#45. Holding Applause until all Names have been Called at Graduation Ceremonies

Commencement: the end of one thing, the start of another. High school and college graduation ceremonies offer the graduate an opportunity to reflect upon the time, effort and sacrifices put into earning their degree. Surrounded by friends and family, faculty, pomp and circumstance and the tapestries of pageantry, the graduate now holds a degree that will help them pursue their dreams.

The cheers were loud when he walked across the stage.

Conversely, it offers the family members and brood of the graduate an opportunity to revel in the pupil's accomplishments. Proud parents, grandparents, uncles/aunts, brothers and sisters, cousins and girlfriends/boyfriends sit in rapt attention to bask in the moment of the graduate, living vicariously through that person’s accomplishments.

At every graduation ceremony across the nation --whether high school, college, or post-graduate work-- a simple request is requested prior to the festivities commencing: please hold applause until all graduates have been announced.

Though the graduation ceremony is an opportunity to honor the individual, the event is largely a ritual connecting the new graduates to the alumni and instilling bonds to the traditions that are unique to that institution.

At every graduation ceremony across the nation that simple request for silence goes unacknowledged by one group of people, and this subversive response to the laws governing civility is never on greater display then during this sacred event.

Black people find the rigid formality on display at graduation ceremonies boorish and fascistic, an encumbrance on their natural predisposition to be loud and extroverted, and instead subscribe to the theory of vociferous and thunderous applause once the name of their son or daughter is called.

The auditorium, stadium or arena hosting the graduation ceremony will reverberate with the intense cacophony of “hoots” and “hollers” once the Black student strides across the stage to receive their diploma, basking in the sounds of adulation from family members while white people look on in a stoic sense of mock disbelief (snickering privately at the outlandish outbursts).

Graduation rates differ greatly by race, either at the high school level or collegiate level. With an abnormally high dropout rate for Black people at the high school level, it makes some sense for Black people to forget the manners dictating acceptable public behavior and the request to refrain from clapping until all graduating seniors’ names have been called.

Many times at college graduation ceremonies the Black pupil is a first generation graduate, so the incessant cheering seems justified. Coupled with the low graduation rates for Black people in college, the cheering seems ever more so reasonable.

The show of familial support is still a clear violation of the protocols governing proper graduation behavior. Of course, the notion of Black Run America (BRA) precludes anyone from mentioning this in polite company for offending Black peoples sensibilities is the greatest crime and offense one can currently commit.

The individuality and creativity of Black people is on full display at graduation ceremonies and daring to bottle up that raw energy would be a crime:

Graduations are a time of celebration. But this was not the case for five students graduated from Galesburg High in Illinois, but did not receive diplomas.

Everyone was asked to hold their applause until after the ceremony was over which is common practice in schools across the country. Not all schools enforce the policy.


According to The New York Times, Caisha Gayles, one of the students who did not get a diploma, commented: "It was one of the worst days of my life. You walk across the stage and then you can't get your diploma because of other people cheering for you. It was devastating ,actually." Gayles graduated with a 3.4 grade average…

Some think those denied were targeted because of race. Four of the students denied were black and one was Hispanic. Cheers rang out for white students but they were not denied diplomas.


Principal Tom Chiles denies the incidents had anything to do with race. Decisions were made according to the amount of disruption. Other students who were minorities got their diplomas. "It doesn't matter how hard you work, you get discriminated against," Gailes said, according to ABCnews.com. The American Civil Liberties Union reported it did not raise any concern with them and it is within the school's ability to control these situations.

Black people find the notion of a six-inch voice repressive and being forced to follow the rules established by society (i.e., white people) repulsive. By crying racism, Black people are exempt from the totalitarian and repressive idea of being quiet during a movie or holding applause until every graduate's name has been called.
This is an example of the special powers and privileges Black people take advantage of in Black Run America (BRA), for no one will dare call them out on any of their transgressions for fear of violating their delicate nature.

Stuff Black People Don’t Like includes holding applause until all names have been called at graduation ceremonies. Lacking self-restraint to follow the rules constituted by proper decorum and possessing a “look at me” attitude (most evident in the sporting arena), Black people gesticulate and whoop with reckless abandon at graduation ceremonies, unaware that the majority of people in attendance merely look upon their self-indulgently narcissistic display of pride with a sense of extreme embarrassment.

What is a Stereotype? The NAACP Targets Newport

All stereotypes turn out to be true. This is a horrifying thing about life. All those things you fought against as a youth: you begin to realize they're stereotypes because they're true.
David Cronenberg

A word rarely used here is stereotype. It is an ugly word, because ideas have to have a genesis. You would be shocked to know what search terms entered by people on Google, Bing and Yahoo once drove traffic here (before Google blocked search bots from bringing people here on random searches that might trigger a match).

Black people can’t swim. Yes, we know this. Black people don’t tip. Check. We got it. 

Stereotypes are true, we know this. But in a society governed by the ideals of Black Run America (BRA), observing a stereotype or making mention of what one has noticed of a stereotype is a recipe for professional suicide. Block them from your mind. 

Black people might be loud at movies, but this shouldn’t dissuade you from noticing those Black outliers who watch films in blissful silence. 

It was Dave Chappelle himself who profited by playing upon Black stereotypes, making it seemingly okay for people to laugh at Black people. 

Now an organization that prides itself upon fighting for the advancement of Black people has decided to say enough is enough and attempt to end one pernicious stereotype:

The FDA's deliberations over a possible ban on menthol cigarettes have touched off a firestorm of debate within the African American community, and among public health groups divided about how to wean black consumers from their heavy dependence on cigarettes spiked with the minty flavoring.

On Monday, the debate among African American organizations burst into the open after the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP,  joined ranks with the anti-smoking group, the American Legacy Foundation, in calling for a ban on menthol as a cigarette flavoring.

The NAACP's appeal came just days after three other African American groups -- the Congress of Racial Equality, the National Black Chamber of Commerce, and the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives -- urged the FDA to reject a ban on mentholated cigarettes. Those groups, testifying before a recent meeting of the FDA's scientific advisory panel on tobacco products, expressed concern that banning mentholated cigarettes could spur an illicit market for the outlawed products in minority communities where they are favored. Such a trade in banned menthol cigarettes, in turn, would likely drive a range of illegal activity and put new burdens on law enforcement agencies, they warned…

After decades of marketing mentholated cigarettes in minority communities and blunting criticism by supporting minority causes, the tobacco companies have secured a huge following in minority communities, where rates of smoking remain stubbornly high. As many as 80% of African American smokers favor menthols, as do 30% of Latinos. By comparison, 22% of non-Latino whites smoke mentholated cigarettes. At least one large study, published in 2009, has found that those who smoke mentholated cigarettes find it harder to kick the habit than those who smoke unflavored tobacco…

"Menthol is not just a flavorant; it makes it easier for our youth to start smoking; it keeps people smoking, and it inhibits them from quitting," said Carol McGruder, co-chair of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council. "Menthol makes the poison go down easier."

"We are in a state of disbelief that some of our Black leadership organizations ... continue to act as front groups for the predatory tobacco industry," McGruder fumed.

 What next? The NAACP declaring that McDonald’s 365 Black campaign is a repugnant and frontal assault on healthy Black diets? With passing on seconds a rarity and waistlines expanding in the Black community, this could transpire soon.

Menthols first, McDonald’s second. What will they come for next? What's left?

Richard Lapchick - our favorite Disingenuous White Liberal (DWL) - always crusading for some inane cause, published a piece bemoaning the lack of Black people in commercials during the Super Bowl:

As I watched this year with my wife, Ann, we both remarked how many ads seemed to go way over the line with stereotypical images that could be considered offensive. In the months since they aired, I've looked further into the content of those ads and the people who produced them; and it became apparent that both areas reflected a stunning lack of cultural diversity and sensitivity.

For example:

• Only four of the 67 ads shown during the Super Bowl had an African-American male as a main character; and of those four, only two (Bud Light's "Light House" and Doritos' "House Rules") involved an actor who is not a well-known celebrity. Other minorities, including minority women, did not have a leading role in any of the commercials. (Beyoncé was on the screen for less than 10 percent of her Vizio commercial, so that was not considered a leading role.) The minority actors who were present in the ads had limited speaking roles or received just a few seconds of camera time.

• There was also a lack of depictions of black middle-class families in the ads. The Doritos "House Rules" ad showed an African-American single mom ready to go on a date, reinforcing a stereotypical image of African-American women as single mothers caring for their young children with no father figure present…

A few months ago, Cyrus Mehri, a civil rights attorney and a friend, told me he was working with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to take action against the Madison Avenue agencies he felt were discriminating in the areas of race and gender. We talked about how ads bearing negative images can reinforce stereotypes and damage race and gender relations.

The inherent problem in this strategy of having Black pitchmen in commercials is the one that plagues Newport and soon, McDonald’s. Black people will find something worth complaining about, for the commercials will only reinforce negative stereotypes and the corporations peddling their wares on the airwaves will be attacked for perpetuating hateful labels and worse, hooking Black people on an addictive product.

 Don King who once said, “Only in Amerca.”

SBPDL can simply respond, “Only in Black Run America.”

 Stereotypes are true and this should horrify those who preside over Black Run America.

The entire country, and for that matter the world know it is built upon a house of sand. A cursory glance at this Web site;s archive provides mounds of data to support that statement; and the unfiltered, private conversations of millions of people prove that the knowledge of stereotypes is pervasive and not contained to those who can see.

So-called "racists" don't just believe and disseminate stereotypes of Black people; the entire country partakes in this national pastime. Even the NAACP.

#21. Being Quiet During Movies

Black people love going to the movies and enjoying cinematic escapism. Movies offer not only Black people, but all races, the opportunity to immerse themselves into celluloid comfort and to live vicariously through their favorite actors for an hour or two, before returning to the routine of life.

One thing Black people do not like, however, is not engaging the movie screen and refraining from interjecting opinion and a personal soundtrack into the film. Black people love to talk during movies, whether it is to their friends next to them; three rows behind them; or to their friend in another state via a cellular device.

Black people find talking to the movie screen during scenes of distress and intense action a soothing experience, and some Black people actually subscribe to the interesting theory that the louder they are during a film, the more their voice will likely alter the outcome and finality of the film.

This has yet to be proven - that the more decibels produced by Black people during a film can actually change the outcome of the movie - but it is continuously and rigorously tested during all films Black people attend and the hypothesis has yet to be discounted as false.

A Google search of the term "Black people loud at movies" returns more than 1.4 million hits, which means this phenomenon of Black people being loud at movies is not isolated to any particular geographic region where Black people live or where they view movies. "Black people talking during movies" returns almost 50 million hits on Google.

All movie-goers who attend movies with Black people are routinely bombarded with cell phone conversations; cries of hope, despair and directions of where the protagonist of the film should hide or where to run next to avoid the clutches/knife of the villain; and the occasional conversation between two Black people who attend the film about their life.

At a movie, it is a prerequisite that you leave all your excess emotional baggage at the door and engage in a total suspension of belief. However, Black people are incapable of being quiet during movies and thus, find it highly annoying that other moviegoers are not more attune to their needs during the film you have just paid $10 dollars to see.

This problem manifested itself in Philadelphia at the end of 2008, when a Black father and son where talking during the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. An irate movie patron, unaware of the thought to be universally-known theory that Black people can change the outcome of the movie by talking during the film, shot the dad in the arm.

Sadly, Benjamin Button continued getting younger and died. A yet to be confirmed rumor of another Black person who talked during this film yielded opposite results: Brad Pitt's eponymous character stopped aging and the movie ended happily.

Black people love movies, but they don't like to be quiet during them. Now you know why.