Sanford And Son Racist?

Is it just me? Or does it seem like EVERY SINGLE time they show a white person that white person is acting like a idiot? It seems like every white actor on the show goes out of their way to make it seem like there can never be one single some what normal white person that you would want to hang around with. First the white cop acts like a retard who can't show any signs of common sense. Then the white chick as the fugly fat chick, in a beauty contest with aunt ester, and then I bum who is a con man is white, and takes advantage of them. Then now here I am watching a maid act like a freak of a person she is the white maid they had in season 2. Is it just me or does it seem like they are singling out white people to be the only ones who look the worst of the worst, and never a single good or halfway decent with common sense white person.

You must be white.... All in the family takes the cake for racist shit.... Stop being so sensitive it was a different time then.... Nuff said.

It was comedy! People have become to politically correct. You forgot Laugh In! They were dealing with racism by talking/laughing at it. Now all you hear is YOUR RACIST! It doesn't matter what color you are. I think the more you yell racism the more it stirs up racism. But hell what do I know!

It's a murky/thin line between laughing at racism and telling racist jokes ...& these types of shows exploit that murky/thin line to the max.

There was another very popular show called 'Till Death Us Do Part' where the main character/hero was a complete racist, ...they got away with this show by claiming they were making fun of a racist character, but in reality the show attracted a lot of people who felt an affinity with the views of the main character(Alf Garnett)...who would shout things like 'bloody wogs coming over here stealing our....' etc

The actor said himself the worst thing about the part was being approached in the street by racists wanting to shake his hand. The type of people capable of even detecting the kind comedic irony claimed by the producers are not the type of people who would watch this type of low-brow entertainment anyway + a large part of the audience were children who would take the character on face value, every racist utterance coming out of Alf's mouth was reinforced with canned laughter ...wonder what happened to the only black kid at school the day after these shows were aired?

Are the show makers providing racist content for a racist market but dressing it up as anti-racist comedy ..yes on the whole I think they are.

All those shows would never make the air now.
I loved those shows. I loved the Jeffersons. I think they show how ignorant we all are.
Still a lot of racism around I really don't understand. World would be so much better to live and let live. PEACE TO ALL.

The World was a very different place 40 years ago, I believe these shows all showed us how prevalent and ingrained bigotry actually was in our society and that people of all colors were prejudiced in some way.

In there own slightly stupid comedic way they helped show those of us who weren't then living where we had a lot of contact with different cultures or races that All Peoples wanted the same things out of life we did.
Also showed all people had the same set of basic Needs and wants.

I know it sounds crazy to some of you that prime time network sit coms could be the only way I ever saw people of color living life, but it's fact. I lived in a lily white rural town and didn't know anyone Black or Hispanic or Asian until after high school.
Times Have Changed, thank God.


...

You can very easily turn that scenario around too. Look at the History of our government from the Native Americans to Jim Crow Laws. We are improving though it may seem like baby steps. I believe people need to reflect more than react in most scenarios. That's what helps me stay out of unnecessary conflict but I'm no way saying be a pushover if there is a true injustice, definetly react, but always keep in mind the difference between justice and revenge.

Sanford & Son was the "good kind" of racist

But the difference between all in the family is that they did not make fun of any one except Archie because he was the one who the meathead always debated and won against. So in all in the family they make a white person look like an idiot, and black people always look better than archie. In every black show like sanford and son and fresh prince, and good times they again all make the white people look like idiot, with black people again coming out on top. That is bad enough but when you have a show like sanford and son then have the main character be black and have every white guest actor make themselves in to an idiot, it is a major insult to people of that color, easily.

Sanford and son was incredibly racist against whites. I just saw another episode where again a new white character was shown and yet again he looked like an idiot when compared to the black ones. It was the dentist one where sanford got a white dentist and even lamont told dad that the white dentist was a joker. And when the black dentist came in he was a genius dentist.


What sanford and son. And all the other shows should have done was do what all in the family did, and that is show where the main character is like archie, in other words make fred and the jeffersons and good times people make themselves look like idiots and make the white guests look on top.

All in the family has no problem making archie look idiot, and making the black guests look good on top. Therefore it is only logical that fred sanford and george jefferson, look idiot, and make all the white guests look good on top.

Basically it is insulting, when someone says that it is ok for the black main character shows to do what all in the family did.

And the truth is they are not really doing what they did, they are doing the opposite.

When all in the family aired it made it seem like the same idiot was always the SAME person. Archie.

And therefore when they made archie look bad it was the same person and therefore not making white people look bad, just archie himself, and those who are racist and who think like him.

But the opposite with the black shows. With their shows they make no one a racist. Not fred, not lamont, no one. But yet here in every episode they not only make the white person look bad, but they do it not only to other white characters but to EVERY SINGLE white character if not almost every. And therefore it does not make it seem like the show encountered an idiot, it just makes it a certainty that if the show has a white person playing a white character odds are in this world that the person must be most likely an idiot, so lets just show EVERY WHITE person that way just in case it really is impossible to come up with a smart white person in real life type of attitude.

Archie had a show that was to make only racist thinking people look stupid and in return blacks and whites who were not thinking like archie looked good on top.


With the black shows, the white person no matter if they thought like archie or not, must be shown as bad. And they do it overwhelmingly in comparison. I watched full house, and other shows, and I watched shows in the 70's, and when it all comes down to it. I think I have never seen a black person shown as an idiot. But in the black shows as in shows that have black people as the main characters of the show, you see white people constantly looked down upon, in every single episode that has a white character. And I am so tired of seeing in both good times, sanford and son, and even good times, the white person as being dumber than shit when in comes to the expression right on. I do not get it really. I have never even seen the whitest lamest people I know not know how to use or say expressions of any kind. Because it is basic english slang. And yet when it goes on TV apparently whites are with a stick up the ass, no intellect and annoying and lame, and with no reason to it to. At least all in the family had a reason for why they made archie idiot. They showed it clearly to it was because he was a racist. And they showed the smart cool meathead as the liberal who showed him the way.

But in Sanford and son, they show white people who are not racists ever and apparently if your not a racist and not a main character and if you are white it seems like the odds are guaranteed too make you idiot.

It's a dicey subject, but what I am comfortable saying is that show had one of the greatest themes.



As long as were on Noram Lear produced shows



I was a little young when these were on, but I recall Norman Lear being seen as being sympathetic to African Americans' plight.

Edit: I forgot about Diff'rent Strokes (arguably racist just from the title)

Double Edit: Jeremy, if you want to check out material that gets really racist, check out the Dolomite movies. I felt bad for every race after seeing that stuff.

There were several older shows from the 50s and 60s and a cartoon I'm thinking about that always made the man look stupid and the female appear smart. The Honey Mooners, The Flintstones and what about the Adams Family and the Munsters. I hope this isn't too far off topic.

I don't think it's off-topic at all. The discussion has gone wider than just one show, and sexism (perceived and real), was also a subject these shows tackled. Whenever Archie Bunker would argue with his daughter, we just knew that scene would highlight Archie's ignorance.


Also your post reminded me of Who's The Boss, a show that also portrayed men as buffoons.

I guess when it, comes down to it. Tv hates White Men.

in a funny way the show was able to expose the bullshit that is racism, it made ya laugh and internally question just why we behave the way we do. there's more to the shows of course but that was certainly prevalent. i grew up watching sanford, all in the family, good times (one of my all time favs..*slap* DY'NO'MIIITE!) and jeffersons.

Racist? Lets grow as a people the world is racist and sad and every race can point a finger as well as provide evidence. LIVE AND LOVE LIFE

Sitcoms kinda need buffoons to laugh at. I think there might have been an effort not be another Amos 'n' Andy with an all black cast and buffoons.
Holy mackerel! Am I the only one that remembers that show?

Nope.

"Amos 'n' Andy started as a vilely racist (and-surprise!-exceedingly popular) radio show in the 1920s starring two white guys voicing buffoonish black characters. So when CBS decided to make it a TV show in 1951, they cast two black dudes and made a vilely racist TV show."
http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/05/most-racist-tv-shows/

btw, check out that link above. Guess one can find racism in just about every show there is.............that is, if you're coming at it from a racist perspective.

Richard Pryor is one of my all time favorite comedians and he was a genius at portraying dumb, ignorant, non-hip white people. Of course, he also portrayed dumb, ignorant black people and called every one of them the...........N word. Was he a racist?

For me, I like comedy that not only makes me laugh at others, but laugh at myself as well, and I particularly like comedy that also makes me think and challenges my preconceptions of how I and others may actually think and feel.

An interesting question to ask yourself is, am I a racist? The comfortable answer would be.........absolutely not, but before you say that, really examine how you react to others who are not the same race as you, or who practice a different religion, or a different sexual preference, or a different gender, or those who are mentally or physically disabled, etc etc. How tolerant are you, really. How judgmental are you, really.
How inclusive are you, really. How prejudiced are you.........really.

Can anyone here really say that there has never been a time in their lives when a persons race didn't enter into your equation in a negative way, if not by actions, than at least by unspoken thoughts? Anytime that happens to me, I mentally bitch-slap myself for being such an idiot. It can really sneak up on you when you're least expecting it.

Ever watch The Comedy Central roast when white/latin/jewish comedians have a chance to take shots on other black comics and entertainers (Katt Williams, Wayne Brady, Ice T, Snoop, flava flave,). Guys like Greg Giraldo(R.I.P), Jimmy Kimmel and Jeff Ross tore these guys a new one. I'm not taking about lame racist Kramer rants either. These were well crafted jokes and all the them were laughing their asses off, nobody was offended or crying afterward.

I must admit, I love it when black comics make fun of white people, especially Martin Lawrence, Bernie Mac and Mike Epps.

BTW, Sanford and Son is fun watching when you're extremely baked. I recommend anyone to get baked and watch an epiosde.

This is the big one...I'm coming to join you Elizabeth!

Paul Mooney! Once in Pryor's cabinet, so to speak. Now that guy tells it how it is! Major influence on the popularity of Chappelle Show. It shows in Dave's comedy, which is hilarious IMO. Don't see them much anymore which is unfortunate. Good thing the Tosh.0 crew makes me crack up with the racial line jokes, not a fan of the puking and nudity though.

Racism is nothing but fear of the unknown.
If your skin has color (or lacks it lol), you're a racist.
Find out why because information kills bigotry, every time.
Racism is mankind's only original sin, and can be cured with knowledge.

I think racism is in our tribal DNA, that is, it's part of being human and will take constant vigilance to keep it at bay.

And regarding knowledge, all I gotta say about that is that there are a helluva lot of knowledgeable racists, eh?

This whole Donald Strerling thing has really stirred up the pot which I think is a good thing but there is a flip side to all this. While everyone seems to want to lynch this guy for his racial comments, I can't help but think about that whole "Don't throw stones if you live in a glass house" thing. Like I eluded to in my previous post, how many of those that are condemning his racial comments can honestly say that they have never had any racial thoughts going on in their own heads and that the only difference here is that Sterling, perhaps due to his age and declining physical and mental health, has a defective filter that filters the info going on in his brain from ever reaching his mouth.

What's your guys take on Stephen A. Smith on ESPN? My take is he is an intelligent, vibrant, outspoken human being. However he rubs me the wrong way. He represents a passion I adore, if he could be more diplomatic in his approach I think I would be a big fan of his...

Yes he had a deep hatred for Tim Tebow, even when we was playing decent and had the broncos winning some games. But man, I never seen one man hate another athlete so bad, especially a nice guy like Tebow who unfortunately did turn out to be a C level QB, oh well.

But when it comes to other lousy athletes from the past, for example Jamarcus Russell, I would find Steven constantly sticking up for the guy.