there for.
When “black” is in quotation marks like that, that is usually they implication. It is a horrible stereotype. Then again, what stereotype is ever favorable? You can’t say you never thought that “black” referred to one type of behavior while “white” referred to another. It has been propagated as such since the creation of America, and still is a concept that circulates to this day.
All this talk about whether it is racist or not really makes Americans look pretty good. This country I’m in right now doesn’t seem to give a hoot about how racist it is.
Sad but true.
I humbly propose an amendment. Instead of “older people” should the title use “closet racists”? There are probably just as many younger small-minded people as there are older small-minded people. And face it, if not for his forward thinking white peers, the revolution that MLK led would be looked back on as a “minority uprising” that was put down by “right thinking” whites.
I saw a bumper sticker today (way too long to be a bumper sticker, but…) that says “Rosa sat down so Martin could march so that Obama could run so that ALL CHILDREN can fly.” God bless everyone, especially the prejudiced, because their time is past.
PS – I think this GraphJam is funny as s**t.
Never forget, God loves stupid people too…
I think everyone just needs to take it as it is…. a freakin joke. All the black people have been guilty of making fun of white people and all the white people are guilty of making fun of black people. We have a black president now. if that doesn’t put it in afro-americans minds that they can’t play the racism card anymore, i don’t know what will
good point. i hope people will take it to heart.
but most people i speak to seem to miss the point about racism. according to them racism is white against any minority group, but it’s ok if it’s directed the other way around.
You should really read a book called “White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of The Civil Rights Era” by Shelby Steele.
No no no, the word is “articulate”.
In my experience, that chart is way off. The whole pie should be red.
“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American presidential candidate who is articulate and bright and clean-cut and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man” -Joseph Biden on Barack Obama
unbelievable.
Sucks to be Jesse Jackson or Carol Mosely-Braun.
Thanks for posting that. If you hadn’t, I was definitely going to.
Can I point out two things?
The “black” is in QUOTATIONS.
That changes a lot.
Second thing,
“what OLDER people really mean when they describe a black guy as ‘clean cut’.”
That also changes a lot.
Baduh bing baduh bowww.
Define acting “black” to me, again?
RACIST FAILURE!
This really needed to be posted. Thanks for all the great information. We all needed this to be said. This really helps everyone out. EVERYONE.
What on earth is “tco” black. Is that some sort of racist acronym?
What I mean when I say a white guy is clean cut:
Short, conservative haircut, no facial hair, no piercing or body art, possibly wearing khakis and a button-down shirt.
What I mean when I say a black guy is clean cut:
Short conservative haircut, no facial hair, no piercing or body art, possibly wearing khakis and a button-down shirt.
IMHO, a clean cut look has little to do with ethnicity, it’s just a style of dressing, like preppie, goth, hippie, biker, hip hop, jock, etc. Finding your “look” is a rite of passage and a personal statement.
The poster probably just needs to meet some “older” people besides his/her parent’s friends and home town folks. I used to think that all “older” people were hopelessly outdated in their thinking, too. I still think that the graph is funny, as long as you don’t over analyze it.
umm…. thanks for NOT over analyzing it! ;P lol
Khakis, button-down shirt and a short haircut with no piercings or tattoos? That either IS preppy or it’s Cubicle Drone Standard. Either way I’m not sure why it’s something to be celebrated. But then, I live in the Pacific Northwest, where we are famous for liking our casual dress code.
Guys who dress like you describe are almost always wireless phone or insurance salesmen here. And plenty of those are black or latino (although I wouldn’t want anyone to feel I was racist for expressing a distaste for salesmen; certainly there are lots of white ones, too).
I think that you missed my point. Or maybe you reinforced it by assigning a role (salesperson) to someone based on their clothes.
“I’m a nonconformist… just like everybody else.”
Didja ever notice how many “nonconformists” really can’t STAND people who disagree with them? And embrace really untraconformist ideologies? Apparently, it only goes so far…
Ultraconformist, not “untra.” hey, my spelling is nonconformist!
There should be a wedge for “circumcised”.
“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” Joe Biden (vice “president” about the current “president”)
articulate= He speaks actual English most of the time so, he’ll do. Now if anyone criticizes him, we can just call them racist.
Uh, speaks English “most of the time”? What other languages can he speak?
“Doesn’t act too Ghetto or Gangster or like the World owes him something” is what I would’ve gone with. This goes for all races, though.
The fact of the matter is most people above a certain age lived or grew up in a time where black people were not respected and were still horribly oppressed and mistreated. Does that mean ALL older people (white, black, whatever) are racist? No. But a good majority are, in some areas more than others, and being human we tend to lump everyone in with the whole. That’s how it worked in grade school; one person could screw up but the whole class got punished. If that’s how it worked then that’s how it works now. People are people and can’t change overnight, but by the same token they can eventually adapt it’s just whether or not they choose to do so.
This graph wins because it’s true.
Period.
I win.
Remember, kids: racism bad, ageism good.
this graph is funny, specifically because every old person i know personally means exactly that. call the artist racist if you want but hes simply pointing out a situation alot of people live in. i was told by my grarndfather that i wasnt aloud to bring minoritys on his property because they were all gypsy’s and would steal his stuff.
so i found this very funny
Racist Whites!!