Okay, I get it... it's February, a.k.a. "White people will pretend they give a shit about black people" month. I personally love Larry Wilmore's take on it on The Daily Show:
"The purpose...of making up for centuries of oppression with 28 days of trivia. You know what, I rather we get casinos."
"White people have to pretend to care about black people; black people have to pretend to care about history... it's a lose-lose."
But, on the plus side, Black History Month gives ABC an excuse to air Breakin' 2: Electric Bugaloo on Sunday night after midnight. Plus someone will air Malcolm X, one of the best movies not to get nominated for a Best Movie Oscar ever*.
But my biggest pet peeve right now with Black History Month, other than we still don't have a Stevie Wonder Appreciation Day, a Prince Appreciation Day (celebrate 21 positions in a one-night stand), or even a James Brown Day (seriously, the only way I can get up in the morning is to sing Sex Machine to myself... "come on SML, get up. Get on up. GET UP. GET ON UP."), is this Coke-Cola commercial.
Coke-Cola really gets to heart of what black people have accomplished, don't they? Check out the freaking list: Matthew Henson at the North Pole (check). Tuskegee airmen (check). Jackie Robinson (check). Rosa Parks (check). Martin Luther King, Jr (check). Seriously, you know black people accomplished stuff before 1900, right? Did you know a black man designed Washington DC? Okay, I get that you want to tie-in black people to the history of your product... fine. But you know black people have done stuff since MLK, right? How about "black people invent Rock N Roll, wait for it to be appropriated by white people"? How about "black people (with help from Latinos, damnit!) invent rap and hip-hop culture, wait for it to be appropriated by white suburban kids"? In short, thanks to Coke-Cola for a lazy commercial that seems to have put all of 5% effort into....
*Although, to be fair, the year it came out it was up against stiff competition - Unforgiven won, and other nominees were Howard's End, Scent Of A Woman, A Few Good Men, and The Crying Game. That's a good year for movies.
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