MovieChat Forums > Black-ish (2014) Discussion > Dre in Lemons: "I'm used to things NOT g...

Dre in Lemons: "I'm used to things NOT going my way"... WTF?!!!!


Says the man who:
- Has a (most likely) 6 figure salary from a cushy white collar job.
- Owns a McMansion (big enough for his parents to also shack up in there) in the suburbs
- Scored a woman who's also an MD (a second 6 figure income)
- Has 4 healthy kids (none of whom is in jail or serious trouble of any kind)
- In in apparently excellent health
- Is not stuck supporting his parents (his daddy scored a pension from a sweet union job)

So how exactly have things NOT gone his way?!!!!!!!!!!!

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........don't forget the expensive sneaker collection......

How exactly have things NOT gone his way?
Simple!
In Dre's mind, EVERY black person should live the way he does.
EVERY black person should make 6 figures.....live in a McMansion....drive a late-model car.....etc.

Otherwise...............RACISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Because, you know.....every white person is wealthy, healthy.....has awesome medical coverage....owns a McMansion (or 4).....summer home......several late-model cars..........etc.

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Just because he's not poor or in prison doesn't mean he has never seen racism. He has probably had to work twice as hard as many white people to get where he was.

He has this job now, but who knows how many positions were closed to him before this? Or attempts at school failed?

And come on, someone is supporting Ruby.

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He has probably had to work twice as hard as many white people to get where he was.


Gee you sound like a bigot. Is it because you're an ignorant bigot?

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Dude, I'm a golden blond, and I've suffered racism (in Mexico, anyone whom looks like me is prime kidnapping/mugging material regardless of whether you're rich or not, so I grew up with a target painted on my back just because of the colour of my skin, now THAT is life threatening racism), and my mother was attacked once by a all black gang just because she spoke funny (Lithuanian) and was the wrong shade of colour in the wrong part of town.

So don't give me that crap that somehow him experiencing the slightest appearance of prejudice equals to him being used to things not going his way...

EVERYBODY is racist/prejudiced to an extent (it's only a matter of degree), even Gandhi (google his opinion on blacks) and Jesus himself (referred to Samaritans as dogs, of course context/message matters but still).

That remark should have been given to his dad, from him it would have sounded far more reasonable...

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I'm white and grew up in Southern California and was beat up and put down many times for being white and teased for it by Mexican and black people. Schools in parts of Southern California are horrible, being white there makes it worse

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Now I'm older and have kids and I'd never raise my kids in those areas

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Those are good points. I gather that he was talking about all the hurdles he had to leap over to get to where he was at.

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Well, they sure weren't THAT many if he managed to get all that without being some obvious genius or super 24/7 hard worker (he's not a computer scientist/inventor/CEO nor anything like that, and he clearly has lots of free time at home to deal with the drama).

So sorry but no, it just sounds absurd coming from him.

Now if THAT came from the father, now THAT would be way more believable (him going through hell to score that union job). That's why the father's apparent racism and complaints are far more understandable and plausible (more racism back then).

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Not sure if it would work for the father either. The guy was always gaming the system.

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OK yeah, but you can say the same for Dre (milking the affirmative action and riding white guilt as far as he could to get ahead).

The dad being a player is obviously meant to be taken with a grain of salt, so when he starts preaching it doesn't put off (self righteous).

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Dre doesn't get the respect he deserves at work. His boss and other colleagues make snide remarks at him at any opportunity they get. Most of the white colleagues are at the same position as him although they clearly are not as dedicated as him at work. Also one of his colleagues get same salary as him although he just joined and have way less experience than Dre.
The doctors at Rainbow's hospital so not give her the respect she deserves as a doctor. One of the doctor refuses to even acknowledge her as a doctor.
They are facing this when both of them have proved themselves so you can only imagine what they have been through when they were working towards getting to this position. These two are survivors. Many may not get ahead because of all these hurdles.
P.s: You seem to have interesting assumption that he got through because of affirmative action although it is never shown in the episode.

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None of this is black specific. There's been plenty of white comedies with these same scenarios.

The message they should be trying to give on this show is that with hard work anyone can get where he is.

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"with hard work anyone can get where he is"

BS.

Otherwise, how come blacks weren't making big money and securing good educations and jobs way before (when Jim Crow, red lining, and other types of discrimination against them) in the same % as today?

Were they not working as hard as they do today?

If hard work made one rich, mules and field laborers (you think it's easy? Try it one week, Morgan Spurlock made that case in his documentary about it) would be the rich ones.

It's all about timing (being in the right place at the right moment to be able to seize an opportunity BEFORE somebody else does). And for that other things (connections, family, silver spoon) factor far more than hard work.

Whatever rags to riches success story you can come up with are exceptions, not norm. Otherwise they would not be noteworthy.



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That was then. This is now. Everyone can't be millionaires. Rags to riches makes headlines. But you know what makes a better story to me? Growing up in a poor and crime ridden community. Deciding not to becoming a criminal. Get a decent job. Move out of the terrible community. That story literally happens for millions of people, but is unnewsworthy.

That's the great thing about the United State. Oppurtunity for status groth for everyone. More so today than in the past. Don't get stuck on past. Also, was the first black millionaire in the 1910s or 20s?

Don't forget: It's just a story being told
Nothing is "overrated". Your opinion is just outnumbered

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"That was then. This is now."

Only people not touched by the "then" say that. The rest know "then" is never really past, it's prologue.

" Growing up in a poor and crime ridden community. "
Let's take that one apart, shall we:
- "Deciding not to becoming a criminal.": turning down easy money when desperate is harder than you think. And when police department profile or have money incentive to ticket/jail poor people (whom happen to usually be dark) on the flimsiest excuses to supplement slashed budgets, it's way harder to stay clean.
- "Get a decent job." And what if there isn't any in the hood? Not all inner cities have massive effective cheap transport system. And if there is, good luck getting it over the 100+ applicants in front of you also looking for that job.
- "Move out of the terrible community.": That takes both money and willingness to leave behind current family. Not an option available to everyone.
- "That story literally happens for millions of people": is that true? Quote a report or anything to back that up. I'm sure it happens eventually over time, but no due to personal willpower or moral character but out of sheer desperation.

"That's the great thing about the United State. Oppurtunity for status groth for everyone. More so today than in the past."

That's mostly a well constructed myth popularised by The American Dream, which is in fact, a dream only for most people. The ONLY reason poor people ain't flooding Western European countries (or New Zealand, Canada and Australia) looking for a better life (you know, the ones that always rank above the US in pretty much everything including quality of life) is because they're closed to mass migration (unskilled poor one). Recent multiculturalism experiment is exactly that: recent. And it's already backfiring big time in Europe.

Seriously, there's more poverty and shattered dreams in the US than you can begin to imagine. Only reason those people don't go back is because it's the lesser evil. And recently they ARE going back (Mexican migration is actually decreasing due to more people realising they're better off back home).

Not saying hard work is not needed, but don't buy into the it's all that's needed, and that anyone can indeed do what you or somebody else can do.

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People just LOVE to make assumptions like that about anyone who has brown skin. It makes some people feel better to think that there is NO way any person of color (especially women) got a great job or was accepted into an Ivy League college without using affirmative action. It's disgusting.

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But he DID get over those hurdles,so it obviously went his way.

Uva Uvam Vivendo Varia Fit

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Its the victim culture trying to puff its chest without thinking it through.

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