Doh, you’re right, they said there was dispute on if the French or Belgians started it. IIRC the French popularized it.
I’d be lion if I said I understood what you were talking about.
Thanks for the perspective!
This seems a fairly relevant breakdown of the phrase-
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Is this the first appearance lf the pronouciation “de-lays-ious”? My mother occasionally says that for effect, but I doubt she remembers where she heard it.
It’s funny, but I saw the Indian as the more sympathetic and positive character, offering food and then turning the other cheek when treated poorly, and the European as a stupid jerk.
Must be my ingrained liberal bias!
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Or you could just make a biopic based on Black Like Me.
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It’s been done:
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But did he actually think black people had it easier?
I was wondering how I’d managed to miss hearing about that, but it appears the film adaptation suffered from some plausibility issues including the lead actor’s obvious Northern accent and unconvincing makeup job. (No idea if the real John Howard Griffin was able to “pass” as well as he seemed to think he did in the book.)
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No, because he wasn’t a complete tool.
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How times have changed
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And how they haven’t, sadly.
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Years ago, (while at a different company), there was a big company meeting. That phrase was said by none other than HR. When someone tried to explain “you can’t say that, it’s racist”, her response was “Oh, um I’m sorry. Native American Giver”. Company-wide facepalm.
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I want to say i’ve heard about this guy from an episode of Futility Closet, i don’t know if he raised any major suspicions but as far as i know he was successful.
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Here’s the notations on the original Sepia Magazine articles. I’m trying to find the articles themselves, but the titles sound like his attempt wasn’t extremely convincing.
I’ve seen the photos myself, but I don’t think he would have convinced me back then.
The photos I’ve seen might have made me guess “South Asian” rather than Subsaharan African. But I guess on one level the main thing was that he was looked like someone who would face discrimination from Southern whites.
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Smithsonian Magazine has an excellent article, Black Like Me, 50 Years Later, that goes into considerable detail about Griffin and his ‘experiment’ and how it came about and what came of it.
It was an eye-opening book for white people at the time. It’s a fascinating read for historical context, sharply illuminating how much has changed - and how much still hasn’t.
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Sounds like Darth Vader to me
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