Comments on: It takes more than makeup

By: Ned

Ned — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 02:19:04 +0000

I was put off by this thing at first because it is so stilted and fake a concept, and the white people just do not look “black” to me (though the latest makeup techniques are much better than in the past. At least the white dad doesn’t look like Al Jolson!). Boy has he got a lot to learn, by the way. But, as has been said here, the whole thing is a setup not unlike Survivor and Big Brother. I’m ashamed of Ice Cube because he is a very successful guy who got where he did on his talent, persistency, and savvy. Why then fake things like the all-black (NOT) poetry workshop? It doesn’t show what would really happen. Of course some white guy in a bar is going to get into that redline crap. But are all whites like that when they don’t think a black person is looking? That is what we must believe from this show. I missed last night. I hope it is on again so I can see if it still sounds as bogus as it did the first time.

By: Saudia

Saudia — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 01:56:09 +0000

I have at least 100 pairs of shoes. I shop at low end and high end retailors. I have never had my foot touched by a sales person.

By: Eugene Fisher

Eugene Fisher — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 23:50:29 +0000

“Also the when he went to buy shoes and the sales mantouched his foot and put the shoe on him. I would have loved for him to go back to the same salesman as a black man to see if he would have gotten t e same treatment”

I live in Va and hsve white folks touch my feet all the time.

By: Saudia

Saudia — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 18:56:34 +0000

I saw the show and watched them on Oprah. I do wish it would have been more like the book Black like me. They would have been made up and left to live life without the step up situations. I do find some of the things interesting. Such as when the black father (made white) asked the guy in the bar what the neighborhood was like. I wonder what type of response he would have gotten had he not had on the make up. Also the when he went to buy shoes and the sales man touched his foot and put the shoe on him. I would have loved for him to go back to the same salesman as a black man to see if he would have gotten t e same treatment.

By: plez...

plez... — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 16:17:26 +0000

I agree that the way the show is setup lends itself to contrived and forced “encounters.” I would’ve made some pretty drastic changes to how the show was produced.

I have an interesting perspective of what I thought the show would be like, before I saw it. But after viewing it this weekend, I feel that the show/experiement would have been better served to show each family member in an identical situation when they are in “White face” and in “Black face.” Only then, would EVERYONE be able to assess how different things are… if indeed they are different. The way the show is now, you can’t really tell if race really matters.