Buzzfeed is pretty well known for their videos. They’re constantly circulated on Facebook, and are frequently the catalyst for dialogue centered on diversity. Their “Questions” series has been especially popular as it’s often smart, witty, and sarcastic—a perfect combination for dealing with Internet trolls. As of late, Buzzfeed’s questions have taken a dark, dark turn. The latest installment “27 Questions Black People Have for Black People,” has made a lot of people angry, but why?
One, the video helps to reinforce stereotypes associated with the Black community. The video literally opens with the question “Why is it so hard to be on time?” A really messed up generalization people use to validate their thoughts on how lazy those black people are.
“Why are we more likely to engage in the new dance trend than we are to get involved in politics or opening a business?”
Wow, really messed up considering politicians are dabbing for our votes. It’s completely ignorant to say that our dancing completely overshadows our political views when there’s Black Lives Matter, Black Men for Bernie Sanders, The Black Panther Party for Self Defense; the list goes on people. Also, believe it or not, there are soooooo many black owned businesses. They just aren’t super successful because people like you don’t even realize they’re there.
A lot of the things they brought up were not started by us, and literally could’ve been answered by reading a book or doing a quick Google search.
“How did watermelon become our thing?”
Well, after slavery we used watermelon to sustain ourselves. It was positive. The fruit became a symbol of freedom because it sustained our livelihoods. White people took watermelon, flipped it, and turned it into a lazy, childish, unclean “black person thing.” C’mon do you really think we made it a negative thing? NO.
“Why do we call ourselves the N-Word, but get vehemently upset when a white person uses the N-word?”
Well, we get angry when anyone who isn’t black uses the N-word because it isn’t their word to reclaim. If you knew your history, you’d know the word was used to mock us. The word it is derived from means royalty. Slave owners used the N-word to mock us because how could we ever be royal. C’mon man. Read a book. We use the word as an F-You to everyone that’s used the word to add to our oppression. We’ll take your negative and make it positive, since you took our positive and made it negative.
“Why do we think light skinned people look better than people with dark skin?”
The colorism that’s grown in our community is not a seed that was planted by us. The closer you are to white the better you are, that’s a world issue. White supremacy affects everyone, but the ignorance you have about your own history is sickening. You do know your people were raped by their owners, right? You do know that the kids born out of that were treated better not just because they were light but because they were biracial, right? You do realize that their owners separate them by skin color to poke holes in our community, right? Go read a book!
“Do you really believe black is beautiful or is that just something you say cause it sounds good?”
What? So you take this really positive message and accuse us of being fake about it? WHAT?
Honestly, all of the questions made them look super ignorant and uninformed about their own community. I wasn’t the only person who thought so. People on Twitter went on a rampage using the hashtags #BuzzfeedVideoQuestions and #RealBlackPeopleQuestions, which were both great in combating the ignorance in a smart satirical way.
The video was an obvious sign that there’s a lot of work to do. I just find it funny how they didn’t think it would make them look bad if they asked those question—they’re essentially asking themselves. What do you think? Should Buzzfeed be under fire for their ignorance?