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Politicon 2018

Source: Michael S. Schwartz / Getty

In today’s episode of White People Who Can’t Seem To Find Their Lane, actor and comedian Ben Stein posted a video of himself expressing nostalgia for the days when racist imagery on consumer products was no big deal (to white people) and no one (who was white) complained it.

Apparently, Stein loves his pancake syrup—but he prefers it with a side of Mammy.

“Aunt Jemima yummy pancake syrup,” the former Richard Nixon ghostwriter said while holding a Pearl Mining Company bottle, which is PepsiCo’s updated brand that replaced Aunt Jemima. “Now, this used to show a large African American woman chef. Because of the inherent racism of America’s corporate culture, they decided to make it a white person or maybe no person at all. But I prefer it when it was a Black person showing their incredible skill making pancakes.”

First of all, Stein doesn’t even want the syrup bottle with the updated, less mammy-inspired version of Aunt Jemima. He wants the more stereotypical, pre-Jim Crow, minstrel-inspired, racist cookie jar you better not find at your white friends’ parents’ house version of Aunt Jemima. Stein is really out here pining away for the most racist version of the historically racist image while appearing to mock the idea of “inherent racism of America’s corporate culture.” (And, honestly, he didn’t even necessarily need to specify “corporate.”)

Secondly, Ben is showing us that he’s out of touch in more ways than one. Besides the fact that he’s coming off like someone who definitely has a sambo lawn jockey on his Amazon wish list, it’s very clear that the guy from Ferris Bueller does not know how to read a room. Why else would he go completely out of his way to get himself dragged by the fine folks on Twitter like this?

At the end of the day, white people show off their privilege when they debate about whether or not imagery derived from racism should be preserved in the name of their pride, heritage, nostalgia or whatever it is they’re holding on to it for. White people are still, in the 21st century,  using “Aunt Jemima” as a slur against Black women. Hell, politicians are still doing it.

But none of that matters, because Ben Stein misses his woke-free breakfast.

SEE ALSO:

Rachel Dolezal 2.0? ‘White Woman’ Is Pretending To Be Person Of Color, Mom Says

Understanding Racial Bias In Research On Teen Social Media Use

The post Ben Stein’s ‘Aunt Jemima’ Rant Is A Master Class On White Privilege appeared first on NewsOne.

Ben Stein’s ‘Aunt Jemima’ Rant Is A Master Class On White Privilege  was originally published on newsone.com