The Napkin In Between
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The Napkin In Between
Summer is Coming, But The Cookout is CANCELED Indefinitely!!!!
Cancel Zues Network, Cancel the cookout, CANCEL EVERYTHING!!!!! I had an entirely different thing to talk about today, but my morning scroll through social media revealed content that demanded immediate attention—a reality where Emmett Till's name is carelessly used as an insult while others demonstrate complete ignorance about his historical significance. This cultural disconnect ignited a passionate exploration of how historical awareness shapes our present understanding.
Through an unfiltered examination of American history's whitewashing, from misconceptions about Abraham Lincoln to the ongoing exploitation of harmful stereotypes, I challenge listeners to recognize how historical ignorance enables oppression. When we allow our history to be misused or forgotten, we become complicit in our own marginalization.
My frustration extends to problematic trends like claiming white people with ginger hair are somehow "Black" - a bizarre assertion that trivializes actual Black identity while real Black and biracial individuals often have their Blackness questioned. This pattern of simultaneously appropriating and rejecting Blackness reveals troubling contradictions in our cultural conversations about race.
This episode stands as both personal reflection and urgent call to action. It's time to lock in—to educate ourselves, challenge harmful representations, and sometimes, to close ranks until we've strengthened our foundations. As I declare near the episode's end: the cookout is canceled until further notice. Not as rejection, but as a necessary pause for reflection and recalibration. Join me in this honest conversation about finding joy in simple pleasures while confronting the complex realities that demand our attention and action.
Is this thing on? Hello hello? Uh oh, another yapper with a mic. Hello everyone and welcome back to the Napkin Inbetween podcast. I am your host, Daijné Jones. I hope everyone is having a good day, except for that orange drink lady. I also hope people have been spending more time outside because the weather, at least in New York. Hopefully you guys are experiencing this wherever you are, but the weather has been so much nicer recently and I'm so fucking excited.
Daijné:Summer is right around the corner and I want to be outside more than anything. These past couple of days have just been so sunny and so nice and I feel like right now, because I'm bald or don't have much hair, I feel like I'm feeling the sun more than ever right now and I just feel like me and the sun are like this right now For the audio listeners, my fingers are interlinked, like we're locked in for real. Right now, I feel like I'm feeling everything so much more right now, like physically, because of the fact that I don't have any hair, don't have very much hair, and one of my favorite feelings so far has just been the sun on my scalp, like it's just been such a great feeling and this has been the peak of my week is just feeling the sun on my head. I don't know how to explain it. I just feel like we're locked in real bad, and I feel like I shaved my head at the perfect time because the weather is getting nicer and I just feel like I'm feeling everything more deeply like even like my emotions too, and like physically, like I'm feeling the sun deeper and I don't know. It's just been like a really life-changing thing and I'm going on.
Daijné:I think week three, week, I'm a little bit. It's been a little over two weeks since I shaved my head and um, showers, oh my god. The showers are immaculate, the feeling of the warm water, the steam, like I don't know everything. I'm just feeling everything so much deeper and it's been so nice.
Daijné:the only issue that I had was, like when I was fully bald, like the first couple of days after shaving my head, my sheets and my bonnet were the most uncomfortable feeling it felt like I could feel every fabric of my sheets and my bonnet just like seeping into my prefrontal cortex, like literally, it was just the most uncomfortable thing but thankfully that only lasted the first couple of days, and my sheets and bonnet feel fine now but, that was the peak of my week and also because the weather is getting nicer, I got a pedicure, which is a form of self care for me.
Daijné:I love getting pedicures. I get pedicures year round. It had been a couple of months since I had gotten one, though for whatever reason, I just don't know I just didn't go. So it was technically my first pedicure of the year, and I've been going to the same pedicure place for a while now. So when I walked in, they were like where have you been? Like we haven't seen you in months. And I'm like I know, I just I don't know, I just didn't schedule one, but they're so funny because I sat down in the chair and they're like what color? And I'm like, girl, you know what color?
Daijné:like I know you sensed me coming and you went to hide the white. Go back to wherever you hid it and bring the white here. I don't know why I always get white on my on my toes for my pedicures, but it's just white, is just the best color to get on your toes. I can't explain it and it doesn't need to be explained. The girls that get it get it.
Daijné:But I sat down, I'm getting my pedicure and because it had been a couple months, my feet were looking like it had been a couple months.
Daijné:So they pulled out the fucking cheese grater and I I love the cheese grater because it's like, yes, I get all that dry, cracked skin off of my feet, but my feet are so fucking ticklish so I'm sitting there and trying not to like pull my foot back.
Daijné:It's like my involuntary reaction is to like pull my foot back because it's like tickling and my least favorite thing is being tickled, which sucks, because I'm very, very ticklish, but she's like she's grating my feet. I'm trying not to pull my foot back and also, out of nowhere, I like had to pee, so I'm like oh my god, like I'm about to pee on myself because my fucking feet are being tickled. Anyway, love getting a pedicure, so that was definitely the peak of my week as well, just getting a pedicure, and it's just all a reminder to me that it's getting nicer outside and summer is coming and I am going to be outside. I have so many things planned for the summer, things that I want to plan for the summer, so I'm just really, really excited for summer so that's definitely been the peak of my week.
Daijné:As always, I want to hear the peak of your week, something that helped you smile, kept you grounded, just something that you found joy in in the chaos of this world. Speaking of summer, actually I had an entire thing planned for today that I was going to talk about, um, but I saw a video this morning that pissed me clean the fuck off, like I was already pissed off going into watching the video just because of the subject of the video, but then I watched the video and I was like I didn't realize that this situation could piss me off even more, but somehow it fucking did so this morning I woke up in a great mood.
Daijné:I slept really well. Last night I was having some breakfast chilling with my dog and as I'm eating breakfast I'm reading the morning paper. Ie scrolling on TikTok and I happen to scroll past this video.
Daijné:I'm gonna put a clip in here now do y'all think Zeus gonna get shut down because of what Summer said? So they might be canceling Summer for good now with this little clip with a baddie little thing I've been seeing. So Summer was telling somebody that they face look like Emmett Till. Allegedly Emmett Till is a SA victim. The girl was only 14.
Daijné:I I'm so pissed off Like I don't even have fucking words. I am so pissed off. There is so much about this whole situation that is just irking my fucking soul and I had an entire thing to talk about today. I can't focus on anything right now because I have to talk about this, because I am pissed the fuck off. So, first and foremost, I don't watch anything on Zeus, much less fucking baddies, okay. So from what I can gather, from what I've seen online, there's someone on baddies.
Daijné:Her name is Summer and I guess she got into an altercation with someone else on the show like a physical altercation. And after the physical altercation, she was like oh, like, your face looks like Emmett Till. Immediately I'm pissed off. Right, because Mammie Till did not have an open casket funeral to show the atrocities that happened to her son. For y'all to use that shit as a fucking dig at somebody else. Let's start there. How fucking disrespectful is it for you to use the mutilation of a child who was lied on and lynched? You're using that as a dig at someone else. Ronald Reagan is tap dancing in his fucking grave right now.
Daijné:First let me start at the head of it all, which is Zeus Network. I have never watched a single thing on Zeus Network, much less baddies, because I'm so tired of pushing of these negative stereotypes on black women. Is there nothing else that y'all see black women as, other than fucking people who fight each other? Like I just I can't get behind zeus network. I can't get behind anything that's on there, especially baddies. So that's number one that pissed me off. I need zeus network to be off, cancel it, cut the cable, cut the cameras. Like stop supporting zeus network. All it's doing is pushing these negative stereotypes onto black women. There are other ways to show black women right. Black women live in luxury, black women are the most educated group of people in america. Like. We have to stop supporting these networks and these shows that literally just show us as these negative stereotypes that have been pushed onto us. So that's number one.
Daijné:Number two again using Emmett Till as a dig at someone else is fucking, crazy, crazy, wicked, fucking work. But then for someone to get online and not even know who Emmett Till is talking about some he's an SA victim, I just don't have words. Like this shit. I'm so fucking pissed off and I think it's pissing me off so much because Emmett Till and his murder because of the lies of a white woman. I feel like that, thinking back to high school and like learning American history, I feel like that's the only thing that they taught in history that they didn't try to whitewash. You know what I mean? Because so much of American history is whitewashed or they leave out so much of it that it's like this is not true history, like, for example, they talk about how Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves.
Daijné:Abraham Lincoln didn't free shit. Okay, first of all, Abraham Lincoln was a disgusting, fucking racist. Okay, the only reason that he wanted to "free the slaves, I say in quotes, is because he did not believe in race mixing. He viewed slavery as race mixing. He wanted to free the slaves and then he suggested, or wanted, black people to go somewhere else. He did not want them in America. That was one of his main premises or main goals of freeing the slaves. And for the audio listeners, you can't see, but I'm saying this in quotes because he didn't free shit. Okay, his other goal of freeing the slaves was to weaken the South. Of freeing the slaves was to weaken the South. Right, it was a political ploy. He wanted number one, he wanted their economy to be weakened. And number two, he wanted to free the slaves, for them to come and then join the Union Army against the South. It was, it was all for his benefit. It wasn't just to like. He wasn't like this, saint or trying to help black people, or he viewed black people, as you know, equal to white people. He was an extreme white supremacist. He thought that white people were superior to black people and he wanted black people gone or he wanted them fighting in the union army against the states. That succeeded. Also, again, because it was a political ploy. When he "freed the slaves it was only in states that had seceded. So again, it was just a political ploy to weaken the south or to weaken the confederacy. I should say.
Daijné:They talk about the emancipation proclamation and the 13th amendment and how it "freed the slaves, but they leave out the part where there's that little loophole where you can't make someone work against their will unless they're paying for a punishment of a crime, and how that was immediately exploited. And after the slaves were freed, black men were arrested for petty things like loitering and then they were put right back on the plantations. Like they don't teach that in school. They never taught me that in in my high school I don't know if it was just my high school or most high schools, but I feel like people don't know if it was just my high school or most high schools, but I feel like people don't know that information. They don't know that Abraham Lincoln was a disgusting racist and he didn't "free the slaves because he just loved black people.
Daijné:Also another example of them not telling true history George Washington, I always heard in school. Oh, he had wooden teeth. His teeth were slave teeth. Like his, his teeth were from slaves. You know what I mean. So it's like looking back on high school and the things that I learned in high school like a lot of the history is either whitewashed, or it's not the full story, or it's twisted in a way that makes people who are really bad people seem like good people when they're actually not.
Daijné:And.
Daijné:I feel like the only time that I really got an accurate history lesson is the story of Emmett Till and what happened to him. And so for people to be using Emmett Till as a dig or to be like talking about it and not even know who Emmett Till is, that like truly makes my blood boil, because y'all so tuned into baddies, watching baddies, you all the tea, all this bullshit, but you don't know who Emmett Till is. You don't know that he was brutally beaten and lynched and his body was thrown into the Tallahatchie River because a white woman said that he whistled at her, grabbed her, which she then recanted years later. You don't know that an all-white jury deliberated for only 67 minutes to find these men not guilty, only for them to turn around and, because of double jeopardy, be able to admit to the murder and say exactly what they did and sold the story for four thousand dollars to look magazine, which in today's equivalency would be around $46,000. Like you
Daijné:don't know any of this. You don't know that his mother decided to have an open casket funeral so that the world could see what they had done to her son, that he was inrecognizable, that his face was bloated and his body was mutilated? Like I don't know. I don't know. It just really like makes my blood boil because it's like how do you not know? Like did your schools not teach you this? And at this point, like I can't just blame the schools and yeah, fuck, george Bush, because you bitches should have been left behind, but it's like you at some point have to educate yourself.
Daijné:We are in 2025. We have computers that we carry around with us every fucking day, that y'all use to tune into fucking baddies and all this tea, but you don't know the story of Emmett Till. You don't? Like I want to scream right now. I'm taking everything in me not to scream because I'd probably break the sound barrier and burst somebody's eardrums, but like I I'm just so flabbergasted, I don't know, I don't have fucking words and it's just like it's so frustrating and it's so disheartening because shit like this still happens today. Like black people are under attack and have been under attack in this country since they forced us to come here like lynching still happened today, police brutality still happens today. Like we have to fight for our lives to understand our history and to understand how it's still affecting us today, because again, they whitewash and downplay so much shit. I try to show grace, especially to black women, but like fuck, like I can't show grace in the situation. Y'all have got to lock the fuck in. Lock the fuck in. Like what is going on, what is happening? I don't know who to blame, but I need someone to pay for these crimes. Like is it George Bush? Is it social media? Is it high schools and not teaching actual history? Like is it just y'all not caring about history and how it still affects your lives today? It's a mix of all of these things. I think probably, but like fuck, can we please get it together? Like I can't. This is just not real. Like this is not real. There are very few instances where I feel like I've ever been at a loss for words, but this is definitely one of them. Like I don't know what else to say other than lock the fuck in, turn off baddies and turn on PBS Kids, because y'all need so many fucking history lessons. It's not fucking, it's just not real. I need to see zeus network canceled by noon yesterday and everyone who's had anything to do with it. Fuck, every single person who has anything to do with zeus network.
Daijné:I'm so tired of these negative stereotypes. I'm so tired of just like this. It's just bullshit. Like you're just rotting your brain watching this shit. Black women are so much more than that. Like it gets to a point. Are y'all not tired of seeing this shit over and over and over? Brains are being rotted as we speak, like I I'm gonna crash the fuck out. I swear to god, fuck all of this shit. Honestly, fuck zeus, fuck summer, fuck natalie nunn, fuck all those bitches, fuck anyone who does not understand or know history. Like, fuck all of it. This is so fucking stupid. Like I hate you bitches. I really fucking do. I fear that my people will never be free and it it truly makes me sick to my stomach. And also Another thing that's pissing me off this week this whole trend about gingers being black.
Daijné:Wrap that shit up. Wrap this shit up immediately. So this woman made a video and she was saying like gingers are black. Like she was like, if you see a white man with ginger hair, that's a black man, if you see a white woman with ginger hair, that's a black woman. And I thought she was joking at first. Not that that's anything that you should even be joking about. Let's start there. I don't think that's's a funny joke. But then she made a follow-up video and was like really trying to explain. Like she was dead ass, like she thinks if you have ginger hair then you're black and it's just too far, it's just too much. You know what I mean. Like I would say that gingers are the black people of white people, but they're still white people. I would never say gingers are black. That's, that's people, but they're still white people. I would never say gingers are black. That's, that's an insane thing to say, especially when there are black people who are ginger and people question their blackness, especially when there's biracial people. And when I'm saying biracial, I mean like people who are mixed with black, because you can be biracial and not be black, right, but there are biracial black people who people will say they are not black. Like we don't have enough community amongst actual black people for us to now be extending blackness to people who just have ginger hair. Especially we just had Kamala Harris, who people were questioning if she was black. You see what I'm saying? Like there are genuine black people, because I've said this before and I'll say it again and people got mad at me last time and I don't give a fuck, I'm going to continue to say it If you are a biracial person mixed with black, you are a black person. I don't give a fuck. They're black people. But people will question their blackness, but then turn around and tell a white person with ginger hair that they're black. Wrap this shit, the fuck up now. And I'm not trying to like ruin the fun or be a party pooper, but at the same time, like I absolutely have to, because what are we? What are we talking about?
Daijné:Like again, I would say that people who are ginger are the black people of white people because, like for some reason, ginger people are bullied so much by other white people because of their ginger hair, but that does not equate to the struggles of black people or the things that black people face at the hands of white people. I just fear we're losing the plot and I'm like what the fuck is happening? Like does mercury have her micro braids in right now? Like what is going on? I feel like I'm in a fever dream, like it's just we. We have to wrap all this shit up immediately. We have to wrap this shit up because soon as they start to take it too far, and now someone who's ginger thinks that they can say the n-word what, what you gonna do, what you feeling like? You see what I'm saying because I'm already seeing them take it too far.
Daijné:I've already seen videos of them being like oh, I'm ginger and my credit score just plummeted. Or okay, um, I'm ginger, all of a sudden, I'm black. Now I have to go get milk and not come back home. You see what I'm saying? Like now they're already starting to push the negative stereotypes and it's just like I'm so tired of seeing all of these negative stereotypes push. Like at some point, when do we start to realize like some of us in the community are also helping to push these negative stereotypes? We're like co-signing them. Like when do we, when do we finally start to like want better for ourselves too? And I I do feel like the majority of the community does want better, but like the minority that is pushing this is very loud and all it takes is a little bit, especially in a situation like this, with white supremacy and negative stereotypes. All it takes is a little bit and it's still getting boosted.
Daijné:That's that's what's making my blood boil is that people in the black community are enabling and aiding their own demise and like they don't see it, like they don't realize exactly what they're doing, and it's like the, the little minority that's doing it. You're making it harder for all of us, for all of us, and it's pissing me off like we have to lock in. I'm begging you, bitches, to lock the fuck in. I need to take a breath, I need to like go and like meditate or something. So, as we wrap up this episode, please, I'm just begging y'all, lock the fuck in, realize that what you're doing is hurting you. Like you might see it as just fun and jokes and games or whatever, but like it's deeper and more harmful than you might understand, like you're actively enabling and helping your own oppression.
Daijné:That's the only way I can put it like that, because that's that's the only way I can put it like that, because that's that's genuinely what we're doing. Let's be for real. So, moral of the story turn off Zeus, turn off PBS kids. Lock the fuck in and stop being so fucking accepting. I know that sounds terrible like I shouldn't say don't be accepting, but also like it's true. Sometimes we're way too accepting, we're way too nice and we need to. We can, it's okay to gatekeep a little bit, you know, like we can, we can lock in a little bit.
Daijné:We don't have to be so accepting to everyone, especially people who have a history of not being accepting to us and I'm not saying gingers, I'm saying white people as a whole, like they have not done enough work in their community or individually for us to be as inviting as we are. Like not everyone needs to come to the cookout, please. I'm begging y'all actually. Actually, until further notice, the cookout has been canceled. No, no more fucking cookouts. If you're saying, oh, they're invited to the cookout, you are now not invited to the cookout. The cookout has been fucking canceled. You can't come by. You can't get a plate. Don't say you can bring chairs, we don't want your soda cookout's been canceled indefinitely until further notice, because we need to close shop, rework some stuff and then maybe we can reopen.
Daijné:Right now, we just need to, we need to lock in and we need to focus on ourselves. I think that's what more people should do, do we just as communities and as individuals? Let's just focus on ourselves. Too much is going on. Too much is going on. Thank you, guys for tuning into today's episode. I need to go do like a breathing exercise or something, because my anxiety and my anger is like at an all-time high right now. So let's all spend some time offline, touch some grass, maybe read a book or something, turn on pbs kids? I don't know. I just we all. We need to lock in. We really need to lock in. Thank you guys for tuning in to today's episode. I hope everyone is having a good day, except for that orange chick lady, and I will see you guys in the next episode. Peace and love. Talk to you later. The Napkin In Between, hosted by Daijné Jones, produced by Daijné Jones, post-production by Daijné Jones, music by Sam Champagne, and graphics by Isma Vidal . Don't forget to like and subscribe. See you next episode.