Chris Rock on White People’s Independence Day, George Zimmerman’s $1 Million Bail and More MBB Fresh Links

Seems as if comedian Chris Rock, he of the always-dead-on-commentary-on-race ruined a few good ol’ boy barbecues over the Fourth of July when he sent out this tweet: “Happy white peoples independence day the slaves weren’t free but I’m sure they enjoyed fireworks.” Plenty of black folk—me included—chuckled, perhaps nodded in agreement, and kept it moving. But ultra-sensitive conservatives? Not so much. Some took to Twitter to school Rock on the history of slaves; others unleashed expletives and called him unAmerican. The rest of us, well, we nodded furiously in agreement with activist Elon White:

I find this Chris Rock backlash absolutely ridiculous. Really? Someone tells the truth and you mad? I’m American. I never claim otherwise. I never give the “We didn’t land on Plymouth rock” speech unless its in a really funny way. But part of being American, to me, is that I have to acknowledge all the bullshit that comes with it. Basically some folks came over, stole other people’s land, killed them, then started a country on the backs of my people, while killing them, and then at some point they freed the slaves but then oppressed them and killed them some more. Do I have the ability to do things here that I wouldn’t in some parts of the world? Yes. But my family paid the price for that in actual blood, sweat and tears. If more people were like Rock and acknowledged the truth maybe we’d be in a better place as a Nation…

Yes, yes indeed. Read the full story at the Huffington Post.

And other MyBrownBaby Fresh links we loved this week:

1. Why we need to teach our children how to handle their money, not now but right now: Rihanna sues ex-accountants, claims they cost her millions (MSNBC)

2. George Zimmerman Prepared to Flee U.S. With $130,000 Judge Says; sets second bail for Trayvon Martin’s killer at $1 million. (ABC News)

3. Morgan Freeman Helpfully Declares That Obama Isn’t America’s First Black President (New York magazine)

4. My friend, author Karin Slaughter, has a new book out—Criminal—and it focuses on Atlanta, Maynard Jackson. Cop that! (My Fox Atlanta)

5. In just five months, the Obama administration has freed schools in more than half the nation from central provisions of the No Child Left Behind education law, raising the question of whether the decade-old federal program has been essentially nullified. (New York Times)

6. After a 14-year-old launched a national campaign against its practices, Seventeen magazine vows not to alter images, to ‘celebrate every kind of beauty’ (CNN)

7. Moms Whose Lives Revolve Around Baby Suffer (LifeScience)

8. Parenting older children: Is it harder to balance family and work when kids hit middle school? (Boston Globe)

9. Parents Let 5-Year-Old Daughter Swim With Sharks: Awesome Or Idiotic? (Mommyish)

10. Why Some Black People Ignore the Negative Research on Spanking (Clutch)

Happy reading! Have a fantastic weekend with the babies, friends!

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Denene Millner

Mom. NY Times bestselling author. Pop culture ninja. Unapologetic lover of shoes, bacon and babies. Nice with the verbs. Founder of the top black parenting website, MyBrownBaby.

One Comment

  1. hahaha! Ah yeah —> Happy white peoples independence day the slaves weren’t free but I’m sure they enjoyed fireworks.

    Love that!

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