KIPP:STAR - Caricature: Then and Now lyrics

Being backstage, 20 minutes until the show, a white man grabs a bucket of black paint and starts to paint his face. Then he grabs his red lipstick and draws a huge circle and colors it in. This was entertainment back in the day. As stereotypes grow nastier, so does the media and its representation of black people. The mammy was used to show female slaves were happy. They wanted people to see that slavery was good. Back then, probably a lot of white people had “ household objects with a happy mammy” on it. Also,there are lots of movies. One example is The Help. The mammy is shown as a happy female slave but some just go overboard. The zip-coon acted white although he was black. The zip-coon acted white and whites discriminated him. The book”The wages of whiteness” explains more about the zip-coon. Also, there are tv shows with zip coons in them. For example, “The fresh prince of bel air” has a character named Carlton. He acts white and is always happy. The coon can be presented in many different ways. The coon and the mammy are both adults but, of course, there are children caricatures too. The pickaninny represented how all black children are. This stereotype wanted to show that all black children are the same. This stereotype is the “dominant racial caricature of black children”. There are also movies that have examples of pickaninnies. One example was Ride Along. All black children are supposedly all this way. So the pickaninny is a child but they also had caricatures for men as well that are similar to the mammy. Uncle Tom was a caricature to show that all men that are slaves are happy. All this stereotype shows is that male slaves were happy. Uncle tom was a “faithful, happy submissive servants.” There are also movies that show Uncle Tom. One example is The Butler. Uncle Tom could also be found in modern day society. Uncle Tom, Mammy, the pickaninny and the coon are all stereotypes no one should face. Imagine the world resulting into extreme segregation all because of a few movies,magazines or news articles and tv shows skits. This would cause everything to change in terms of equality.