Leona Lewis speaks about her recent encounter with racism

[venue_26]

Originally Posted by celeb_2006

Here's the thing.

While I find what she went through abhorrent, I'm not going to hide the fact that there's something about her statements and the way she went about it that kind of off puts me.

It's almost like she's saying, she's never experienced it before, and she never expected to, because of her fame and celebrity status. The fact that her father went back into the store and showed them her CD, it kind of makes me feel that due to her fame, she thought she was immune to racism or something.

Flame me all you want, but that's the impression I get.

Many people of all colors and backgrounds face prejudice, and she's acting like it doesn't exist but only now it acknowledges it because she experienced it first hand.

I thought that was very off-putting at first, too. However, I feel like like her father only did it to give the store-owner a name to pin with the face. He went in saying how Leona was a very nice lady, not a very wealthy and famous one.
No matter what, this breaks my heart. I have no clue how I would have reacted, and no clue on what would have been the 'right' way to react.

[NVash]

I kind of like what her father did. I did wonder about it for a moment and recalled many of my own problems with people. I recall many times where people have walked past me clutching their things or even walked faster thinking I would rob them. I remember one time in particular when this happened, I outwalked them and opened the door for them as I went to walk. I may not be dressed in a three piece suit but I was a dishwasher, of course I wasnt wearing my best. And this is what I think of with her father, doing what I did, repaying their evil with kindness and showing them just how wrong they are. Hopefully they learned, but I doubt it.

YouTube - Racism in the Elevator **Official Video**
YouTube - Racism in the Elevator - Alternate Version - **HD**
YouTube - Racism in the Car
YouTube - Racism at the Bus Stop **HD**
I found these videos amusing.

[kingcap72]

Originally Posted by NVash

I kind of like what her father did. I did wonder about it for a moment and recalled many of my own problems with people. I recall many times where people have walked past me clutching their things or even walked faster thinking I would rob them. I remember one time in particular when this happened, I outwalked them and opened the door for them as I went to walk. I may not be dressed in a three piece suit but I was a dishwasher, of course I wasnt wearing my best. And this is what I think of with her father, doing what I did, repaying their evil with kindness and showing them just how wrong they are. Hopefully they learned, but I doubt it.

YouTube - Racism in the Elevator **Official Video**
YouTube - Racism in the Elevator - Alternate Version - **HD**
YouTube - Racism in the Car
YouTube - Racism at the Bus Stop **HD**
I found these videos amusing.

I get that a lot, people clutching their things or quickly locking their doors if I park beside them. At first, it pissed me off. Now, I just look at it as a sign that those people are giving me far too much power over them, and I just shake my head and sometimes smile.

[yoyoma]

Originally Posted by kingcap72

I get that a lot, people clutching their things or quickly locking their doors if I park beside them. At first, it pissed me off. Now, I just look at it as a sign that those people are giving me far too much power over them, and I just shake my head and sometimes smile.

That is a really positive way to look at it....

[kingcap72]

Originally Posted by yoyoma

That is a really positive way to look at it....

Thanks. Comes with age, though. In my teens and 20's it was a different story. I would get pissed and ask people what the hell their problem was.

[NickiDrea]

Originally Posted by MrsDark

Not to diminish what she went through, but I can second this. I grew up in MS, and I wouldn't have been entirely shocked (though slightly more now than 10+ years ago) to hear a "get your ****** asses out of my store"

I know more than one person my age (i.e. born in the 70's) who's had even worse/more than that hurled at them.

I grew up as one of the only black kids at my school in Virginia in the 80's, and I had worse hurled insults at me as a child. By other children!

Let's not even discuss the racism I got from my teachers at school and people in stores. My parents ended up moving up North because they didn't want me scarred by my experiences (too late).

My dad's stories from living in the back woods of Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement are literally devastating.

But her experience was still terrible. She seems like such a sweet girl.

She, her mom and her dad look exactly alike.

[VenusInFauxFurs]

Originally Posted by kingcap72

Exactly. Her father needs to get some backbone, too. I mean, giving a racist a copy of your daughter's CD is only going to bore them to death, not put them in check.

I dunno, making someone listen to Bleeding Love.. ( my god, she keeps bleeding it..) is a kinda "fuck you" -- but ripping them a new one for being a racist dipshit might be better.

[celeb_2006]

Originally Posted by venue_26

I thought that was very off-putting at first, too. However, I feel like like her father only did it to give the store-owner a name to pin with the face. He went in saying how Leona was a very nice lady, not a very wealthy and famous one.
No matter what, this breaks my heart. I have no clue how I would have reacted, and no clue on what would have been the 'right' way to react.

True, I can see it that way.

[Chilly Willy]

Originally Posted by NickiDrea

I grew up as one of the only black kids at my school in Virginia in the 80's, and I had worse hurled insults at me as a child. By other children!

Let's not even discuss the racism I got from my teachers at school and people in stores.

I lived in Virginia in the 90s and it was the same. I was SHOCKED by the blatant racism the teachers and students at my school displayed.

Thanks everyone for sharing their stories.

[Nothing'sForgotten]

Never heard about her, sorry. But beeing a mother to five I get the same kind of comments too often (not racist, but about my fertilyty etc. and i swear - they hurt like hell...). So I can only sympathize. Poor rich girl