I’m young to this blogging world.  I’m not even the “hot new thing” young, but the “who the hell is she?” young; so I really have no business talking about Buzzfeed.com.  But shit like what I should and shouldn’t speak on hasn’t really affected my behavior much in life or on this blog.

What in the fuck was BuzzFeed thinking when they wrote and filmed, “27 Questions Black People Think About Black People?”  The idea is actually a good one.  I encourage Black people to question the state of our community.  We should be in a continuous state of analyzing, considering and growing.  But the questions BuzzFeed raised ranged from insulting to downright ignorant.

“Why is natural hair seen as a bad thing?”

“What’s with Black people and Watermelon?

 “Why is doing well in school frowned upon by other Black people?”

“Why don’t Black kids have dads?”

“Why do Black people know the latest dance craze, but you can’t have a political conversation with them?”

Really?!?!  Since BuzzFeed wants to pose questions to us; let me return the favor and ask BuzzFeed a few questions:

1. Did Black people really write these questions? They seemed more like questions White people would ask Black people if they were assured they would not get their asses kicked.
2. If Black people really did ask these questions—where did you find these Black people: ihatemyself.com, torturedblacks.com, whydon’twhitepeoplefullyacceptme.com? Or did you go to a heavy metal convention or a Trump rally and pick out the one or two black people at each?
3. If Black people wrote these questions, do they know other Black people–like more than 3 or 4?
4. Did you just not have shit else to write about and said, “that article on Black people had 125,532 hits—let’s do another Black thing.” Then whatever people were in the room (mostly non-Black) just brainstormed these ridiculous questions.
5. Is this like the ab-buster commercials but your forgot to put at the bottom of the screen, “these are paid actors.”
6. Were you trying to be funny and it’s just one of those jokes that has to grow on you (like Rhianna’s song “Werk”? It took me a minute to get it).

Help a sista out because you’ve got me befuddled over here.  Instead of a “ah-ha” moment; I am experiencing a serious “what-the-fuck?” moment.

Why would you Buzzfeed promulgate that our own people are suggesting that we are constantly late, materialistic, uninterested in politics, fatherless, watermelon-binging people who don’t value education, our women or our beauty?  You took a bit of the video to question why Black people don’t appreciate how we are all different; but then spent the rest of the video suggesting that we are all the same.  You demean the Black Lives Matter Movement by saying that how could we champion it and then be so cruel to one another; then you proceed to demean us—to tear us down and tag us with demeaning stereotypes.

Some of the questions posed were actually valid, interesting and worthy of educated and informed dialogue and discussion.  But sadly you obscured these points, diluted any impact and eliminated your credibility when you sprinkled in ludicrous questions about why Black people don’t like anime (which isn’t true – just ask my niece).  By catering to ignorance – and again I suspect a non-black audience – you eliminated any validity to the article.  And, candidly, your assertion that these “questions” were truly posed by Black people seems dubious at best and outright dishonest at worse.

If your goal was to get some “buzz” you got it—at our cost—but you got it.  I’m just not sure it was the “buzz” you were seeking.

Signed,

A “punctual, comes from a long line of people who value education, had an involved daddy, and appreciates Anime” Black person.