BLACK AMERICANA

[fac9876]

If eBay doesn't like Black Americana collectibles, they shouldn't offer it as a posting category - unless, of course, they are using it as an entrapment tool.  I know for a fact that most Black Americana collectors are themselves black - not haters and discriminators, as some would have us believe.  They do it for a very special and innocent reason: to preserve items of black history - both good and bad.  It's not the truth that hurts us, but subjugation of truth - no matter how "noble" the intent.  So, eBay, by taking down these posts, are depriving these black collectors of the special items they like, and are in effect engaging in the very act of discrimination they claim to oppose.  

[simba6]

How long before alphabet blocks with the letter Z get banned?

[bonjourami]

I think it depends on the item,items that are hurtful, racist, stereotypes that ridicule and shame a whole segment of the population shouldnt be listed here or anywhere. JMHO. 

[1786davycrockett]

@fac9876 

"I know for a fact that most Black Americana collectors are themselves black."

Please provide the source for your claim, as most of the collectors of Black Americana with whom I come in contact are white -- and they proudly display some of their most racist items in very public (and disgusting) displays.

[bonjourami]

My nephew is married to a Black woman, I saw her break down and cry ,and close her account for the items she used to see on Ebay.

[monster-deals]

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@fac9876 wrote:

 So, eBay, by taking down these posts, are depriving these black collectors of the special items they like, and are in effect engaging in the very act of discrimination they claim to oppose.  

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How?

Why can't they go somewhere else to buy that stuff?

[bonjourami]

 "special items"

Special items, really?

[itsjustasprain]

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@bonjourami wrote:

My nephew is married to a Black woman, I saw her break down and cry ,and close her account for the items she used to see on Ebay.

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All that just from viewing some listings on Ebay???

[bonjourami]

Things that she didnt want her children to ever see.

[itsjustasprain]

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@fac9876 wrote:

I know for a fact that most Black Americana collectors are themselves black - not haters and discriminators, as some would have us believe.  

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How did you determine this fact? Please cite your source(s). References are always useful for backup when making a claim like that.

[house*of*paws]

Hi @fac9876

While it is kind of you to want to help out black collectors and preserve truth ... I have to tell you that I personally have cringed whenever I ran across Black Americana items over the years ... and was glad to see that they were finally banned on the site.

I found them insulting (as a white person) ... as I do anything that mocks an ethnic (or any other) group in a humiliating way.  Just sayin'.

[1786davycrockett]

@bonjourami 

Outside of the Twin Cities area (in which I live, and where the vast majority of African Americans in Minnesota live), the displays of racist Black Americana in antique store and flea markets would make you wonder if you had stepped into a time machine, which had carried you back to the mid-1950s.  

And, when questioned about the decency of the displays, the proprietors either shrug, or tell you to leave their stores if we are offended.  

There are quite a few antique stores in outstate Minnesota to which I no longer care to visit, nor in which I feel safe.

[bonjourami]

I feel the same way.I saw how racism can hurt..up close and personal.

[itsjustasprain]

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@bonjourami wrote:

Things that she didnt want her children to ever see.

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Im not arguing in favor of 'black americana' listings here either but some things are just a little over the top. In life we are going to encounter all kinds of offensive things - including here - but bursting into tears and closing ones account seems a little excessive if true. Children are likely to see far worse things in their lives than we have seen in our past simply because there is so much more access to the rest of the world than we had growing up.

[pargran3]

this is a hornet's nest. 

It is an interesting question as to just what exactly can be listed in that category.

I have no solution. Black Americana has reached an absurd cancel history roadblock. Discrimination and stereotypes existed. Trying to sweep it under the rug like it never happened does nobody any good. We have lost perspective. Then is not now. Germans and Japanese during WWII know what happened to them in this country. Pretending it never happened is a denial of history.