America, The Bigotry

        I know that lately I have written a few pieces that have touched upon the subject of race. But none have been quite like this. Other than the game, each year, the commercials are the most anticipated portion of the Super Bowl. During the beautiful 43-8 victory pulled off by the Seattle Seahawks, even more that Percy Harvin's 87-yard kickoff return or Malcolm Smith's 69-yard interception return, America was buzzing about new ads from Cheerios and Coca-Cola. Cheerios brought back Gracie, a little girl with a White mother and Black father. The trio was introduced to us in 2013 when Gracie had a conversation with her mother at the kitchen table about heart health. As a result of her mother telling her how good Cheerios were for heart health, she decides to go cover her father's heart with the cereal, much to his surprise when he awoke from a nap on the couch. In this year's commercial, Gracie learns she will soon have a little brother. And with a poker face Lady Gaga could write a remix album about, she looks at her father and says, "And a puppy". First of all, allow me to say that Little Grace Colbert is absolutely adorable and that she more than likely has a promising acting career ahead of her. Secondly, I would like to applaud General Mills for not only refusing not to air the first ad, but for making another one, releasing it during the Super Bowl AND adding another member to the family. Back when the first commercial aired, General Mills had to go as far as disabling the comments section on YouTube due to the venomous comments from those who disagreed that this was what "the American family" was supposed to look like.
          To break it down for those geniuses who decided this was an inaccurate portrayal of "the American family", let's begin with basic definitions. Firstly, each member of the cast (including the father who was played by Charles Malik Whitfield, aka Otis Williams in The Temptations movie) is American. And there is a mother, a father and a child. Those three components are indicative of a family.  According to Sociation Today, Volume 2, Number 2 (Fall 2004), "It is a social unit created by blood, marriage, or adoption, and can be described as nuclear (parents and children) or extended (encompassing other relatives)". So, what you have is a family of Americans. A family that is American. So, you have an American family.
            Now that we've got that out of the way, allow me to say what vile, deplorable, disgusting, abhorrent, repulsive, benighted, idiotic people this country has produced. The people hurling this filth at Gracie and both her television family and her family off-screen (which happens to consist of a White mother, Black father, older sister and older brother) are apparently blind to the fact that there is no longer a such thing as "THE American family". In the 21st century, which is where all of the rational people on the planet live, a family no longer consists of ONLY a mother and father of the same race and ethnic background and their children. Today, it consists of two people, regardless of race, ethnicity, and as much as far too many shudder to hear, sexual orientation and the children they decide to birth and/or raise. The American family has become much more variable, but the one element that remains, prevails and is always a necessity is love. As long as these factors exist, you have a family. No amount of slurs, narrow-minded social media comments or rude stares can change that fact. What is probably even worse is that these are the same people who have remarked at the beauty of many bi-racial beauties in Hollywood without giving a second thought to the fact that two people of different races had to come together to produce such specimens. I strongly suggest that those dwelling in this oblivion pull their heads out of their asses and into the 21st century.
             The second ad that got the world's attention was a Coca-Cola ad in which "America The Beautiful" was sang in a number of different languages. This commercial sparked the creation of "#speakAmerican" and "#boycottcoke" on Twitter. My OBVIOUS annoyance with the first hashtag is that "American" is not a language, so the ignorance is not even remotely inconspicuous. Then, let's not even get into the heinous misspellings that comprise the remainder of these tweets. Apparently, these upstanding model Americans were upset by those they consider less than American singing one of our nation's song's in their less than American languages. Since these people are equally as intelligent as the ones who hated the Cheerios commercial, allow me to break it down by definition. Merriam-Webster defines "American" as "a person born, raised, or living in the U.S." Born.....raised.....or living. Because these model Americans are so clever, I know that the "or living" portion will cause them to launch into a tirade about how there are people living illegally in this country. To that, I ask that they bring me proof that even ONE of the people in that commercial is living here illegally. That should keep them busy for a while. Now, back to those of us with brains. The fact that these people were singing about how beautiful this country was in languages equally as beautiful should have only said that they were embracing every part of themselves. Instead, the 'Mericans who probably do not even know all the words to either "America The Beautiful" or The National Anthem, got their racist panties all ruffled as though they declared another war. When will they see that this is not a country bred in what they consider "purity" and that we will never consist of only one race? And if they really want to get technical, the Native Americans are the only ones that can really call this THEIR country. I really want to see these 'Mericans even sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" in Navajo, Cree or Blackfoot. If none of them can do so much as that, then they do not get to decide who is American and who is allowed to sing about the beauty of our country. They also do not get to decide what language they express it in.Coca-Cola was bold to do this ad. I say hats off to them and here's to Coca-Cola's presenting what will be the first of many ads of this nature. I would like to end this with my favorite tweet on the subject by @HaroldItz. "If you don't think 'America the Beautiful' should be sung in a foreign language, don't quote Jesus in English. #Coke".