I was taking a spin through Christian Lander’s funny and irreverent Web site that lists the “Stuff White People Like,” such as: No. 1 coffee; No. 9 making you feel bad about not going outside; No. 11 Asian girls (white men only); No. 99 grammar; No.100 bumper stickers.
Something occurred to me. People of color often have an extraordinarily good idea of the stuff white people like (and dislike). That’s true of folk who interact daily with whites in the workplace, at school or in their community. But it’s also true of people whose knowledge of whites is derived mostly from television or the big screen.
I’m reminded of a scene in the wonderful movie “Talk to Me,” the story of a 1970s Washington, D.C., ex-con-turned-radio personality, starring Don Cheadle. (It makes me sad that so few people saw “Talk to Me” on the big screen. But rent it!) One of the African-American characters explains how he learned to speak and dress in a way that would provide a ticket out of the ghetto.
He talks about watching “The Tonight Show” and studying Johnny Carson’s clothing choices, his mannerisms — the way he spoke, laughed and even how he held his cigarette.
People of color who live in fairly insulated, homogenous neighborhoods and who may be the first generation to get out of the “hood” often take their cues about what white people like from television. Sometimes the cues come from teachers. That’s often true because some parents aren’t equipped to help their kids navigate the white world.
So while the child or teen is learning how to exist in the ghetto, the barrio or Chinatown, he also may be learning how to exist in the world beyond. He becomes fluent in the language of his community as well as the one outside. He learns those things that will help him blend into both cultures.
The white world is studied microscopically, not at the expense of the other culture but as a way to strategically survive in both. The navigator knows that a lot of white people (not all) will feel much more comfortable — and consider him more of an equal — when he acts more like a member of the majority.
There’s clearly some push-back. This time, because I’m feeling cinematic, I’ll use an example from the small screen. You remember entertainer Will Smith’s old television sitcom, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” about a boy from West Philly who moves to California with his aunt and uncle to escape his tough neighborhood. The two cousins, Carlton and Will, show how the black and white worlds overlap and collide.
The parodied Carlton character completely buys into what he believes is the stuff white people like: He wears bow ties, oxfords and penny loafers; speaks English in a haughty way; aspires to sing and dance like Tom Jones.
The Fresh Prince rails against those things, considering them affectations. He instead prefers T-shirts and baggy pants, speaks in slang and adds color to a world of black characters he views as pretty bland. Eventually, though, he becomes better adept at existing in both worlds — and doing it in a way that doesn’t compromise his soul.
The trick is to find the balance to appreciate the things worthy of appreciating in both worlds. White people study and take from various cultures too. Among the stuff that white people like is to speak a few words of “black” slang every now and then to convey they’re cool.
Tell me what you think. And visit “Exploring Race” at www.chicagotribune.com/race to check out the Memorial Day essay by Peter Kahn, a teacher at Oak Park and River Forest High School. He remembers a former student, a young woman with enormous potential, who recently was gunned down while sitting innocently in a parked car.
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