Current Events > I'm not trying to be dumb, but what was racist about Uncle Ben's?

(+) Yeah! (+)

He looks like a pretty cool guy. He's dressed in a snazzy suit. Makes me think of Louis Armstrong.

Minstrel-y

Cocytus posted...

Minstrel-y

He looks like a medieval musician?

RetuenOfDevsman posted...

He looks like a medieval musician?

If you're trying to make a joke you're fucking it up very, very thoroughly.

Or you're breathtakingly ignorant about historical racism.

Because having great responsibility when you have great power is considered racist

"I'm not trying to be dumb"...

It just happens naturally for some people.

DrizztLink posted...

If you're trying to make a joke you're fucking it up very, very thoroughly.

Or you're breathtakingly ignorant about historical racism.

It's definitely the latter. Sorry.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Huh. I've never heard that but it makes sense. But did they have to drop the picture too?

Nothing.

Sometimes people over-correct. It happens.

ItsNotA2Mer posted...

"I'm not trying to be dumb"...

It just happens naturally for some people.

Finally, somebody who gets me.

I miss the Cream of Wheat guy the most

RetuenOfDevsman posted...

It's definitely the latter. Sorry.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minstrel_show

If you've legitimately never heard of this, then I apologize for coming in hot.

I honestly don't know much about the Uncle Ben thing, to be clear, I'm exclusively addressing the mention of minstrel shows without claiming it was one.

DrizztLink posted...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minstrel_show

If you've legitimately never heard of this, then I apologize for coming in hot.

I've seen those kinds of drawing before, but no, I didn't know this was a thing.

"Uncle" having allusions to Uncle Tom, which is generally derogatory. That's why they retconned it as Ben's Original.

His visual depiction has always been relatively positive though, even in the 1940s. As opposed to Aunt Jemima, which was both based directly on a minstrel song and was a caricature.

So it was two things. First the name "Uncle Ben." Even in the early 1900's black people weren't treated with the same respect as white people. Black men were only ever referred to by their first name or as "boy" "Uncle" or "old man." They were never addressed respectfully as "Mister" because they were seen as beneath white people and not deserving of that respect.

So the uncle in Uncle Ben's is a holdover from that time period. Even if that's not something everyone in the present day was aware of, it still had to go.

Then there's the picture itself. It's not that it's "minstrel-y" it's that he's wearing a suit with a bow tie. Similar to what black servants wore in the past. It perpetuated the image that black people were subservient. And at the time the picture was taken, a majority of black people were domestic servants.

So it's things that don't seem like a big deal if you don't know the history behind it, but I'm glad they changed it.

Hayame_Zero posted...

"Uncle" having allusions to Uncle Tom, which is generally derogatory. That's why they retconned it as Ben's Original.

His visual depiction has always been relatively positive though, even in the 1940s. As opposed to Aunt Jemima, which was both based directly on a minstrel song and was a caricature.

Even with aunt Jemima they coulda just modernized her image. I think it's kinda racist to outright remove them rather than just change them to be not racist.

I mean Colonel sanders is still around he looks like a depiction of a white slave owner. But nobody gets upset over that.

NoxObscuras posted...

So it was two things. First the name "Uncle Ben." Even in the early 1900's black people weren't treated with the same respect as white people. Black men were only ever referred to by their first name or as "boy" "Uncle" or "old man." They were never addressed respectfully as "Mister" because they were seen as beneath white people and not deserving of that respect.

So the uncle in Uncle Ben's is a holdover from that time period. Even if that's not something everyone in the present day was aware of, it still had to go.

Then there's the picture itself. It's not that it's "minstrel-y" it's that he's wearing a suit with a bow tie. Similar to what black servants wore in the past. It perpetuated the image that black people were subservient. And at the time the picture was taken, a majority of black people were domestic servants.

So it's things that don't seem like a big deal if you don't know the history behind it, but I'm glad they changed it.

Good explanation. Thanks.

RetuenOfDevsman posted...

Finally, somebody who gets me.

Looks like you were being genuine with your question, I figured it was bait. I see I was wrong, glad you were being legit.

Sufferedphoenix posted...

Even with aunt Jemima they coulda just modernized her image. I think it's kinda racist to outright remove them rather than just change them to be not racist.

Aunt Jemima was directly based on a racist minstrel song. It wasn't salvageable.

B18Champ posted...

I miss the Cream of Wheat guy the most

TIL he's gone, damn.

Serious_Cat posted...

Aunt Jemima was directly based on a racist minstrel song. It wasn't salvageable.

Not even by just turning her into a modern black woman with no negative conotations attached? Maybe even alter the brand name if that was problematic?

I just feel like it's erasing black mascots instead of just fixing them to be not racist.

NoxObscuras posted...

So it was two things. First the name "Uncle Ben." Even in the early 1900's black people weren't treated with the same respect as white people. Black men were only ever referred to by their first name or as "boy" "Uncle" or "old man." They were never addressed respectfully as "Mister" because they were seen as beneath white people and not deserving of that respect.

So the uncle in Uncle Ben's is a holdover from that time period. Even if that's not something everyone in the present day was aware of, it still had to go.

Then there's the picture itself. It's not that it's "minstrel-y" it's that he's wearing a suit with a bow tie. Similar to what black servants wore in the past. It perpetuated the image that black people were subservient. And at the time the picture was taken, a majority of black people were domestic servants.

So it's things that don't seem like a big deal if you don't know the history behind it, but I'm glad they changed it.

Thank you. I hate that people are more interested in scoring points than actually answering the question with relevant info.

Nothing wrong with it except historical context, same as aunt Jemima. Apparently it genuinely bothered a lot of black older folk, though my abuela was upset with the loss of Jemima.

Sufferedphoenix posted...

I mean Colonel sanders is still around he looks like a depiction of a white slave owner. But nobody gets upset over that.

Sure, but few people are gonna complain about looking like the CEO in a their portrait; but make them look like janitor? Also the Colonel does get some flack about it. It's that there's no one really defending it or pushing back, so no real argument.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2xrUEwXCrs