Uno and Black Culture

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 40 and black. Haven't met a white person yet who naturally played Uno or Spades (had to teach on the spot). What about Tunk? 21?

Maybe you need to grow your friend circle. Anecdotal experiences do not mean a whole lot.

Shut up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just don’t understand why things have to be so divisive. I grew up playing uno and spades nonstop with my huge white extended family. Played them extensively in high school and college. Everyone I know plays those games too. Dhs family doesn’t play games, but all my friends do. We regularly held game nights before COVID and everyone knew cards. I hate to say it, but I don’t have any black friends anymore but tons of Asians and whites at my parties and they all play. Why can’t things just be enjoyable without some weird racial slant? Soon people will be telling me I can’t play because cards don’t belong to my culture.

What? Please chill. It's UNO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 40 and black. Haven't met a white person yet who naturally played Uno or Spades (had to teach on the spot). What about Tunk? 21?

Maybe you need to grow your friend circle. Anecdotal experiences do not mean a whole lot.

Shut up.

Now that’s a comeback!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 40 and black. Haven't met a white person yet who naturally played Uno or Spades (had to teach on the spot). What about Tunk? 21?

Maybe you need to grow your friend circle. Anecdotal experiences do not mean a whole lot.

Shut up.

My aren’t we so fragile.

[Anonymous]

Isn't the games' name sort of inappropriate?

I mean, the name of the game means "one" in the Spanish language, so its kinda cringy - in a cultural appropriation way, doncha think? (unless you are Hispanic).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 40 and black. Haven't met a white person yet who naturally played Uno or Spades (had to teach on the spot). What about Tunk? 21?

Maybe you need to grow your friend circle. Anecdotal experiences do not mean a whole lot.

I'm a white person who played Uno and Spades as a child and teenager, but I grew up in a majority black area in the south, so everyone played them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I (a white person) enjoy eating mac and cheese but I can still recognize that it's a significant food for pepole the AA community. It's not that hard to understand.

That doesn’t make Mac-n-cheese a “black thing.” Nobody’s denying that Uno is a part of black culture. But it’s also a part of white culture. Same with Mac-n-cheese, bbq’s, drunk uncles, and big Sunday dinners.

Mac n cheese is a black thing - which doesn’t make it “not a white thing,” but it has a specific black cultural connotation that’s unique. not sure why this is hard to understand?

Because by making it a “[insert race here] thing”, there is an implication that others don’t get it, don’t use it (play it, cook it, etc...) right or haven’t been exposed to it. There are certainly black things and white things (although they are often further divided by ethnicity- Irish things, German things, etc) and most of those haven’t been part of the experience of someone else of another race, but co-opting a standard American card game that all kids were exposed to in some way doesn’t make it a thing.

For instance, one black thing that I learned of was talking during movies at the theater. At first, I was surprised but I learned to appreciate it as it adds such a fun, extra element to watching a movie. Talking during movies is a black thing because it isn’t something most of the rest of America does. Conversely, every freaking one plays UNO and loves Mac-and-cheese at potlucks!

Omg, are you serious? I hate this so much. It’s incredibly rude to everyone else trying to listen to the dialogue. There are theaters I actively avoid because it’s so ubiquitous.

NP. It's enjoyable when the comments are succinct/funny as hell. When people loud-talk because they think they are funny or check their phones/are distracting it sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's tied to cookouts and family gatherings during times of joy and sadness. Spades and dominoes are even worse, tables get flipped, people get cursed out or cry.

Omg and if you’re black, saying you don’t know how to play spades...just go home or to your room. You’re officially an outcast.

This is me. I can play but I don't care and can't read cards so I shouldn't play. LOL

[Anonymous]

I just came her to claim Go Fish and Old Maid for 10 year old white girls. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

This is strange to me. White personal playing uno with friends and family for 25 yrs.

[Anonymous]

Gen X white person who played Uno all through the 80's. Not sure what OP is talking about.

[Anonymous]

I'm black and my family loveeeess UNO. I never really thought it was a black thing but probably. Everytime I tried to introduce a new game we always went back to UNO. Spades is a thing too. I was good at one time, but I've forgotten now.

[Anonymous]

A lot of what is described in this thread (especially the food) has more to do with geography and soci-economics than race.
Sure, certain foods may have been eaten by slaves, but they were also eaten by poor white people, especially in the south. Grits/similar dishes go back to one of the ways native Americans prepared and ate corn hundreds of years ago.

Anecdotally, I’m a white southerner who grew up playing Uno, plays it regularly with my kids/family now, and cooks Mac & cheese as a regular part of our meals (& not because of picky eaters— it’s just a food we like). We also eat cornbread, black-eyed peas and grits, all of which were commonly cooked and eaten by my/my husband’s parents and grandparents.