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March 20, 2015 - Louder with Crowder
20:32
Black Conservative Rips Starbucks a New One! || Louder With Crowder
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So, Kira, you wrote a column over at louderwithcrowder.com, which means that Fun Dip did not read it.
Hey, why are you saying that?
I've read things on there before.
Oh, come on.
I read at least one thing on there before.
Yeah, if I tell them...
Fun Dip, you should read this one.
You'll like this one.
I promise.
Well, what's it about?
It's about Starbucks, but it's funny, and I think it's probably the best thing you'll ever read in your whole life.
I don't want to oversell it.
I do agree.
It's pretty incredible.
It got a lot of people read it.
Kira, listen, I know you hate this, being pigeonholed, but I think it struck a chord with a lot of people because you're a black conservative.
And right away, people are, their ears perk up and go, wait, hold on a second.
This is an opinion from someone, you know, who we can't accuse of being a racist.
And so conservatives want to hear what you have to say.
And liberals have to listen because they can't just use the go-to strawman argument of racism, right?
So tell us from your point of view, the Starbucks, what it is, this race together, and why you were so worked up in a tizzy about it.
Well, the Race Together, if you haven't heard by now, you've been living in a hole, but it's Starbucks' new initiative proposed by their CEO, Howard Schultz.
The idea is to get people talking about race by putting a hashtag race together on the cups of customers in order to initiate a conversation with customers about race and advance race relations in the United States.
Now, I don't want to belittle the idea that it's constructive to talk about race relations.
We've been talking about a national conversation about race for as long as I can remember.
We've never been able to have that conversation, honestly, in my opinion, and I don't think we ever will.
But I know one thing.
I don't want to have that conversation at 5.30 in the morning with my barista before I have even had my first sip of caffeine.
That's like a giant no!
No!
What's the female term for Uncle Tom?
Is it Aunt Tomlin?
Aunt Jemima.
I want waffles, man.
I'm hearing some Aunt Tom-ness going on here.
You say, okay, here's my ignorant white guy view, right?
I was watching MSNBC, actually, a clip you showed me, and this lady's saying, at least this should start the race dialogue.
Being raised in a post-racial America...
Where there were no riots.
There was no segregation.
There was no established, enforced racism.
You get racist jackasses everywhere.
I feel like there's been nothing but a dialogue.
Like, let's start a dialogue.
I'm going, where have I been?
Everything's been about race.
This is everything.
I totally agree.
I feel the exact same way.
And I get fatigued.
I'm to the point where I am fatigued about talking about this.
Because like I said, we're never going to have the honest conversation.
The national conversation in quotes about race that we keep having is white people bad, everybody else good.
Now, I'm not here to defend white people or to say that white people never do anything wrong and people need to get over that.
But what I am saying is that this is a nuanced debate.
And if black people want to have this conversation, we need to be willing to have some uncomfortable conversations and make some uncomfortable admissions as well.
And I have yet to see anybody who's willing to do that.
I mean, Bill Cosby, God rest his soul.
I know he's not dead, but...
But it depends on how much of his own coffee he's been drinking.
He may be in a stupor, wake up nine months from now.
Yeah.
But, you know, he had the nerve.
And Bill Cosby is by no means a conservative.
He is not a conservative.
He hates conservatives.
He is not by any stretch of the imagination.
But he had the nerve to come out and say, look, black people, we have some responsibilities here.
We need to stop this horrific...
Out of wedlock birth rate that we have, because the family is the bedrock of any successful society, and when you break down the family, you break down that society, and that's what we're seeing in black America.
We've got to stop these terrible crime rates.
We have to stop these horrible dropout rates.
We have to look inside our community.
No one is coming in and pulling our boys out of school.
Yet we have a 50% dropout rate nationwide among young black males.
That's huge.
That's 50%.
Half of young black males don't finish school.
I have yet to see one Republican come into the hood and pull a young black man out of school and say, son, you're just not going to finish.
So there's some responsibility that we have for ourselves.
And white people also have a responsibility.
I'm not for this idea that we shouldn't talk about race at all or that it doesn't matter.
I don't believe that either.
But I do think that there's got to be some uncomfortable conversations that have to be had if we're going to really have a national conversation about race, but we sure as heck are not going to have them at Starbucks.
This is true.
Yeah, I don't want to leave the 19-year-old dropout hipster barista in charge of race relations.
I do not.
I don't think that's the right place to go.
You know, it's funny you mention that.
There's a real correlation, actually, between French Canadians.
And black Americans.
You might not know this, Stephen.
I'm not sure if you know, but I'm Canadian too.
I do know that.
We talked about this yesterday in our pronunciation of dollars.
But French Canadians, it's almost a 50% dropout rate.
They don't get married.
The abortion rate is one of the highest in the industrialized world.
very similar to black Americans who have about the same chance of being born as they do of being aborted in America right now.
So you see a lot of those correlations in the French Canadian community that you would see with the black American community, which tells me, again, having been a witness to that, it's not a race issue.
In that sense, those numbers aren't a race issue.
You're not born black and decide to not be a father.
It's a cultural issue.
And do you feel like while we're talking about co-opting, people saying you're co-opting blackness if you're white, like Eminem.
Well, isn't the whole hip-hop culture a co-opting of blackness to begin with?
This idea of BET and gang-related imagery and symbolism and culture, even if a black person is doing that, how is that not co-opting blackness before white people do it?
Well, I disagree with you.
I wouldn't say it's a co-opting, but I would say it's an expression of black men's.
But I'm not really excited about this idea.
I think some people do co-opt the culture.
It happens all the time.
And I know Katy Perry got a little bit of trouble by co-opting Asian culture in an MTV Awards performance that she gave recently.
But I think there's a difference between co-opting and honoring.
And it's all in how you approach it.
Some people really respect the black culture.
Beastie Boys, great group, you know.
Let me clarify my point.
My point is that that's not emblematic of all black culture.
I mean, people act as though when they say, well, black culture, you know, if you...
Well, no, no, it's not black culture.
For example, black culture, Fundip wants to say something, but hold on one second, Fundip.
The blues are black culture.
Rock and roll is black culture.
Bluegrass.
These things came to us from the black community.
I don't know why now we act like the current trend is emblematic of all black culture in the country.
Because, I mean, you look at what blues did for America.
I mean, what were you going to say, Fundip?
You're a music guy.
Yeah, I was just thinking about blues and Motown music.
Motown's phrasing of how they described their music wasn't, this is for black America.
It was, this is for young, the music of young America.
And everyone, black, white, you name it, was putting on the Supremes, the Four Tops, the Temptations.
The whole nation was embracing that music that came out of Detroit.
And I'd hate to think that every time I strap on my Fender bass and try to play Bernadette, and nowhere near what Jamerson did, that I'm co-opting.
Because that's the greatest bass line of all time.
I don't want to say I'm co-opting.
I love it.
I agree.
I think you should be right.
I do.
I don't think Katy Perry or even Gwen Stefani, she went through a phase in her career where she was all into these Japanese Harajuku girls.
I don't think that you should be accused of co-opting culture that you admire and you want to participate in the expression of that culture.
And I think Funded brings up a great Point about wanting to, you know, participate in that and being a fan.
I mean, there's no, it's not offensive, and it shouldn't be offensive for someone to say, I love the way you express yourself.
This brings me joy.
And I would love to see the black American community get back to the point where we are significant contributors, positive contributors to American culture.
I mean, we have literally built this country on our backs.
We have been a part of the history of this culture and this continent.
You know, for hundreds of years, and yet these days we don't conduct ourselves with that level of pride.
We have so many issues in our community.
I want to get back to the place where we are considered great contributors to culture.
Can you stay for another segment here, Akira, or do you have to go to your spin class?
No, spin class.
I got time.
Okay, yeah.
Kira, actually, she's up very early.
She's on the West Coast for us.
And we will be back with Kira Davis, Ladder with Crowder.
Stay tuned.
Find her.
You can find her.
What are you pointing at me, Fun Dip?
Because I pointed at you, but I had my hand on the music and forgot to turn on your mic.
Oh gosh, and we had that beautiful intro.
This is why we can't have nice things, Fun Dip.
I've only had two cups of coffee, so I'm kind of slow today.
Miss Kira Davis, you can find her at ftrradio.com and her recent column at ladderwithcrowder.com.
Thank you for being back with us, Kira.
And I apologize on behalf of Fundip.
So, before we left, we're talking about the Starbucks deal.
And you mentioned that you think there needs to be an honesty in the race conversation if we're going to have it.
If you have to pinpoint, where is that?
Like, what is it that needs to be discussed most that is not being injected into the issue right now?
Well, I think on the part of, and I can only speak on this from the point of view of a black person and white America.
Sure.
I know there's other races, but that's the only part I can speak on.
But I think as a black community, we need to be willing to address the fact that sometimes we play a part in the fear that people have of us.
We have high crime rates in our community.
We have high murder rates in our community.
We have high abortion rates.
High dropout rates.
There's a lot of things that we are doing that we are solely responsible for, that cannot be blamed on other people, that we need to recognize, make it more difficult for us to be successful in this country.
We're kind of our own worst enemy.
I think on the part of white people, a lot of white people need to recognize that, A, We don't need you to roll over on the race debate.
I think that's just as offensive as not wanting to discuss it at all.
I hate it when I hear a white person say, well, you know, I'm not qualified to speak on this subject.
I'll just defer.
No, that's the chicken way out.
That's the chicken.
I think white people need to be honest.
Right.
And part of that is on us to not make, if we're going to have an honest debate and an honest discussion, and if a white person says, well, you know, I do have these questions, I do have these problems, we shouldn't ridicule them right away and judge them right away.
You're racist.
You're horrible.
You know, we should be willing at least to listen to them.
Don't you do that every now and then when you just really want the person to shut up?
You use it every now and then.
You must.
I can't lie.
I can't lie.
It's like Wanda Sykes in Curb Your Enthusiasm when she gives Larry David a script.
She goes, did you get them a script I sent?
He goes, yeah, I did.
They weren't.
Did you tell them I was black?
No.
Why would I? Larry, you need to know when to use the race card.
All liberal and liberal and crap.
They're going to love that black writer.
Go give me a script.
They're going to buy them a script.
You got to know when to use it.
And I was like, eh, thank you.
I feel like it's true, you know, just like I'm a woman and there's some of my womanly wiles that I'll use to get ahead sometimes.
I'll tell you where my favorite place to use it, though, is.
It's with other liberals.
It's with liberals.
Yeah, of course.
Because they can't stand being called racist.
So if I get into, like, a situation where liberals are, like, getting all high and mighty, I'll be like, well, you know, I guess, what do I know?
I'm just a little old black girl and you're the intelligent, you know, oh my gosh, no, I'm not racist at all.
My best friend is a black person.
When I was a kid, I went to school with two black people, and one of them was my best friend, and I defended her against insults.
I'm not a racist.
And then what you do to make them feel really bad is act really submissive.
Like, yes, sir.
No, sir.
I'll make you some pancakes, sir.
No, no, no, no, no.
Could you turn on the nightlight?
Mr.
Jingles gets a little scared of the dog sometimes.
Yeah, sometimes.
Well, it's not fair.
It's not fair, but it works.
It just doesn't work throwing out the Irish Were Slaves 2 card, because I've tried that.
No.
Especially not with a black person.
Yeah, it doesn't work at all.
I'm like, darn it!
I read that whole book on Irish being slaves and I got nothing.
White people, let me just say this.
When you're arguing with anybody about race, be they conservative or liberal, we don't want to hear about how black people participated in the slave trade, too.
And there's a lot of slavery going on in Africa right now.
Everybody knows that, but as soon as you bring that up, it's just a non-starter situation.
It doesn't add to the conversation.
I know you have valid points, and I recognize that it's a valid point, but you sort of stop the intellectual trajectory of the conversation when you go there.
It doesn't help.
I think the purpose that it does serve is not saying, well, there's slavery somewhere else, but I would say, you know, listen, the United States is not unique in that it engaged in slavery, but it is singularly unique in that it had a revolution to end slavery.
Sure, which is a great point.
Right.
Well, for example, you know, both of us being, you know, Canadian, I find it funny.
I had someone one time actually call in, I think, to this show, and Fundip was here, and he said, you know, my grandfather was a black guy.
I said, you know, my grandfather fled slavery to Canada.
And I said, do you know what they would have said in Canada?
Great, more slaves.
I mean...
Where did this start where they thought there was no slavery in Canada?
I know.
I did a video back in 2012.
I have a YouTube channel, by the way.
You can look me up on YouTube, Kira Davis, K-I-R-A Davis, where I do a lot of political commentary, just me and my webcam, kind of like you see now.
But it was during the 2012 campaign, and I think Touré from MSNBC It had accused Mitt Romney of being a racist.
So I made this video about, you know, when you call someone a racist, you lay all this history at their feet.
You don't really know what racism is.
And I talked about my experience, which we were talking about during the break, Stephen, in Eastern Canada growing up as the only black person On this little island and pretty much got called the N-word every day and got beat up every school day.
I related a story about being in a diner with friends one time and this drunk guy like an adult coming in and yelling at me about picking cotton and going back to where I came from, going back to Africa.
And I was like 12 years old, you know?
And so I told that story.
And what a lot of people reacted to was that it happened in Canada.
They couldn't.
They were like, what?
But Canada is this oasis.
It's like this utopia.
Canadians aren't racist.
Canadians aren't mean.
Look, I have been all over this continent.
I have lived a few decades.
Not going to say how many right now.
But I have a lot of life experience.
And I can tell you this.
A-holes are everywhere.
No, they absolutely are.
And then you have to take into account that Canada, most places, just doesn't have the same kind of color palette that we have in the United States.
Like you said, you're the only black person.
It's very homogenous.
Where I was raised in Montreal, we had a very large percentage of my school was Arabic.
And then quite a few Asians.
And honestly, I could count on one hand the amount of black kids in the entire school.
There started to be more toward my senior year because of the French language laws.
Again, big government discriminatory laws.
You know how that works with the language police in Quebec encouraged a lot of Haitian immigration, right?
Because they speak French.
And French Canadians are the most racist people on the planet.
Then they were trying to figure out how to get rid of Haitians.
And now we have all these people, these Asian, damn it, we don't want them taking our business over, so we're going to give them a poll tax or something like that.
They were furious about it.
And it's okay, I have a French-Canadian past, just like Kyra Davis has her...
French Canadians are the ghetto French of the world.
They're just like the French French, just they're more ghetto.
Yes, exactly.
Don't tell that to Celine Dion, though.
Don't tell that to Celine Dion in her expensive dresses.
I know.
I tell you what, though.
When you want a song sung properly, you get Celine to do it.
Only in French, though.
I don't like when she sings in English.
Yeah, I know.
But I'm just saying, compared to when people say the best singers of all time, Mariah Carey, Whitney, I'm like, no, none of them are close to Celine as far as hitting notes.
You can cover up a lot with vocal gymnastics, and that's what Mariah Carey does, where she goes on this, but it's like, have you ever actually just held a note, Mariah?
I've never heard it.
Yeah, Celine is a pro, and I know we're supposed to hate her because we got overloaded with Celine during the Titanic years, and I don't own any music by her, but she's definitely a pro.
Yeah.
Yeah, there you go.
You don't mess with Celine Fundip.
She's a national treasure.
She's a national treasure.
The only stuff I own by her, she's singing in French.
Oh, there you go.
Celine Dion and Michael J. Fox lay off.
Oh, yeah.
And John Candy.
John Candy is like a god in candy.
Oh, yeah.
I don't know.
I met him.
He was the nicest man I ever met.
Of all the celebrities I've ever met, and I've met a lot of them because I worked as a stagehand at the Just for Laughs, and my mom was a costume designer before I ever performed there.
John Candy was the kindest person I had ever met, and he died about two months after I met him.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, so I was one of the last people.
Anyways, we have to let you go, Kira.
So where can people find you most effectively?
People can find me online.
You can find me on YouTube, K-I-R-A Davis.
That's Kira Davis.
Check out my radio show, which airs Tuesday nights on FTRradio.com.
And you can also look me up at IJReview.com as well.
Thanks for having me on, Stephen.
I really had a good time today.
Oh, we're so glad to have you on.
And hopefully we'll see more of your work at louderwithcrowder.com because the audience loved it.
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