Excuse me as I run the phrase, "real talk" into the ground. Let's just say that it is an updated play on the "keeping it real" phenom from a few years back. I also hope you know that I am truly being facetious, since no one has been real in this new millennium since its inception. A special hat tip and a soul brother handshake goes to Sergio for emailing Afronerd about this latest controversy that is sure to make your blood boil. According to Hong Kong's English newspaper, The South China Morning Post, Beijing authorities have enacted a secret ban on those deemed "socially undesirable" (Blacks, Mongolians, essentially anyone with dark skin) from patronizing local bars during this year's summer Olympics. Perhaps Sharon Stone was on to something. Again, I'm being facetious-but you get my point. Here's more from Olympics.SCMP.com:
Authorities order bars not to serve black people
Tom Miller
July 18,2008
In our series looking at preparations for the Games, Tom Miller reports on plans to crack down on "undesirables" in the bars of Beijing
Beijing authorities are secretly planning to ban black people and others it considers social undesirables from entering the city's bars during the Olympic Games, a move that would contradict the official slogan, "One World, One Dream".
Bar owners near the Workers' Stadium in central Beijing say they have been forced by Public Security Bureau officials to sign pledges agreeing not to let black people enter their premises.
"Uniformed Public Security Bureau officers came into the bar recently and told me not to serve black people or Mongolians," said the co-owner of a western-style bar, who asked not to be named.
The local authorities have been cracking down on blacks and Mongolians in an attempt to stamp out drug dealing and prostitution ahead of the Games, the proprietors said.
A few months ago, police launched a violent sting on black men drinking in the Sanlitun bar district, and a notorious nightclub largely populated by Mongolian prostitutes was also shut down.
Security officials are targeting Sanlitun, which Olympic organisers expect to be a key destination for foreign tourists looking for a party during the Games.
The pledges that Sanlitun bar owners had been instructed to sign agreed to stop a variety of activities in their establishments, including dancing and serving customers with black skin, they said.
The question(s) that begs to be answered is.....when will people of color grow tired of this? There are no excuses for racism, especially on a global scale but do we bear some complicity for our image? I have been calling for a cultural shift for quite some time now and in addition to calling all bloggers to bring light to this issue, we must also start to enact some damage control in respects to our international perception.
Oprah Winfrey once spoke anecdotally about her visit to South Africa for a special tete-a-tete with Nelson Mandela in which the issue of Black American perception smacked her in the face. During a special radio broadcast of the Ed Lover Show a few years ago, Winfrey stated that when she was greeted by Mandela's aids, they exclaimed-"What's up my niggas?" Real talk. And then there's there's always the infamous story regarding German soldiers. Again, we must never make excuses for racism but it's time folks to push for balance, honesty and authenticity as it pertains to how our image is disseminated throughout the world. Real talk.
Click on the link below for the complete SCMP article:
Authorities order bars not to serve black people
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