Pranks in da Hood: funny or racist?

[Lanx]

tldr: non black ppl are targeting black ppl in "the ghetto" or "da hood" with pranks that will get a really big reaction in order to get high youtube views.

so these kids who are not black, 1 looks white but they're pakistani go up to black ppl in the projects and ask them a loaded question.

"do you got gats?" and try to sell water guns.

"what time is it?" and take their phone of their hands

the fact that they are still alive to this day befuddles me.

these neighborhoods are scary, probably 20 years ago i'd be near a neighborhood like this picking up a friend so we can hang, but my spidey sense was always off the charts.

lets just see what you guys think.

oh these kids live in bay ridge btw, totally nice and safe neighborhood, actually babysat my nephews here lots, i only know about them cuz, they're causing a ruckus in brooklyn, i think the daily news even said cops told them to stop, or they'll be killed soon.


they go and pull ppls pants up, which of course leads to bad things

they go around asking ppl if they have a problem (that they can solve)

they just go and take ppls phone to check the time

[StylinGreymon]

Racist?
Of course not.

Absolutely silly?
Oh yeah.

[SpAmRaY]

Wow....these guys are really, really dumb.

[RED-404]

I'm just going to go with I'm white, hell I look like Gimly and most of the time if you try this crap on me and I don't know you, you're getting hit something hard.

[StylinGreymon]

Wow....these guys are really, really dumb.

Like fo' real.

[paicrai]

funny? no
racist? no

[Grim Fandango]

Not racist. But I do think it is pretty stupid.

I can tolerate some levels of stupidity if it is legitimately funny. But the biggest problem I have with this is that it is not funny at all. I imagine the only reason people watch this is to see if they get slapped. It is not even intended to be funny. They actually try to get a negative reaction out of people, and when they do, they put it on youtube ("look at how hood these people are"). Look at the comment section. Full of people going "black people ruined America" and all other kinds of negative things. That is because, to get views, these guys do not mind how bad they make others look, or what the consequences of their actions are.

You can do pranks where the people you are playing the prank on can laugh about it. But they are just being annoying and unpleasant to people. You do not have to go to the "hood" for people to be annoyed at some random guy grabbing them around the waist and pulling up their pants. Hell, you can come here to Holland and go to the nicest neighborhood you can find and you will still find people ready to put you in an armlock when it looks like you are trying to steal their phone. Anything for youtube views I guess. Embarrassing.

[noisyturtle]

Dude come on, these are set up as propaganda against black people. It's pretty obviously done is such a way as to portray people of urban origin as irrational and violent.

Even you starting this thread is just another way of eliciting the exact reaction they are looking for, unless you are racist and just posting this thread in hopes that we're all totally blind to this kinda propaganda bull****.

[divito]

Not racist, but definitely stupid. Some really bad things could have happened over something that's really not all that funny.

[intelli78]

As others have said, not racist, but really stupid and not funny either. It's just a matter of time before one of these idiots is seriously injured or killed.

[ApocalypseMaow]

death wish much.

[nubbinator]

Dude come on, these are set up as propaganda against black people. It's pretty obviously done is such a way as to portray people of urban origin as irrational and violent.

Even you starting this thread is just another way of eliciting the exact reaction they are looking for, unless you are racist and just posting this thread in hopes that we're all totally blind to this kinda propaganda bull****.

Pretty much this.  First off, they're not pranks, they're just guys being ****s to people and saying "it's a prank dude, it's a prank, don't beat the **** out of me".  It's like the kid you knew growing up who would spit on your food, trip you, or do other cruel things and say it's a prank.

In this case, the racism comes from the fact that they know this is a largely powerless demographic that doesn't really have a way to retaliate against them outside of violence.  It's no different than blackface comedy.  They're trying to turn black people into a caricature and laugh at the "poor black people", mocking them.  They're an empowered demographic making fun of a disempowered group, at that groups expense, in order to try and get cheap laughs or show them as being violent.

If you think this isn't racist, ask yourself this, why aren't they doing "pranks" like this in affluent neighborhoods?

[SpAmRaY]

^^ because the cops would actually care in affluent neighborhoods

[paicrai]

someone just pop a cap in these ****s
also how far can they stretch the word "prank" i mean some of these "prank" videos out there are like "i killed your mom and ****ed your dog but hey it was just a prank man im absolved of my sins"

[Puddsy]

im gonna roll with dumb

these are people just like us, and they've been raised in "da hood"

when you go and try to fight them, they're ready

someone did this at the project 3 blocks from my house and got the **** beat out of them

it was hilarious

"it's a prank" is never a good excuse

[Lanx]

of course this is racist, i don't see how many of you don't see it that way.

first they're targeting a demographic, lets just be real and say they're trying to target and get the elicit reactions of as many black people as possible, this much HAS to be obvious to ppl? if not, please figure out why you don't see this.

this demographic is largely based in less affluent neighborhoods, in a sense we can say every demographic is segregated by wealth or lack there of.

they're saying, "we gotta film kangaroos, cuz boxing kangaroos are funny, where are we gonna find them? in the UK? nope we gotta goto australia cuz thats where they're all deported to"

look they, themselves live in bay ridge, a nice neighborhood you can freely walk in... full of white ppl and a mix of minorities, they could very well do these "pranks" in their own hood, but they wouldn't get the same kind of reactions, so they have to travel the "bad parts of town"

they're targeting a demographic to get a specific reaction.

goto Redneck america with a sign, "i love ISIS" and wave a black flag, will be a vastly different reaction than doing it in denver co.

[Lurch]

*Lurch sighs

[divito]

of course this is racist, i don't see how many of you don't see it that way.

first they're targeting a demographic, lets just be real and say they're trying to target and get the elicit reactions of as many black people as possible, this much HAS to be obvious to ppl? if not, please figure out why you don't see this.

this demographic is largely based in less affluent neighborhoods, in a sense we can say every demographic is segregated by wealth or lack there of.

they're saying, "we gotta film kangaroos, cuz boxing kangaroos are funny, where are we gonna find them? in the UK? nope we gotta goto australia cuz thats where they're all deported to"

look they, themselves live in bay ridge, a nice neighborhood you can freely walk in... full of white ppl and a mix of minorities, they could very well do these "pranks" in their own hood, but they wouldn't get the same kind of reactions, so they have to travel the "bad parts of town"

they're targeting a demographic to get a specific reaction.

goto Redneck america with a sign, "i love ISIS" and wave a black flag, will be a vastly different reaction than doing it in denver co.

It's pretty easy to not see it as racist, and that's because it's not. And you summed up why yourself, "they're targeting a demographic to get a specific reaction." Is it discriminatory? Sure. Is it purely based on baiting a group of individuals? Absolutely. But you can do a ton of pranks in a lot of different ways to incite poor or violent reaction of all different races, backgrounds and geographic reasons.

Calling it racist is just inflammatory.

[demik]

**** new york

[jdcarpe]

It's fun to watch stupid people get the **** beat out of them. Maybe they will up the ante and actually win a Darwin award.

[hwood34]

The thing is they're not even really in the "ghetto", just slightly less affluent neighborhoods

[vivalarevolución]

If somebody came up to me and tried to pull up my pants, I would think they are attacking me and trying to steal something from me.  I would try to defend myself.  Although I don't understand the whole low-riding things.

If some random person tried to take my $400 phone out of my hands, you bet I would start wailing on them until I got it back.

I would take a little more humor to the math nerd thing, though.


These kids just want some attention for trying to be funny, and the internet is giving it to them.

[Puddsy]

**** new york

it's not even a new york thing

[demik]

**** new york

it's not even a new york thing

but these lames are from NY.