The Hypocrisy of a Hypocrite

"You gold-teeth-gold-chain-wearin', fried-chicken-and-biscuit-eatin', monkey, ape, baboon, big thigh, fast-runnin', high-jumpin', spear-chuckin', three-hundred-and-sixty-degree-basketball-dunkin', titsoon, spade, moulinyan. Take your filthy slice of pizza and go the fuck back to Africa" - Pino from "Do The Right Thing"

I was watching an old episode of the Sopranos the other day. It was one where Tony hired a black housekeeper/nurse to take care of his mother. Junior Soprano made a comment to one of the boys and said "Can you believe this guy, he hires a shine for his mother?" It got me wondering, why I am watching this show when they repeatedly make derogatory comments about black people.

The Sopranos. The Godfather. Mean Streets. Goodfellas. True Romance. Classic movies and television yes but upon further review, you'll find that there are scenes where black folks are discussed as animals or cannibals that eat their own. Or my favorite, whenever one Italian hurts another Italian, their cover-up is say "Tell the cops two jigs messed Paulie up!" What the hell did we do to Italian people? It's like we personally made them slaves or something and now they have to put us down at every opportunity possible. I do my part to help them by buying pizza and eating spaghetti. But I don't see them eating Bojangles or drinking Kool-Aid.

Here's the complex thing. Even with certain scenes striking a nerve, I still watch these shows. The voice in my head is calling me hypocrite and I'm sobbing going "yea I really am." The easiest thing to do is to turn this stuff off. But I'm like Tyrone Biggums, I'm addicted to this mess and I don't know how to quit. If there were a $25000 Italian Mafia giveaway, I'd probably be first in line. It's like I let my people down by supporting folks who hate on us when and where possible. Especially when some of these folks go out of their way to make derogatory comments about us.

Readers, I need you to be my brother's keeper like G-Money was to Nino, sans the bullet in the head. I need you to slap me out of this mode and have me execute a hit on my DVDs like Nino executed a hit on those Italian mafiaso for stepping to him. Maybe that will get me to watch more positive things like "The Learning Tree" or Tyler Perry movies.

Aw hell, who am I kidding, once a fiend, always a fiend. I'm going to get me 2 slices of Sal's Famous. Forgive me :-(

Today's Lesson

I don't even know what to tell you. Did you really learn anything today besides I hate the way we're treated in Italian entertainment but I don't do anything about it? Would it helped if I went to Little Italy, screamed "RAAAADIOOOO RAHHHEEEEMMM", and threw a trash can through the window...maybe not but it's a start.