I was innocently watching TV today when I was accosted by, what I took to be, a blatant message of racism. Or was it a clear understanding of a specific demographic? I'm not sure.

I grew up in Oakland. I'm not sure whether it was my 8th grade history teacher telling me Sidney Poitier wasn't black enough for a biography report in celebration of African American History Month or when the Oakland school board promoted me to tri-lingual with the announcement of 'ebonics', but somewhere I tuned into black culture.

If white people won't let certain black stereotypes die, neither will black people. It was in the back row of biology that I learned from a group of black students that African Americans are rumored to enjoy Cool Aid and grape soda more than their white counterparts.

So today I saw an ad for Cool Aid. It opens innocently enough with a black man and his son fishing in a conoe. Suddenly there is a log rolling battle taking place between the Cool Aid man and a bottle of purple soda. So I thought back to Shonn and Perry in the back of that bio class. Is this ad racist? Or is it accurate? Is Cool Aid man battling for African American drinkers?

I believe the future of racism will come down to some of it is demographics. There are differences between cultures and consistent ones at that. Is that racism or simply understanding demographics? I guess the difference would be truth. Is it true? Do black people drink more grape soda and Cool Aid? And if so, is it racist to point it out?

All i know, is this ad made me feel funny inside.