Black Power / Yellow Peril

Course tumblr for ENGL2880: Black Power, Yellow Peril at Cornell | Proudly reblogging my students' work | Header Image: Dillo64 (DeviantArt)

[toreadandriot]

Entertainment Media: There is Still Hope

I am assuming that because you all live in this same Eurocentric, patriarchal, heteronormative society that I live in, that what you see on TV shows and in movies aren’t completely accurate depictions of life for most people of color. Though it is at times hard to imagine a protagonist that isn’t a hot white female or a hot white male, we, people of color, should be able to. 

I mean the whole point of entertainment media is to connect to it’s viewers in order to gain popularity. Nobody is going to watch a show that little to no people can relate to right? Entertainment media gains popularity when it connects to it’s viewers. 

And no, I’m not saying that ALL entertainment media is bad. I am just saying that seeing a Latina on screen every once in a while being the protagonist of a show that doesn’t sexualize her by playing with stereotypes would be pretty freaking awesome. 

I mean there is Gloria from the show Modern family who I have to admit, cracks me up a lot. But even her PERFORMANCE is very in line with typical Latino stereotype: hot-headed, loud, dressing in more “promiscous” outfits, heavy accent, and the like. These sorts of characters embody the stereotypes people have about certain groups which in turn brands this type of performance as legitimate. So any Latino that goes for an acting audition nowadays is probably expected to look really hot, have an accent, and act “spicy”.

Often times when the directors, writers, or casting agents of a show or film are white instead of people of color, things get lost in translation and sadly, the result is the inaccurate and often racist portrayal of people of color. Take the movie Straight Outta Compton for example. An extremely offensive casting call made headlines with it’s awful description of the type of extras the movie was looking for. 

….Yea. It makes you cringe doesn’t it? Especially because this movie was about celebrating black artists and retelling their story. The casting agent that made this transcript soon took it down and the production staff told the media that they had no idea that this was a casting call for their movie and that they would change the transcript for extras that they are looking for. However, it just goes to show you that no film is safe from this type of discrimination. It just kinda makes me wonder where people will draw the line.

In an earlier post, I criticized the Suffragette’s movie’s actors for thinking that it was a good idea to wear shirts that said, “I’d Rather Be A Rebel Than A Slave” for a photoshoot promoting their movie. I was so surprised….seriously. DID ANYONE NOT THINK THIS WAS A BAD IDEA?

I mean I love you Meryl Streep but no. Just. No. You were great in Mama Mia, you have a wonderful voice but NO.

And as if Meryl Streeo hadn’t broken my heart enough already, after being asked if she is a feminist or not she goes and says this in an interview, “I am a humanist. I am for nice, easy balance.” 

I mean I get the fact that the whole “Feminazi” thing really drives people away from understanding what feminism really is. And of course I mean intersectional feminism because anything apart from that isn’t really feminism. But still Meryl….you let me down.

In defense of their clearly offensive T-shirt, the quote is actually one said by a white political activist and leader of the British suffragist movement back in the 1870′s. But given the fact that slavery has a very violent history centered around the mistreatment and brutalization of black people in the U.S., it is not the best choice for a slogan. 

As I mentioned in my earlier post:

To equate the white women’s struggle to be able to vote to slavery is just disrespectful. In the time of the women’s suffrage movement, black women were actively excluded from the fight for voting rights. However, women of color had much to do with the movement as well. The movie and the slogan is white-washing the suffrage movement in a way the media tends to do with historical events such as Stonewall.

The slogan that these women are using was one made a hundred years ago by a woman who probably didn’t care about what black women at the time wanted yet it was still used in the promotional campaign for this movie. 

I don’t think that Meryl Streep and her costars knew why their shirt was so messed up but that doesn’t really absolve them of any blame. These women are role models for a lot of people and the fact that they didn’t check themselves and their actions really is messed up. Or at least own up to your faults later and learn to see where people are coming from when they morally criticize you.

In a way this was their own PERFORMANCE. It was a way of depicting white women as slaves to the patriarchy and appropriating another groups’ true struggle of slavery. If these ladies had understood the true merits of intersectional feminism, perhaps they would not have worn those T-shirts. Performances a way of redefining how people view a certain group or person. This Suffragette’s movie is supposed to be empowering to women. However, it seems it will only serve to truly empower white women. 

In Cathy Cohen’s essay “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens,” she writes that she is interested in creating a new form of politics which is inspired by black feminism and their concept of intersectionality which can aid in creating a system where the “non-normative and marginalized people are the base of progressive transformative coalition work.” 

Maybe Meryl Streep should take notes…

In any case, Twitter as always, had a great response to this ordeal and I think successfully and clearly called out these actresses and why the T-shirt quote was so wrong. 

*snaps*

A fellow classmate of mine shared a video from Slate.com titled This is What Happens When Writers’ Rooms Aren’t Diverse. The video couldn’t ring truer. It named four common stereotypes that are portrayed by entertainment media when only white writers are calling the shots:

The Black Guy That Dies First

Let’s be honest. Who hasn’t heard this one? In your typical action movie that has maybe one or two black actors, one of them is always the first to die. The video makes a great point about the fact that the senseless and often insignificant killings of black bodies in movies only reinforces the notion that black lives do not matter. Their PERFORMANCE is limited to being a minor character and then being easily disposed of. What this does is embody the role of black people in U.S. society today. What do people get from this common stereotype on TV? The fact that the death of a black person, often male, is nothing important. 

The Black Best Friend

This friend is your token black friend and the person who gives you advice, who makes you laugh, who protects you from haters, and whose life pretty much revolves around the white protagonist’s life. They have little to no character development and the viewers rarely know anything about their personal life outside of how it relates to their white protagonist friend. As Key and Peele said in one of their skits, the black best friends says one of three things. “Daaaammnnnn”, “No He Didn’t”, or the ubiquitous “Oh HELL NAH.”

This character’s Performance is simply diminishing their character to a funny person who is not the most important character. This leads viewers to absorbe that ideal that black people’s lives aren’t interesting unless they relate to a white person’s life. 

The Weird Foreigner 

This character is most often portrayed by people of color though it is not limited to them. White foreigners are also commonly seen taking up this role. But why can’t a foreign person ever be depicted as normal? Nope, instead they make accidental inappropriate jokes that are often misconstrued because of their funny accents or they just really odd habits. This depiction of foreign people only serves to fuel the xenophobia prevalent in the US. It is true that most depictions of foreigners are funny and just for laughs instead of threatening. 

However, this still is telling the audience that foreign people are different thereby continuing to exclude them. This Performance of “weird foreigners” serves promote the stereotype that foreigners are outsiders to “modern US society” and they cannot ever possibly be accepted therefore they should return from where ever they came from. Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit but this is honestly what it does to people at a subconscious level. 

The Ostensibly Asexual Asian Man

This is honestly so unfair. The emasculation of Asian men has been so prevalent in the entertainment media that it has impacted the way people view Asian men in real life. Going along with the stereotypes of Asian people that suggest they are more sensitive, androgynous looking, wimpy, and nerdy, the entertainment industry leaves little roles for Asian men outside of the nerdy or foreign friend. 

They are often viewed as men who can’t talk to women or men who are extremely awkward. If that’s the only thing you are absorbing about Asian men, how are they supposed to be viewed in any other way by potential romantic partners? On dating apps across the board, Asian men are seen as the least desirable. On the opposite end, Black women are seen as the least desirable as well but that’s another Tumblr post. 

This racist and often emasculating PERFORMANCE that dictates how Asian men are seen continues to exclude Asian male actors from any other type of roles and teach viewers that Asian men are lesser men. 

(Shout out to an actually cool role for an Asian male in the Maze Runner )

The (Often Wisecracking) Ethnic Help

Last but not least…the help. These people are often women of color working for a rich white person who acts ridiculous and is made fun of the the “ethnic help” when they mumble memorably witty jokes at the white person’s expense. But even still, the help is almost always a woman of color. The stereotype that Latina women are often maids and cleaning ladies is very prevalent within this paradigm. 

The PERFORMANCE that these people put on are usually positive since they are always cracking jokes or being sassy but that is all these women on screen amount to. They also have little character development and have very minor roles in the movies. It’s no wonder Kelly Osbourne could so easily and naively say in response to Trump’s idiotic campiagn promises, “If you kick every Latino out of this country, then who is going to be cleaning your toilet, Donald Trump?”

Yea she messed up. But at least she knew that she did! (Hope.)

But even while we acknowledge all these horrible stereotypes ever present in entertainment media, it is exciting to see that the hottest TV shows today are actually those either written or starring people of color. 

Grey’s Anatomy, How to Get Away With Murder, Empire, Scandal, Fresh Off the Boat, and Blackish just to name a few. You cannot deny that comments about these shows are almost always popping up on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.

These shows are epic. 

Friendships are lost and made if you reveal which one is your favorite!

Okay maybe you won’t lose friends over these shows. But it is true that these shows that feature people of color in much more dynamic roles are finally getting the attention they deserved.

In an earlier post, I wrote about Viola Davis’ Emmy win this past year. She was the first black woman to win an Emmy for Best Actress in a drama. Viola Davis is the protagonist of How to Get Away With Murder. Her PERFORMANCE on the show was incredible. She portrayed herself as an empowered, intelligent, and successful woman of color with layers to her personality. It was the type of character that reeled in the viewer and commanded attention and it was beautiful. 

When she delivered her winning speech, she said that, “the only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity” and she thanked the writers that created this role for her that gave her the opportunity to act the way she has an win the award. It was a moving and heartfelt speech and it was an important speech that needed to be heard by all the people of the Academy that were present. 

It is in this way that PERFORMANCE in the acting industry can lead to redefining the way people of color are viewed in the media. This is reminiscent of Stokely Carmichael’s idea that the only way for black people to progress is by first redefining who they are and how they want to be represented. No longer will people of color be viewed as simple, one-dimensional characters that die off easily or make the audience laugh with their weird antics.

I’m looking forward to the next show about a Latina girl who kicks butt and likes to climb trees and hates asparagus and her adventures in the real world after college or something like that. Totally relatable.

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Johnson Museum Trip: Allison Saar’s Coup De Grace.

Assignment ENGL 2880.

https://www.artsy.net/artwork/alison-saar-coup-de-grace

Allison Saar’s artwork often deals with attempting to explore race, femininity, and identity formation. She draws from experiences of the “African Diaspora” and uses the body as well as mythology that perpetuates historical narratives. She attempts to explore the identity of the traditionally marginalized minorities and women. There are many places where her work intersect with our readings in order to further analyze her artwork. Firstly, the term “African Diaspora” must be explored more carefully. In Keywords for American Cultural Studies, we are told the general formula for considering a population as a Diaspora include a strong sense to return to a homeland, a feature that many Afro-Caribbean and Americans may not share. Nonetheless, the word is used to illustrate a gestalt of common experiences amongst those whose ancestors may have come from Africa. Secondly, It is completely understandable why Saar uses mythology to forward narratives that are historical and based on identity formulation. As Eric Lott informs regarding the triangulation of race, “racial structure whose ideological and psychological structure required its boundaries to be continually staged.” By, using mythology Allison Saar is able to break away from racial triangulation and existing narratives regarding the rules and guidelines on how one may identity and perform behavior related to that identity. Saar use of imagery and her motives are extremely powerful in raising a discussion regarding racial identification, especially amongst women minorities. 

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The Rhetoric of Identity and Anterior among African American Muslims and Muslims in Mauritius

Assignment ENGL 2880

Cornell’s very own Dr. T analyzes why some populations use imagined discovery and origin stories when supporting evidence remains questionable. Mainly he compares Muslims in Mauritius who have, against evidence, claimed the island discovery by the Arabs and continue to believe so whilst some African-American Muslim claim themselves responsible for discovery of the American continent. Dr. T reports that this is because “anteriority confers prestige” and that antiquity warrants connection to and possession of a place. He concludes that there is been a similar rise to “politics and the rhetoric of identity”. Using Thuc Phi we can understand that this may be the case as it allows people to construct an “authenticity” to their connection with a particular place and thus further legitimizes group power and identity. Striving for this authenticity is a natural phenomenon and yet it is because it may be too complicated or difficult for individuals to understand their origins from the wide variety and vast multitude of place from which it derives. Also, as according to the writing of Eric Lott, such rituals, historical and mythological narratives may help one to escape from, at least temporarily, the existing racial or group power structures present. 

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Assignment ENGL 2880

The ILR Labor Roundtable held on November 14th brought many union officials together with students to discuss the current paradigm of union-government-society relations. Particularly, Unions feel as if they have become recently more marginalized in society with growing unpopularity, which will prevent them from fully exercising their power to propel minority, gender, disabled rights, and other social issues. Growing issues include progressive labor dynamics in Canada as American counterparts lag behind. The unions were all dedicated to advancing minority issues, prevent marginalization, and seemed highly progressive. The only criticism may be from our readings on racial systems we have completed thus far, that may be used to state that such organizations are perhaps too paternalistic in their outlook on matters and thus in fact reinforce the existing racial power structures to some extent by forward a white savior complex through their desire to rescue the marginalized from rising political problems. James Baldwin argues in his If Black isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What is it? that this may be so because there was never an intention to actually educate Black children, but simply to manage them. Hence, this may be a way to simply manage minorities, their desires, and sequester them into a different place. 

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Each night, I count my brothers. And in the morning, when some do not survive to be counted, I count the holes they leave. I reach for black folks & touch only air. Your master magic trick, America. Now he’s breathing, now he don’t. Abra-cadaver.  White bread voodoo. This systemic sorcery you claim not to practice, but have no problem benefiting from. I tried, white people. I tried to love you, but you spent my brother’s funeral making plans for brunch, talking too loud next to his bones. You interrupted my black veiled mourning with some mess about an article you read on Buzzfeed. You took one look at the river, plump with the body of boy after boy after boy & asked ‘why does it always have to be about race?’ Because you made it so! Because you put an asterisk on my sister’s gorgeous face! Because you call her pretty (for a black girl)! Because black girls go missing without so much as a whisper of where?! Because there is no Amber Alert for the Amber Skinned Girls! Because our heroes always end up shot or shootin-up!

Danez Smith, “Dear White America”

Recently, I attended an event for the IvyQ Conference. I saw Danez Smith, writer and poet, perform some of his pieces in Bailey Hall. 

It was amazing. The way he held the attention of the crowd. The diversity of those present in the room. The passion Danez spoke with. Every single one of his pieces was amazing, but one that I really liked was “Dear White America”. It spoke of all the problems the Black community still faces in America. By the end of this, everyone was clapping. Even those that could not relate to what Black people experience, could in some way, connect to the struggles that having darker skin comes with. Everything that Danez spoke of rings true today. There is so much violence and hate towards Black people. 

This relates to Miles Morales and Spider-Men. Morales is trying to make a statement by changing someone like Spider-Man, who is very well-known and White, into someone of color. This shows that everyone can have the same opportunities and success as a White person. Morales is making a statement by changing Spider-Man into someone that other people can also relate to.

This relates to the keyword Youth. Danez Smith is having a lot of influence on our youth by talking about his experiences and of the issues we have to still solve today. Our youth is the group of people we have to work hard to guide to the right path and are the ones that have a lot of influence. Young people are the ones that are involved in protests, political debates, and social reform because we are the ones that have the power to change it. Danez Smith is someone who is using his power and knowledge to affect other youths like him to start a revolution for change. They are the future.

At the end someone ask Danez “Do you ever feel uncomfortable presenting in front of people who you know will not like the things you say?” He responded with something like I live to make at least one person uncomfortable whenever I’m presenting. I want someone to listen to what I say and not like it, maybe like that it will make a difference. I though that this was very empowering because we should not feel comfortable if everyone is agreeing with us, we have to try to go out there and change the minds and hearts of those that are still filled with hate.

(via darling897)

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During our trip to the Johnson Museum, we saw this painting, 31 Flavours Invading Japan/French Vanilla IV. 

I found this painting very interesting because you can see the Japanese woman struggling with the American influence as well that the Japanese influence. This relates to people who are mixed trying to find their identity. The struggle they face when they are overwhelmed with both sides of their heritage. 

This relates to the keyword globalization and how America invades countries like Japan by bringing over its American traditions and products. In most of thses cases the U.S. is trying to change a country by trying to expand its economy and evolve its government. This is of course not always correct because it is an invasion since most of these countries do not want the U.S. to come and “save” them. America comes to a country not to “save” it, but to actually increase it’s own profit. In this painting we can see how America is attacking Japan with its Baskin Robbins ice cream to try to sell more. Americans have a superhero complex and a need to always be the best. It is overwhelming to be in your country, but at the same times not recognize it from all the influence America is having on it. 

This relates to Sui Sin Far’s “It’s Wavering Image” and how Pan is struggling with Marks influence on her. Mark tries to convince her that she should let go of her Japanese heritage and instead embrace her White roots. Pan is already struggling with her identity, and then a White man comes in and tells her that she is not good enough and should change. This only leads her to cling closer to her Japanese heritage. America has to understand that in order to help a country be more progressive you cannot push your culture on it.

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Private spaces part II

I cannot stress enough the importance of safe spaces for students of color in the educational system. From elementary to college, students are faced with the effects of racism and bias. In elementary through high school in the United States students of color are faced with the threat of police officers in their buildings and overzealous administrators giving out suspensions for minor infractions. In order to maintain one’s sanity, a student of color create a double consciousness, and make sure to be aware of how one is presenting at any given time. This is be exhausting, which is why I feel it is right and necessary for there to be safe spaces for all minority students throughout their educational journeys.

Keep reading

[samiahadams-blog]

Identity and Perception in Media

Perception defines the way in which identity is understood and exhibited in our culture. With media’s role overtaking society as social networks expand, differing stereotypes and ideologies are exhibited on a public platform. News sources that are meant to be trusted and entertainment media that construct our interests prevail over the way in which people see both themselves and others. 

The PBS video “Why Greater Diversity is Good for Hollywood’s Bottom Line” interviews Dr. Hunt whose research discusses the importance of on-screen diversity in terms of the way viewers perceive their own opportunities as well as how they frame other races and argues that diversity’s positive impact on the bottom line will lead executives to make a change. When Viola Davis was the first African American woman to win the Emmy for Best Actress she said, “you cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.” Dr. Hunt, chair of the Department of Sociology at UCLA and head of its center for African American studies, remarks that greater diversity in roles is not just important on an equality status but that that the on-screen notion that white males are in charge reinforces these ideals in the minds of the consumers and particularly effects minority youths, who may be discouraged from aspiring to certain careers and opportunities due to the lack of role models.

Dr. Hunt also argues, “people learn a lot about what they think they know about other people from what they see in the media. If they see certain types of images reproduced over and over again from other groups that limit them to narrow types of roles and portrayals, they start to take those prejudices into their interactions with those people in real society.”  This leads to issues such as racial profiling based on the fear of black youth, which links back to images in the media. When understanding media as a keyword, we see how it “creates a sense of identity” for its users and many focus on this before looking into its role as a “purveyor of harmful stereotypes and violent images.” This dichotomy translates into how executives only consider the white sense of identity. However, Dr. Hunt found that “TV shows that roughly reflect the diversity of American society—that is, between 30 and 40% diverse on the screen—on average had the highest ratings.”  Dr. Hunt included the white, male executive boards in his research so that they were forced to read his findings and argues that by connecting diversity to “dollars, to shareholder values, suddenly it becomes more of an imperative.” 

While I find it problematic that executives will not have the incentive for more diversity on screen unless it is linked to revenue, I think this is a really realistic plan. It exemplifies the way in which the majority white, male executives who are privileged—and in this case extremely wealthy and highly powerful—on all aspects of their identity have never had to contemplate issues of diversity, as it does not affect them firsthand. Linking their own life in terms of the bottom line to the issue of inequality allows for those of the agent group to see the way in which equality actually benefits both sides. Dr. Hunt successfully exemplifies the importance of diversity as the viewer’s perceptions leak into their own life effecting their personal choices and the way in which they view racial hierarchy.

  Like Viola Davis, Serena Williams faced many obstacles based on the stereotypes of African American women in her fame as not only a tennis player, but as an athletic media icon. In the New York Times article “The Meaning of Serena Williams” Claudia Rankine notes that Williams has earned 21 Grand Slam single titles and only lost 4 times in the 25 times she played in the finals. She has been called “a phenomenon that once every hundred years comes around” by the former top female tennis player. And yet, Williams has been critiqued about her body and given too many bad calls. While Williams is much more successful than Maria Sharapova on the court, the blonde, white player is seen as more marketable, as she is a visual representation of white ideals.  

In regards to the keyword, Empire, we understand the United States as an as the language of control was changed to that of a “manifest destiny” where colonizers were just “chosen people in promise land.” This rhetoric is similar to Frederick Douglas’s references to “American Exceptionalism” in The Myth of Yellow Peril in which he holds African and Asian Americans to white colonial ideals, seeking integration in exchange for the group’s cultural identity. The idea of the U.S. as an Empire, in which the settlers changed the language of their colonization to manifest destiny as the “chosen people in promise land,” is similar to Frederick Douglas’s American Exceptionalism rhetoric in “The Myth of Yellow Peril”. Douglas exemplifies the way in which African and Asian Americans are held to white colonial ideals and seek integration in exchange for the group’s cultural identity. Thus our empire, ruled by white, colonial ideals shapes the way in which extremely successful black athletes and celebrities must go above and beyond. 

As Rankine writes, “Only after they give 150 percent will white Americans recognize black excellence for what it is.” Or in other words, working harder to get past the “veil” and win in a white world. But Serena Williams “won’t go gently into the white light of victory” she speaks back against racism, deciding not to follow the script of silence and within that, rejecting the ideals of American Exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny. Williams openly yells at the crowds and curses out the lineswoman, exposing her true emotions of joy, humor and rage, without fear of how she will be regarded. Serana Williams exemplifies the way in which media’s allotted roles for racial diversity dictate perceptions and thus figureheads who challenge these steryotypes must work all the harder to attain the reception of their white peers. As Dr. Hunt argues, while media stifles William’s visibility, she reaches fewer viewers as a role model or a positive personification of her race.     

Media’s multitude of roles—on screen and in the news—collide in the depiction of the Stonewall Inn riots. The Stonewall Inn riots have become known as the beginning of the gay pride movement and recently were depicted in the film, Stonewall. Stonewall triggered conversation on how rioters were portrayed—or not shown at all—and linking back to the event’s history of divergent reportage. In 1969 the Stonewall riots were mainly treated as a local news item, and a day later, on June 29, the New York Times wrote an article titled ‘4 Policemen Hurt in “Village” Raid: Melee Near Sheridan Square Follows Action at Bar.’ The article continues on to say, “Hundreds of young men went on a rampage in Greenwich Village shortly after 3 A.M. yesterday after a force of plainclothes men raided a bar that the police said was well known for its homosexual clientele. Thirteen persons were arrested and four policemen injured.” The article mentions the name of the bar and says that the police had a search warrant to investigate reports that liquor was being sold illegally, remarking all the ways in which the “the young men” were violent towards the cops. 

TIMEs looks at how the riots were covered over the years and notes that the words Stonewall Inn began to appear more frequently in the press as the movement became more mainstream as well and it was not until the 1980s that the phrase was more commonly used. In the New York Times article the protesters were all noted to be “young men” while much of the anger over the recent movie formulates around the fact that the transgender minority protesters were some of the main contenders yet were not depicted. As discussed in Cohen’s article on queer theory, this language depicts the way in which historically, the sexuality or race of the protesters was not seen as important to note or there wasn’t common understanding of queer terminology. Reflecting on the movie, it shows how a historical depiction is thwarted by discomfort that still holds true today in mainstream media. Cohen’s argument proves necessary, as it was a protest going against the power, and the people who, in their identities are going against heteronormativity, that had the strength to spark a movement. 

These three narratives of identity touch on the complexities of perception and media’s role in our lives. Looking back on the Google auto-fill discussion, we see the way in which people rely on technology and social media to teach them about different identities. Whether intentionally searching for answers on Google or just digesting shows, movies and articles, people are learning about other races as well as their own race’s role in society. With more actresses like Viola Davis and athletes like Serena Williams defying the odds, faulty media perceptions like that of Stonewall will be of less and less significance. As Dr. Hunt makes clear, not only are these changes necessary for equality, but they benefit money-making industries as people actually enjoy viewing diversity at play. 

Society and media go hand in hand and while issues persist in one forum, they will continue to flourish in the other. They play as building blocks off of each other, where perceptions come to light in society and are reflected in media, which tends to pick on stereotypes or depict extreme circumstances that are then played out and feared in society. This continues along in a circle that only changes when, as Dr. Hunt exposes, the institutional and structural levels of oppression, held by the executive board of white males, makes changes. The result of this cycle can be captured in Claire Kim’s “Racial Triangulation of Asians” graph that exposes the way in which society has come to understand different racial groups. Asian Americans are seen as “inferior” to Whites but “superior” to blacks and sit much closer on the spectrum to that of a “foreigner” than Whites and Blacks who are considered “insiders.” This simplification of a complicated process of immigration, slavery, oppression, education, economy and countless other factors depicts what has become the structural classification of race in America. Every identity group could be graphed on a similar chart, showing the way in which society and media collide to divide people. 

In connecting and interpreting such different stories I see how this course allowed me to see the connections between identity groups. I loved the way in which, beginning with the very first class, we were very upfront about the topic of race and didn’t tip toe around things that are often seen as too “politically incorrect” to discuss. In particular I remember a discussion of the N-word and everyone being so open to voice their opinions on the matter. Our class was made up of a diverse group of people which really allowed for everyone to contribute their own experiences and the discuss things that they connected to. I learned that issues of race are articulated in so many formats as a means of expressing the complexities of these topics. 

In analyzing all forms of sources from online articles, to video games to scholarly readings, I saw the way in which these issues span across so many mediums and topics. I remember being shocked to learn that photo film was not made to capture an array of skin tones and that developed images incredibly darkened the color of black people’s skin. The color correcting of the film had to be changed to articulate different tones. This struck a cord as pictures are such a personal and positive thing and yet, those with darker skin were excluded from even this. This brings me to the thought that nestled in the back of mind throughout this class: as a white woman privilege was given to me and even though I care about issues of race, there have definitely been many times when I have been able to overlook the pains and problems that others face. Throughout the course I tried to approach this thought by being open to learning as much as I can about the complexities of race rather than feeling guilty.

[toreadandriot]

Earlier this year, my college class visited the Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection to look and read through documents and media from the WWII era as well as the 1960′s US to observe and try to decipher the history African Americans and Asian Americans experienced during these trying times.

In the collage picture above there are four photos that are juxtaposing the differences and comparing the similarities of the types of protests that were and continue to be prevalent in the US in relation to the injustices being committed at the expense of people of color. 

In the library were countless photos of protests that took place back in the 1960s-1970s each showing the types of posters people held up and the type of people that held up those posters. In the above two pictures of the collage are photos from the Collection. People are carrying posters that say, “Hired Killers not Wanted” or “Jail the Cops Not the People.”

The two bottom photos show how people today are reacting to and protesting against issues of race that people of color face today. The people in the bottom photos are holding posters that say, “Stop Police Brutality” or “Am I Next?” or “Would You Shoot Me?”

It is scary how similar the posters are, at least in connotation.To many people today, the protests against police brutality in the US are seen as a “war on cops”. This is simply just an excuse in order to protect cops from accountability. The issue lies in the abuse of power on the part of law enforcement in the US.

It begs to question how the word TERROR should be defined within the context of a national problem. It has often been used by the government and the established powers that be in the US as a way of instilling fear in citizens of those deemed as adversaries. However, today it is now being rightly used by citizens to mean those institution or groups that attempt to hurt or oppress other groups within the US. Modern state violence exists and the police are once again being seen as terrorists, and rightly so. 

Today is not uncommon so see a couple dashcam videos popping up on Facebook and Youtube featuring another power tripped police officer brutally murdering innocent people of color. 

We have come so far in many way since the 1960s. We’ve got more advance technology, we have a black President, we’ve got Social Media as a new platform for social activism. We’ve got more superhero movie remakes than we can count on our fingers!

And yet, the posters in the pictures of protests taking place in the 1960′s could still be used on the streets today. Why is that?

We’ve got a lot more to go as a society.

[larry-gibsoncu-blog]

                              The Foundation of NATION

Keywords for American Cultural Studies dives into commonly used words in order to find not only simple meaning, but complex and historical usage of the term. Keywords chooses words that have multiple definitions depending on perspectives and context in which the term is used. The term “Nation” is one of the keywords on display in the book and on display throughout the English 2880 course, “Black Power, Yellow Peril”. Nation is used today by Americans to define a country, usually the United States. “The Pledge of Allegiance” gives many Americans their first exposure to the term in grade school when they proclaim that they are “one nation under God”. In that sense, nation refers to the United States as a collective for all citizens within. However, nation has received various definitions throughout the history of the United States of America. The term evolved throughout history in order to match what American society was facing. The term “nation” has evolved from meaning of “common descent” to one that deals with additional factors such as common language, politics, culture, history, and occupation of the same territory. The conflation of race and nation, ideas of race and racist ideologies, principles of inclusion and exclusion, constitutive forms that enabled national hegemony, and the historically reciprocal relationship between racism and nationalism can be seen as reasons for such change. In order to demonstrate the evolution of the term, I will use three Tumblr posts relating to Dr. Dre’s song entitled “Animals”, an Ole Miss football player’s reaction of the Confederate flag, and a video entitled “the Myth of Meritocracy”.

At its very roots, the term “nation” refers to a group of people who share similarities in land occupation and culture, but as time passed, the term morphed in order to suit the population in which the United States was founded for. The video “Myth of Meritocracy” is a great visual for the term because the video begins a century before the term was defined. Nation stems from the Old French word nacion which was synonymous with birth, rank, descendants, relatives, and origin. In the short video, a white man and woman and a black man and woman all begin at the same start line for a race. The race begins in the year 1400. When the gun goes off to start the race, only the two white individuals are allowed the begin the race. The beginning of the race corresponds with the first definition of “nation” because only the individuals of common, Anglo-Saxon descent are able to start the race. After all, the United States as a nation was founded for people of Anglo-Saxon descent so the two black individuals were essentially not even in the race yet. As years tick away in the video, the white individuals are taking advantage of the “unique limitless future” that Alys Eve Weinbaum speaks of in Keywords regarding the characteristics of a nation. Meanwhile, the black individuals are being subjected to the “unique immemorial pasts” such as slavery, broken treaties, genocide, and Manifest Destiny that also characterize a nation.

One item that characterizes the immemorial, immoral past of America is the confederate flag. The symbol is highly scrutinized due to the racist ideologies and the principles of inclusion and exclusion behind it. Weinbaum used both reasons of scrutiny in her review of the term nation because they exemplify why nation has come to such a definition in the United States. An Ole Miss football player named C.J. Johnson explained how he felt in relation to Ole Miss fans that bring confederate flags to games. Johnson explained;

  “It sickens me when I see (a Confederate flag) on people’s cars on campus. If you have the Confederate flag on your vehicle, you have a problem. And I don’t care if it’s socially what you believe in or it’s morally what you believe in or you’re just doing it for s—s and giggles. It’s just the fact of what it stands for. It’s almost like you might as well put a tag on the front of your car that says ‘n—–.’ That’s really what it boils down to. You might as well just put a big tag on the front of your car or hang a big flag on the back of your car and just say the N-word.” 

The confederate flag is explained as a piece of “Southern Heritage” by people who wish to defend the use of it without readily acknowledging the slavery issue attached to it. However, slavery and its racist ideologies have formed the nation. For instance, in the book Kindred, racism not only defined the way people treated one another, but it also decided their places in society. Blacks were slaves and whites were seen as owners, even when it was not the case with Dana’s husband Kevin. Because Kevin was white, he was included in the nation whereas his black wife Dana was excluded from it and deemed a slave. C.J. Johnson argues that the use of the confederate flag is a reminder of a time in which he would’ve been excluded and seen as a slave in the same nation that he calls home today. The sight of the flag angers him, but the immoral past cannot be removed from a history that shows a reciprocal relationship between racism and nationalism.

“Myth of Meritocracy” picks up with the white individuals inheriting wealth from their ancestors while the black individuals are still being held at the starting line by historic events such as Jim Crow laws, segregation, Dread Scott, discrimination, and more constitutive forms that enabled national hegemony. Even though blacks were freed in 1865, they were not allowed to begin the race until 1964 in the video. 1964 marked the end of segregation and the beginning of equality in this nation. However, historical precedents still negatively affected the black community as they tried to better themselves. For instance, Mao wrote in 1963 that “This year, the American Negroes-started their struggle early in April in Birmingham, Alabama. Unarmed and bare-handed Negro people were arrested en masse and most barbarously suppressed merely for holding meetings and parades against racial discrimination”. Even though blacks were finally able to compete in the race against white individuals at that point, they were still hindered by storms such as discrimination and poor schooling. Underemployment and incarceration were the next obstacles faced by black individuals in the nation-race. In the video, there is a huge crowd that is viewing the entire race and none of them seem to even notice the disparity in obstacles between the white and black individuals. It seems as though the poor treatment of blacks in comparison to whites is the national order of things.

Moreover, the historical reciprocity of racism and nationalism seen in the video is also seen in the Carmichael reading and the Dr. Dre song. In Pat Casey’s Tumblr post, he quoted Carmichael in saying “The society either pretends it does not know of this latter situation, or is in fact incapable of doing anything meaningful about it”. The society or nation pretends that there is no problem because the white side has been running such a different race that they are incapable of imagining what is going on for the black side. The two groups within the same nation are culturally different due to predating events that have come to define their position in the nation. Dr. Dre’s lyrics in the song “Animals” also demonstrates this phenomenon when he raps:

“Bullets still ringing, blood on the cement

Black folks grieving, headlines reading

Tryna pay it no mind, you just living your life

Everyone is a witness, everyone got opinions”

The lyrics portray the barriers faced in the black community and the lack of attention it receives from the rest of the nation. It is as if the blacks are a lower or inferior group of people even though they exist in the same nation. Dr. Dre further describes it as being looked upon as an animal because in order to be under the same nation, one first has to be of the same species. Therefore, he is saying that the white community views him and his community as an entirely different nation due to differences in culture and species.

“Animals” also draws upon the double consciousness that Dubois spoke of that blacks had to develop in this nation. In the song, Dr. Dre raps about being a problem when he exclaims:

Damn, why the fuck are they after me?

Maybe cause I’m a bastard?

Or maybe cause of the way my hair grows naturally?

Still tryna figure out why the fuck I’m full of rage,

I think I noticed this bullshit right around the fifth grade

Not only does Dr. Dre recognize the difference between himself and others in the nation, but he recognizes it at a young age just as Dubois did when Dubois stated:

[B]eing a problem is a strange experience,—peculiar even for one who has never been anything else, save perhaps in babyhood and in Europe.  It is in the early days of rollicking boyhood that the revelation first bursts upon one, all in a day, as it were.

In this nation, one notices that natural/national order of things early in life as if it’s a trait imprinted into the DNA. The fostering of malice and rage in the hearts of blacks may not have been the sole purpose behind the definition of nation, but it is definitely a cruel side-effect that is unavoidable even for youth. “Animals” speaks of the divide in the country between races of the same nation. As a result of centuries of societal and political pressures, two differing cultures have emerged and it would take a national awakening to bridge the gap.

In conclusion, the reality experienced in the United States today is a culmination of national history stemming from the foundation laid down by Founding Fathers and their ideals. Racist ideologies did not incidentally lead to national hegemony and unrest between races. Dr. Dre’s “Animals”, the article reflecting C.J. Johnson’s response, and especially the “Myth of Meritocracy” video express the journey of the term “nation” from an American perspective. The struggle faced by a minor portion of our society is not the result of a series of unfortunate events, it is a result of the American blueprint. The evolution of nation from an inclusive definition similar to that of race to an exclusive one dealing with culture, politics, land occupation, and more should lead any American to question whether they really live in one Nation under God. Honestly, it wouldn’t be the only lie in the Pledge because there’s also that tidbit about liberty and justice for all…..

[darling897-deactivated20190901]

Diversity = Threat to Society

In America diversity has been seen as a disadvantage and a problem because people have a problem adapting to all the different people in this country. 

There is a huge lack of resources and opportunities for minorities due to people not being able to adapt to the diversity that comes with minorities. This is caused by people not understanding the meaning of  diversity. Diversity is commonly used as a term to reference the difference between all humans. In America, these human differences have been used to separate people with “desirable” and “bad” forms of diversity, which creates hierarchies that group people into how valuable their differences are. In 1924, during debates over the passage of the Johnson Reed Act, people believed that: 

“progress cannot be built on mongrel melting pots, but it is based on organized diversity of relatively pure racial types” (Burgett and Hendler, Keywords for American Cultural Studies)

 Diversity and race have worked together to define the White race as superior to every other race. The differences between people are seen as a threat to people who are already scared of minorities. There are so many minorities because everyone who isn’t part of the White race is seen as having flaws. We should be appreciating these differences and adapting to them, so that everyone is comfortable with their differences. 

People of color are facing discrimination in the following industries: film, clothing, makeup, medicine, tech, television and others due to the misunderstanding that diversity isn’t a problem. They do not know the meaning of diversity. Diversity threatens people because it threatens their spot at the top.

An example of diversity being misunderstood is of American actor and filmmaker Matt Damon. 

In September of this year, Matt Damon shutdown filmmaker Effie Brown, a Black woman, to explain diversity to her. Brown was helping Damon and other White producers judge some finalists for HBO’s Project Greenlight. As the only Black person and one of two women in the room she brings up a question about diversity in the film. She knew that is was her responsibility to bring this point up as the “token” Black person on the panel. Damon not only Mansplains, he also Whitesplains what diversity is. Damon responds with 

“When we’re talking about diversity you do it in the casting of the film not in the casting of the show.” 

Which means that we can be diverse in Hollywood, but only by having some actors of color, not by letting people of color actually produce and direct a film. Damon has no idea what diversity is, like many other White people out there.The video displays how hard it is for someone who doesn’t understand diversity explain it to you. 

Black people have never had the power to do anything for themselves. A prime example can be seen in movies where all the producers are White, and they hire some actors of color to play stereotypes of Black people. This is not what diversity is. You can’t have diverse people of color acting and not producing or directing. Another point that Damon made was that yes there can be diversity in the production team, but it was not for this specific film. This is the whole “separate but equal” issue that yes Black people can direct their own movies, but not alongside White directors. This connects to slaves having to include a letter from a White abolitionist in the beginning of their testimonies to backup their claims. Harriet Wilson changed this in Our Nig. Wilson doesn’t start her book with a letter from White people like most books. She took a stand by writing a book and not asking White people for permission. Why should they need someone to back them up? This connects to the keyword literature, since it is a form of oppression because Black people could only publish what Whites allowed them to. We are still experiencing this oppression in Hollywood today because even popular shows that feature Black actors are directed and produced by Whites. Even when Brown brought up her concern about only having one Black person in the film, Damon rudely interrupts her and doesn’t even let her finish. White people have a hard time understanding diversity because they don’t let someone with a different perspective of what diversity is explain it to them. 

Another area people of color have issues in is within the makeup and clothing industry. There’s very little diversity in the variety of styles available because they are made with the needs of White people in mind.

In the first Buzzfeed video, makeup artist BelladeLune tries clown contouring on three women; one White, one Asian, and one Black. The two light skinned women look great after the make-over, but it doesn’t compliment Daysha, the Black women. The makeup artist obviously wasn’t prepared to work on a person that was not light-skin. She used light makeup on her dark face. This goes to show how people today still don’t know how to prepare themselves to work with people of color. There are many issues that arise from this because it is very sad to see someone very excited for a makeover and then be super disappointed because their makeup is so unflattering. It’s even more troublesome because Daysha is not even that dark, but BelladeLune didn’t have anything to match her skin tone. People need to learn how to work with people of color so this doesn’t happen again. 

In the last two Buzzfeed videos, Black women try on two types of undergarments. At first women try on undergarments that are way too light for their skin. They feel very uncomfortable and would rather not wear them at all. Next, the women try undergarments from a company in England that has a variety of colors to match everyone’s skin tone. The women feel more comfortable and are happier with the outcome. They talk about how there are a lot of things that are not available for people with darker colored skin, which shows how society still hasn’t completely accepted people of color, and don’t include them when trying to come up with new items.

Small things like this are what make people feel excluded in their society. People need to be more conscious and stop being colorblind. We need to offer people of color more opportunities so that they feel accepted. There’s a threat that comes with having people feel comfortable where they are. In this society minorities are always watching their back because you never know what might happen. There is this fear that is not only caused by violence, but also just by small things like clothing and makeup because people do not feel at home.

People of color have a hard time adapting to society because they don’t have the same things offered to them as Whites. They also have a hard time with their identity because there is a lack of materials presenting diverse versions of American history. Fear of people actually learning more about themselves and talking about the issues that are still prevalent from the past are what causes White people to avoid talking about the history of other groups. They do not want to give credit to the people who suffered for their freedom and fought alongside Whites for their country. Having a history makes it easier for people to say that they have roots in America and that they belong here. The focus in White history makes it easier for people to believe that they don’t belong.

This is connected to the keyword time and how we try to distance ourselves from history, even though the consequences of these huge events are still prominent. I think we need to focus on our history and learn from it. Just because this happened anywhere from 150 to 20 years ago, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter and people aren’t still suffering from it today. We can’t keep sugarcoating these horrible things that Americans did to their own people. Minorities are prevalent in America because White people keep pushing their history along with the people beneath them.

We have some focus on Black history because Americans made them slaves, but we rarely learn any other history, especially about the internment camps, the Bracero Program, or the Asian Exclusion Acts. Even when we do, it’s focused on why we had to intern these groups of people, why these people had to leave and were a threat to society. In history textbooks you never read about every perspective, only the White one because they don’t want you to know the whole story. In the media we never see any Asian issues being covered. I feel like people don’t really understand the fact that Asians are a minority. Just because Whites believe that most of their diverse differences are good, doesn’t mean that they don’t also suffer. We should be learning about everyone’s history in this country, to better understand the issues that all minorities face.

As Claire Kim explains it in the diagram above, racial triangulation is an issue that sets up minorities against each other because White people are threatened by the diversity they offer. Every group that is not White is shown their “disadvantages” and “bad qualities” so that they try to change and adapt, but this only makes minorities try to be something they are not. It only encourages stereotypes and tension between minorities.

One of the stereotypes that is promoted by the American system and White people is that minorities are uneducated and not qualified to be in fields like medicine. The main issue that comes up is that there isn’t a huge presence of people of color practicing medicine. This causes people of color to be treated in hospitals by people who are not like them, White people. Not having any diversity in this field causes people to be misdiagnosed and completely misunderstood. To solve this issue we need to encourage more people of color to practice medicine because they understand that race is a social experience, not just a biological fact that predisposes certain patients to certain diseases. 

This article called “How Doctors Can Confront Racial Bias in Medicine: To tackle it, doctors need to think hard about what it means to be “objective”” By Rachel Pearson is about a recent study that shows that doctors were far more likely to fail to order medication for a person of color.

“Doctors are less likely to diagnose Black patients with depression yet more likely to diagnose psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. Hispanic HIV patients are twice as likely to die as White HIV patients, and Black HIV patients are less likely to get antibiotics to prevent pneumonia. There is, however, one procedure that doctors are more likely to perform on Black patients: amputation.”

Doctors are more biased when diagnosing someone because of their race. This connects to The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston. Brave Orchid is a doctor, yet she can’t practice medicine when she come’s to this country. Instead she has to work in jobs that require no education. This also connects to how easy we found it to diagnose her with some kind of mental issue when we couldn’t relate to what she was saying. This ties in with the keyword modernity and how people who are educated and more “progressive” are supposed to be more advanced. You would think that someone like a doctor would be objective and not be influenced by race. We are supposed to be more open and understanding because we live in such a liberal country, yet we let people die all the time because we still cannot embrace all the different races.

The study found that being uncomfortable is what drives most doctors to rush out of encounters with patients of other races. There’s another study in The Atlantic called “How Racism Creeps Into Medicine” by Hamza Shaban, which concludes that there are differences in the quality of care in hospitals between a Black and a White person. But the differences are very small. There has been so much improvement made in this area. Now a Black person in a hospital is treated almost as well as a White person. Blacks in hospitals are treated twice as well as they were 10 years ago. This is of course still not what we want. We want equal treatment for all races. There are still many hospitals that do not treat all their patients the same because of their race. Even though the quality of care has improved, the treatments have not. 

Another stereotype that is promoted is that there is no need for diversity in an industry as long as the business is successful. Kathy brings in the issue of the lack of diversity in the companies in Silicon Valley and how people don’t believe that is an issue. 

Brian Hall’s Forbes article “There Is No Diversity Crisis In Tech”  stresses meritocracy as the sole key to succeeding in Silicon Valley. Hall says:

“The success of Silicon Valley is not due to diversity — or to any bias. Rather, to brilliance, hard work, risk taking, big ideas and money.”

To say that Silicon Valley’s companies are “swimming in money and success” and that all it takes to join this crowd is just a little bit of hard work is to completely be oblivious to his privilege as not just a White American, but also a White male. The ability for one to showcase his/her “brilliance, hard work, and risk taking” are severely limited to and by the venture capitalist investors who decide what projects to fund. Dexter Thomas notes that a majority of these investors are male and White: “92% of senior investment teams are male, and 78% are White.” Naturally, the lack of diversity is a huge factor in which entrepreneurs’ projects get funded. On top of this, VC investors are a close-knit group who’d rather hear about potential projects via introductions from a mutual friend than consider blind applications. Brian Hall says:

“Silicon Valley doesn’t just create greatness, it’s probably the most open, welcoming, meritocratic-based region on the planet. Anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that disproportionately more Chinese, Indians, and LGBQT succeed in Silicon Valley than just about any place in America. Guess what? Everyone earned their job because of their big brains and ability to contribute. Is that you? Then come here! It’s an amazingly inclusive place.”

Hall truly believes that there is nothing wrong with not having diversity in the staff at Silicon Valley. He doesn’t see a problem with not having any people of color or women working alongside him. This goes along with people not understanding the importance of diversity. Having people of color will only help your company, diversity is not a bad thing. We need to show people that diversity should not be seen as a threat, instead people should embrace our differences.

The main reason why diversity is seen as a threat is because White people do not want to see people of color around them, being successful and good at the same things they are. Jorge brings in the example of White people freaking out when they see more than one person of color in a movie.

There is a hashtag called #BoycottStarWarsVII that was started because one of the lead actors in the new movie is African American. All of this rage over a Black main character in the new Star Wars movie has brought out the old complaints about Black comic book characters. In the linked tweet, the picture shows a then and now comparison between the previous star of the Star Wars series (Luke Skywalker), the White versions of Captain America, Spider-man, and Colonel Nick Fury, in contrast with the new star of Star Wars, and a Black  Captain America, Spider-man, and Colonel Nick Fury.

I realize that only a very small, but vocal, minority take issue with Black characters rising to prominence, but the fact that people like this still exist at all is disconcerting. The rise of these characters is labeled as #whitegenocide, as can be seen with the #BoycottStarWarsVII movement. These protests are a sign of a greater problem on the road to equality. White fear. There are some White people, though certainly not all, that are afraid that they will lose their rights and privilege if other groups reach equality. Of course, they don’t see it as minority groups being brought up, they see it as Whites being pulled down. Until this fear is eliminated, there will always be resistance to equal rights.

White people being scared of people of color being in comic books and movies, they think that they are starting to take over their world, and before they know it Whites will not be at the top anymore. This connects with people of color not having anything to relate to or opportunities to connect to someone like them in books or on screen. 

Overall, the threat that diversity poses to White people is huge. Whites believe that by making others feel less worthy, uncomfortable, and not giving them the same opportunities, they will keep minorities from rising to the top. This is a problem because there is no top. One group is not better than another, but Whites feel like this because they are not used to not getting everything they want. The privilege they have makes them blind to the issues that minorities experience when they are always told that their differences are not wanted. In order to solve this problem we have to teach Whites the meaning of diversity and help minorities put their diverse differences to use so that one day everyone is as successful as every White person can be.

[shadowdragonman-blog]

Last week, I had the pleasure of going to see Urban Blaze’s annual performance. Going in, I didn’t really know what to expect since I had never actually heard of Urban Blaze. I will admit my ignorance on the topic of hip-hop. I’ve never really cared for it, although my sisters love it, and my older sister was actually part of a hip-hop dance crew for a few years. I was also unaware that Urban Blaze was a mostly female group, so before i went, I had this vague picture in my mind that the event was going to be a bunch of guys wearing baggy clothes and break-dancing on stage (I know, I know, my prejudice is showing, sorry). This was because that was really the only aspect of hip-hop that i was aware from, aside from having sat through my sister blasting hip-hop music despite my pleas to let me DJ.

At the showcase, there were three topics that had a video presentation related to hip-hop, followed by several dance performances related to the themes. Those topics were: gender, sexuality, and race. To somebody like me, who has never really explored the topic of hip-hop, these were eye opening performances. I had always shied away from hip-hop because in my mind it represented what was wrong with a lot of aspects of the young culture; It glorified drug usage, crime, and objectified women (oh God, i sound like Fox/Faux News). I particularly remember one part of the race video that stated something along the lines of, “Hip-hop is not glorifying these negative aspects of life, and it is not encouraging the youth to be delinquents. These are simply parts of life that have existed for a long time, and hip-hop is our way of sharing our experiences with the world.” 

I wont even pretend like going to this one performance made me an expert on hip-hop, but what i can say is that this performance opened my mind to Hip-hop. It is not something that I can just ignore forever, it is a prevalent part of culture that must be acknowledged.

[patcasey13-blog]

Race Across Entertainment Mediums

Bullets still ringing, blood on the cement/

Black folks grieving, headlines reading/

Tryna pay it no mind, you just living your life/

Everyone is a witness, everyone got opinions

               “Animals” by Dr. Dre (feat. Anderson .Paak)

It’s funny how Zulu and Xhosa might go to war/


Two tribal armies that want to build and destroy/


Remind me of these Compton Crip gangs that live next door/


Beefin’ with Piru’s, only death settle the score/

So don’t matter how much I say I like to preach with the Panthers/


Or tell Georgia State “Marcus Garvey got all the answers”/


Or try to celebrate February like it’s my B-Day/

Or eat watermelon, chicken, and Kool-Aid on weekdays/

Or jump high enough to get Michael Jordan endorsements/


Or watch BET cause urban support is important/

So why did I weep when Trayvon Martin was in the street?/


When gang banging make me kill a nigga blacker than me?/

Hypocrite!

                      “The Blacker The Berry” by Kendrick Lamar

To listen to Dr. Dre’s Compton or Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly is to put oneself into the shoes of a young black man in South Central LA.  It is an opportunity I treasure, this opportunity to begin to understand the experience of a person of a different race through art.  Unfortunately, such opportunities are being offered on a large scale through only one type of popular entertainment medium: music. Hip-hop/rap, arguably the most widely listened-to and influential genre of our time, has tackled difficult questions of race and racism head-on, as the above lyrics will attest.  Television and film have not, to say the least.  It is difficult to explore race on screen when there is no racial diversity among the actors—which is the case, according to Professor Darnell Hunt of UCLA: “Minorities [are] underrepresented by a factor of more than three to one among lead roles in film… Minorities [are] underrepresented by a factor of about seven to one among lead roles in broadcast comedies and dramas.”[1]  Why is there such a difference in race consciousness across entertainment mediums?

The initial observation of music being more conscious of racial issues than visual media is explained by the fact that popular music exhibits a great deal more diversity than does popular television. But this observation raises another question: why is this the case?  Why has historically non-white music has gained such a wide audience in the first place, while the casts of popular television shows and films are still predominantly white?  I argue that this paradox is not a result of more bias against people of color among television viewers than among music listeners; rather, it results from differences in the nature of these mediums themselves, primarily the fact that music is generally less costly to create than are films and television shows, making it generally more accessible to minorities.

It is much cheaper to write and record a piece of music than it is to produce a television show or a movie, the result being both more music and more diversity within music compared to TV and film. Music is thus a more accessible route of self-expression for minorities—for anyone, really—than visual media is, the result being a more diverse variety of musical options than of television programs available to the consumer.  (It is also, of course, more accessible for everyone—and this is why there are far more musicians than there are directors, more albums than movies.)  Musicians are only restricted by their own imaginations; would-be producers and directors are restricted by the financial burdens inherent to the enterprise.  This may sound abstract, but one sees the results of this everyday. Our popular artists form a smorgasbord of different races: White, Black, Asian American, etc. The people that create our favorite television shows and movies, on the other hand, are overwhelmingly white.  As Dr. Hunt notes, “Minorities [are] underrepresented by a factor of about 3 to 1 among film directors… [They are] underrepresented by a factor of nearly 5 to 1 among film writers… [and] by a factor of nearly 9 to 1 among creators of broadcast comedies and dramas.” Thus, not only are there fewer numerical options on television compared to music, there are a lesser variety of options.  

Because of the wider variety of available musical genres than of television programs and films, racists respond differently to minority musicians than they do towards minorities on the screen.  Racist music listeners can more readily avoid lashing out against rap music, for instance, because they have a lot of other listening options that may be more in line with their tastes.  This is less true in the case of television and film, given that there are relatively few viewing alternatives.  There can only be so many primetime television shows and so many films showing in theatres at any given time, so people with bias against people of color are limited in their ability to avoid different races on the screen.  In some cases there are no alternatives, a point best understood using the example of the #BoycottStarwarsVII campaign.

#BoycottStarwarsVII grew out of anger among some Starwars fans over the fact that J.J. Abrams had cast a black lead in John Boyega for The Force Awakens.  These fans do not have the option to watch a alternate version of Starwars VII with a white lead, because no such thing exists. Since these people are unable to simply ignore actors of different races and still watch the movie, their racism boils to the surface and manifests itself in a way people can see out in the open.

So we’ve established that the apparent racial differences between music and film/TV are not due to any different racist attitudes among film/TV watchers and music listeners.  But why should that matter?  Why should we care about race in media?

Why do we care? is, to me, the most important thing this course has taught me to ask.  Even before taking it, I would have been able to use logic to come up with the argument I laid out above—but I probably wouldn’t have thought much about why it was worthwhile to look at racial differences in different industries.  I’ve always known racism was bad, but there wasn’t much more to it than that until I took this course.  Race is complicated; racial undertones can be found nearly everywhere, and every time one looks at it from a different angle, one gains a deeper, more complete understanding of race and racialization in general.

           So why do we care about race in art?

Art is literally a performance, of course—but it is also a performance in the sense that to create it is to embody a certain identity.  Judith Butler laid the groundwork for this kind of thinking in Gender Trouble, in which she argued that gender is the repetition of certain acts and behaviors, that is to say, a performance. Hip-hop and rap have their roots in jazz, blues, and soul, all of which are associated with Black American culture; simply to make a hip-hop song is thus to embody that tradition, regardless of the actual content of the music.  But we see that many of today’s most popular and influential rap artists are taking it a step further, writing lyrics that reinforce their identification with Black culture.  Kendrick Lamar’s “The Blacker The Berry” from To Pimp A Butterfly (2015) explores the black experience first by articulating how he thinks White America perceives Black America and second by discussing his own frustrations about what he sees as hypocritical and damaging aspects within Black America itself.  The song thus presents itself as a modern retelling of The Souls of Black Folks, capturing Du Bois’ concept of double-consciousness while literalizing the book’s musicality and allusions to Black lyrical traditions.  

TV and film are also performances both literal and abstract, but the lack of diversity on the screen—coupled with the long history of an industry dominated by White elites—ensures that this performance embodies only one identity: White identity.  

The power of a hip-hop music is in its ability to make a person like me understand their experiences better. And it is not surprising that it should have this effect: albums like Compton and To Pimp A Butterfly aren’t simply “discussing” Black identity—they are embodying it.

TV and film have yet to offer the same, but hopefully that will change, because, as Dr. Hunt puts it so eloquently: “when marginalized groups in society are absent from the stories a nation tells about itself, or when media images are rooted primarily in stereotype, inequality is normalized and is more likely to be rein- forced over time through our prejudices and practices.”

[patcasey13-blog]

This piece was the most immediately striking to me upon walking into the Johnson Museum.  A black mirror is really cool looking on it’s own, but it has a much more significant meaning attached to it…

When you look into the mirror, you see yourself in the reflection as black, surrounded by blackness.  For me, at least, the experience was an emotional one: I have been racially White for my entire life, and while looking into the mirror didn’t show me what a racially Black version of myself, that was the metaphor I took away.  The fact that all of my surroundings were black in color was the most significant aspect of all: not only had my skin color changed when I looked into the mirror—everything around me did, too.  To me, this represented the fact that to be Black is not only to have a different skin color from my own, but also to have a very different world around you than the one that surrounds me. 

[patcasey13-blog]

Campus Event: Urban Blaze Show

I won’t write a lot about the Urban Blaze show last week, since I saw about 80% of the class there.

This was such a great show.  I haven’t been to many shows like this in my life—and I don’t just mean dance/step performances: I thought the format into which the show was organized was cool and unique.  To separate performances into different segments relating to different aspects of identity (gender, race, etc.) was especially innovative, as it allowed for me to think about the different performances with those things in mind.  This, for me, helped me understand the performances much better than I would have had I just been watching them with no context. 

[sabz-universe-deactivated201603]

Race, Sexuality and Third Culture Kids

           Assignment: ENGL 2880. Note: This Mega-Tumblr is based on my previous ones regarding Third Culture Kids, Desiring Arabs, Geisha of a Different Kind and Pat’s post on differing treatment’s offered to Hanley Ramirez based on his race. It will be updated with answers from C. Winter Han, author of Geisha of a Different Kind, where he offers some solutions and/or further guidance to the problems discussed below. The premise of this post is to show 1) How internal conflicts can manifest themselves within one’s identity, 2) How this has implication for individuals of differing sexual orientations and identities, and 3) how this may result in the reinforcement of racial power structures through establishing rules and respectability politics for some races. The Keywords that will be explored are Orientalism and Sex (Sexual Identity).

           In order to understand how differing interpretations and struggles can occur between individuals and the various cultural, linguistic, and racial influences present in their lives we can turn to Ken Liu’s The Paper Menagerie. Ken Liu, in The Paper Menagerie, illuminates the challenges third culture youth face as they reconcile their identities. In his autobiographical work, he explains the turmoil wrought by the culture in which he was immersed in, but which his mother could not also assimilate into. Ken Liu’s extremely touching tale hits very close to home particularly for individuals such as I, who have grown up in cultures different from those of our parents. The Paper Menagerie captures the many problems that manifest themselves in the lives of such children as they struggle with defining their identities, finding them in an odd purgatory often clashing with the competing cultures in their lives. Liu writes about his self-distancing from his mother’s Chinese language, culture, and heritage in order to fit in with East-Coast American culture. He stops speaking to his mother, becomes insistent that she learn how to speak English, that the family pursue “American” activities, and that he no longer wants to affiliate with his Chinese half. As studied by the Cambridge University report entitled Writing Out of Limbo: International Childhoods, Global Nomads such trials and tribulations are a common theme for TCKs in the struggle to identify one’s self with the predetermined boxes created by most societies. In terms of the influence of multiple languages according to this report “having different languages interweaves with issues of social identity, group membership, the life of inner emotions, and the construction of a personal narrative” (12). In Liu’s case he was often questioned as to whether he was Chinese or American by even the virtue of his first name by adults. The psychological effects of such a life can result in not only problems with identity, but also one’s openness, understanding of international and political developments, and ability to accept and envelope themselves into new cultures while travelling. It is inherently a love-hate relationship until one solidifies their understanding of self. Ken’s American father had found his mother through a bride catalog and a marriage agency. He is told by many neighborhood children that his mother was “bought”. His white neighbors share disbelief when they hear how American his name sounds. Upon his mother’s death he rediscovers her letters and her longing for him to simply speak to him. His confused loyalties create a difficult transition into adult life given his relationship with his parents and create challenges on his emotional development.

Later on in our readings, as Kingston struggles to deal with problems of ratifying her self-hood when she contemplates the definitions of I, we are further introduced to the ideas of fundamental cultural differences that arise in defining one’s self. Throughout the book Brave Orchid’s cultural experiences and interpretations of certain situations juxtaposes Kingston’s own. Whether this is through the analysis of Chinese vs. American femininity or Kingston’s exploration and sometimes lack of understanding of Chinese traditions, which remain unexplained, The Woman Warrior illustrates how it may be difficult for TCKs to fully comprehend the traditions of their parents as well as of the their ‘host’ cultures. A large part of Kingston’s materials deal with the classic third culture kid problem of self identification and actualization. Kingston is not Chinese, she is not American, but considers herself to be Chinese-American, as the hyphen gives equal weight to both of those terms. “The writer insists upon her being viewed as a Chinese-American with a hyphen because the presence of such a graphic marker would render the relation of equal weight between the two terms, in opposition with the syntagm “Chinese American” in which the former is an adjective modifying the subsequent noun. The care given to such orthographic, lexical details clearly demonstrates that the novel has passed long beyond the limit of being viewed simply as a socio-historical document and has rendered as obvious the importance given to the construction of a new meaning given by a new language used by multiple voices” (Suciu). Hence, under the concepts of racial triangulation forwarded by Kim Clair and Sexton that we reviewed earlier, it seems as if Kingston is attempting to break away from the established rules regarding race, identity, and definitions thereof as arranged by society. Instead of allowing herself to remain in a purgatory of selfhood, she defines the uniqueness of her own being.

The theme of ‘purgatory of self-identification’ is also seen in Professor Massad’s work. In Desiring Arabs, Professor Joseph Massad delves into the significant classical differences amongst same-sex culture and identification in the Arab World and its clash with modern western interpretations of homosexual identity. He states that such a binary classification of homosexual vs. heterosexual is classically limited to certain parts of the world and at odds with societies that have not had such subjectivities present in their cultures. Such a binary system is also at odds with those that may have more fluid interpretations of sexuality not being able to be defined by this limiting cultural feature. This is congruent to the purgatory of self-identification that Kingston faced with being exposed to two strong competing cultures, languages and traditions as LGBTQP+ identity is beyond the modern understood scope of the homosexual/heterosexual binary. Again we see these constant attempts by a greater societal force to neatly categorize people into special places, boxes, identifiers, and generalizations, only to find that the complexity of one’s identity, both cultural and sexual, are so very multifaceted.

In Geisha of a Different Kind, C. Winter Han has identified some of the practical implications of the problems exposed by Massad and previous writers, as he writes about racial power structures established in gay communities in America. He speaks of the preference established for gay white masculine men, a paradigm that disadvantages other races within the same community. In relevance to our reading of “ “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens” by Cathy Cohen”, Geisha of a Different Kind by Middlebury College Professor C. Winter Han talks about the complicated role of identity for Asian Americans in the LGBTQ community. At once he addresses the problems with Intersectionality amongst the homosexual community, which values the concept of a hyper-masculine white man as its preferred ideal, as well as the problem of Asian American men being left to deal with the questions that arise with being considered more feminine and docile due to historical developments. In addition to this he describes their position as also being marginalized by the homophobic tendencies of the Asian American community, which sets heterosexual masculinity as its ideal. There are many different discussions of Intersectionality that come into play as well as of the existence of a liberal multicultural framework that refuses to move on from this idea of identity boxes.

In order to see how different paradigms and rules are established for different races and groups within society we can turn to the lessons taught in Kindred. Octavia Butler offers constant examples of struggles between interracial couples and those of biracialism. Through the pessimism offered regarding each topic we can see that there verily exist established rules between Black and White populations, through White society’s often arbitrary guidelines for determining Blackness. Of course the One Drop Rule is all too controlling for us to see how White Society attempts to classify and regulate membership within Black American society. A caste system of sorts is developed, and as authors such as Kim Claire and Sexton have observed previously, this attributes different stereotypical behaviors, application of respectability politics, and other societal views upon populations. These premises and systems are verily upheld by the complicity of all people’s functioning in this racial triangulation, including model minorities.

As we can see the implications for Sex and Sexual Identity, as well as racial identity, produce clear implications for all people. Firstly, the concept of Orientialism as first coined and studied by Edward Said points to the fact that Asian and non-white people participating in society are demeaned by being considered exotic and different. This systematic creation of an ‘other’ prevents people of color from participating in highly divergent groups in the same way as their white counterparts. The experiences of gay Asian men not only affects their acceptance in mainstream gay American culture but Asian American groups as the influences of racial triangulation and sexual norms result in favoring masculine traits whilst telling Asian American men to perform in a more feminized manner. As Han acknowledges, gay Asian men have been able to exemplify their position within the gay community by holding their identity in high confidence and through ‘drag’ have managed to advance their positions by producing highly esteemed examples of femininity. They have even redefined beauty within the community. The implications of this triangulation for Asian men has resulted in a phenomenon that allow their Sex/Sexual Identity to be most favorably perceived under this guise of femininity, which considers more masculine manifestations as an anomaly. Thus, particular rules have been ascribed to Asian men both through their race and through the gay community. Communal action has reinforced those previous rules, creating a perpetuation of existing racial/sexual power structures for these individuals. These rules exoticize Asian men similarly to the concept described by Edward Said. Although drag has been empowering and has helped reshape traditionally recognized versions of beauty within the gay community, it is nonetheless oppressive because of the need to adhere to the rules of racial and sexual triangulation. Han provides us the example of drag queen competitions where this is most apparent as participants champion and adhere to racial and sexual stereotypes in order to win. The caricatures of the gracefully feminine Asian drag queen and the hyper masculine African American man merely reinforce the rules of triangulation. It also portrays masculinity as being superior to femininity, rather than the two being equally balanced, important, and necessary in their own right.

In order to further see the limiting affects of rules accorded by racial and sexual power systems, we can turn to Pat’s analysis to the perceptions of Hanley Ramirez on the Boston Red Sox. In his post, Pat shows us with tremendous evidence that Hanley Ramirez, despite earlier being heralded as one of the greatest Boston Red Sox players, has become marginalized due to his differing philosophy in playing the sport, accosted for becoming a burden for the team given his high salary and due to a recent injury. These incidents have highlighted a unique portfolio of respectability politics be applied to Hanley Ramirez and have resulted in all of his previous achievements, physical fitness, and success being questioned. Therefore, this is a further example of the practical implication addressed above, which sometimes may begin with identity challenges, however always result in specific rules, regulations, guidelines, and restrictions being placed on those individuals who are ‘different’. Pat’s analysis makes us question, knowing what we do, whether anyone else or perhaps someone who was Anglo-Saxon might have been targeted the same way by fans? Given other recent sports capers, we see that fans still rally around Tom Brady despite deflate gate, so likely not.There are a multitude of examples such as this.

In conclusion, society has created a specific script of rules and regulations for people of color and for people of varying sexual orientations, which is reinforced by mainstream society as well as the very individuals who are being marginalized by such triangulation. The wide variety of identities possible through the experiences of all people, as evidenced by the struggles of Third Culture Kids, creates a major internal and external conflict between these existing rules and identities. This is described by VJ Prashad as a limited multicultural framework that refuses to allow individuals to express a more fluid narrative of their various culture, linguistic, and sexual influences. Personally, having been exposed to all of this literature I believe that a solution may be in shifting to an anti-racist polycultural framework. However, this should not be pursued without further dialogue and research first, as it also may create many problems by delegitimizing groups and hindering group power on the basis of collective identity. Such group power may be useful in providing bargaining power against the negative consequences of limited multi-cultural frameworks. In addition, it is crucial to try to understand the sheer complexity of all of these matters, realizing that there is no one particular “authentic” or correct method to practice a culture or speak a language. The world is truly an eclectic mixture of many different peoples and has been for quite some time. International exchange is not a new concept. However, I believe we approach identity problems in North America uniquely because of the oddity of the “New World”. We are all simultaneously natives and yet of foreign origin on this continent. Perhaps reconciling nativity vs. foreign origin should be the place where we embark on this journey. In moving forward let us asses what a scholar such as C. Winter Han would recommend with a response to the following questions:

Questions for Scholar: C Winter Han

1. In Desiring Arabs, Joseph Massad writes that the binary of homosexuality and heterosexuality did not necessarily exist in other parts of the world and white gay movements imposed such subjectivities. Because of these forces, the narrative has created a feminization of gay Middle Eastern men to some extent. Similarly, in your book, you state that the existing narrative in America has created a sexual racial plain where Asian men are seen to be more submissive, White gay men are considered to be the most desired and gay Asian men are thus double marginalized in society. Are there any alternatives you foresee or would like to see to the established cultural/sexual system? I.E. A more fluid cultural sexual plain or like VJ Prashad envisions an anti-racist poly-cultural framework? What would you recommend or how would you recommend we approach? I know you mention that “we can’t use the master’s tools”. 

2. Are there any other ways to mitigate the negative consequences of this sexual/cultural system without necessarily a complete overall of it? Should Asian men just rely on their ability to turn their racial and sexual identities into a positive identity with a focus on their Asian heritage and sexuality as a measure?

3. What would the immediate next steps be in bringing together positive results and a change in mentality? Further dialogue and education?

[shadowdragonman-blog]

Appropriating, admiring, and rejecting Culture

To start us off, I think I’ll cover one of the most disrespectful ways that people have been interacting with foreign cultures: cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation can take on many forms, and is in no way limited to being committed by just one group. Some people may not even realize that they are guilty of committing cultural appropriation.

Cultural appropriation is when somebody takes an aspect of another culture’s customs, practices or traditions, and adopts it outside of its original intent. While it does not have to be done with particularly malicious intent to count as appropriation, it can still be dehumanizing and demeaning to people of the original culture. However, many people don’t really see a problem with cultural appropriation. One example is that during Halloween, many people dress up as people from others cultures, and don’t see how it could be offensive.

Priscilla made this point before in her Tumblr post about ‘Native Americans trying on “Indian” costumes’. The title of the video is pretty self-explanatory, so there is no need to explain it. Go ahead and give it a watch before I discuss it.

It is interesting to note that all four of these people express the feeling that the costumes feel like a parody or a joke to them. They know the stories behind the actual Native American dress, so these cheap knockoffs mass produced for the amusement of drunk party goers would understandably offend them. The fact that they even have to explain and defend their positions is indicative that there is a large percentage of the population that struggles to understand what these people are saying. As history has shown us, the Native American people were robbed of their land, and pushed onto small reserves. Now the descendants of the people who did this are wearing imitations of their clothing and naming football teams after them to “honor” them, while ignoring the fact that these people don’t want to be “honored” that way.

Of course, Native Americans are not the only ones being parodied during Halloween. One of the worst ways people can offend other cultures is by having themed parties where everybody is dressed as a certain culture. Parties like “dress like a Mexican” costume parties.

Themed parties like these are offensive because they stereotype an entire people and reduce them to the contents of a store bought fake mustache, sombrero, and poncho. This stereotype is usually associated with a lazy man taking a nap in the middle of the day next to his donkey. This is insulting to me personally as a Mexican-American. It makes it seem like people think that my Kinsmen are stuck in the 19th century. That stereotypical dress isn’t how anybody in Mexico actually dresses. Mexico is a country filled with industrious cities with people living in the modern age. This kind of party is just as bad as a group of Europeans dressing in torn overalls, a dirty shirt, black tooth, and a mullet, in an attempt to dress like a “hillbilly” and typical American.

However, that is not to say that all costumes are inherently racist, and that you cannot dress up as somebody of a different race. The key things to avoid are dressing like a walking stereotype, and partaking in an action like blackface (where you paint your face black or any other color so that you can seem to be part of a different race). If you cannot understand why blackface is wrong, then you might want to read up on Love and Theft, Blackface, by Eric Lott. There Lott explains the history of Blackface, including its origins of sexual fetishizing of an oppressed people. There are ways to respectfully dress up as somebody you admire, who happens to be of a different race. For example, look at this white child dressing up as his hero: Malcolm X.

However, there are positive ways to enjoy other cultures without being offensive. In America, maybe more than anywhere else, we are surrounded by people of various backgrounds and cultures. People in huge cities like New York can walk in any direction for 2 minutes and pass a restaurant that specializes in foreign foods. Enjoying the foods from another part of the world is a form of appreciation.

You could also choose to attend any of the numerous festivals that celebrate foreign cultures. In Houston, for example, there is a Japanese festival every spring in the Japanese Botanical Gardens. Performers from Japan come, including singers, poets, and taiko drum bands. You could learn about Japanese arts while enjoying traditional foods, and playing Japanese festival games. However, no matter how much you may enjoy another peoples’ culture, it is important to remember that you are not a part of that culture, and thus should not try to claim it as your own, especially when you have a very incomplete understanding of the complexities and histories of those cultures. Pretending that you are part of a different culture is the worst form of appropriation.

The former president of the NCAA, Rachel Dolezal, was a person who got away with pretending to be from another culture for years. She pretended to be Black until it was discovered in summer of 2015 that she had no black ancestors in the last 400 years of her genealogy. She was pretending to be a member of an oppressed group, despite not knowing the hardships that the people actually faced from first-hand experience.

Another group of people that reject their own cultures and pretend to be from another are the hardcore Japan fans known as Weeaboos. On UrbanDicitonary, Weeaboos are defined as “Any self-proclaiming anime fan who alienates themselves from their own society and assimilate into the Japanese culture from which they know little-to-none about; using their so-called anime knowledge as a guide, which destined them to ultimate failure in assimilation.”

This group, in their perverse love for another culture, actually does more to harm it than help it. Because of people like this, the image of Japan in America is distorted, much like the Image of Mexicans in the costume party example above. Japan is a country with a rich history, multitude of traditions, and incredible societal contributions. However, many people, after seeing Weeaboos, believe Japan to be a country full of perverts that specializes in producing magical girl TV shows like Sailor Moon and cartoon porn. If these people truly admired Japan, they would keep enjoying the aspects that they like, but would also learn more about the culture than what anime teaches. They could take a class on Japanese history, or study how to speak the language properly instead of just adding ‘kawaii’ and ‘desu’ to all of their sentences.

However, as messed up as cultural appropriation in these cases can be, it is still brought on by love, or a sense of wonder for another culture. What is truly condemnable is when people are completely unaccepting of other cultures because of racism and xenophobia. Both America and Japan are examples of countries who have problems with racism and xenophobia.

America lacks no examples of racism. Every day on the news, the major headline is of a racist event. “Trump proposes ban on all Muslims entering the US”, “Racist Cop kills unarmed Black Man”, etc. However, I want to focus one problem that many Americans and Japanese people share: their irrational fear and hate of biracial children.

One of my earlier Tumblr posts was a video by The Young Turks, who were discussing an American preacher denouncing interracial children using God’s name. One of Stephanie’s posts was about a half-Japanese half-Black woman winning the Ms. Japan beauty pageant, and about that young woman’s struggles with being raised as a biracial child in Japan.

In the Young Turks video, the preacher says that no Black woman would want her child to be father by a White man. It is interesting to note, however, that the preacher is white, and the entire parish is white. There is no Black woman there to agree or disagree. Why is this? Because these people live separated from the Black community by their own choice, probably due to racist reasons. They say that it is God who abhors mixing races, but really it is that they themselves dislike Black people and Black culture, and interracial children are bridges that would connect them to the thing they hate.

The preacher and his parish remind me of Mrs. Belmont from Harriot Wilson’s Our Nig. In this story, Mrs. Belmont hated Frado, a mixed race child, because of what she represented. Frado was beautiful because she was mixed race. Mrs. Belmont feared what that meant for her and her daughter. The men who worked for her thought Frado was beautiful, and her own sons were very affectionate toward her. She feared that Frado would end up marrying her son. One could say that there was a fear that white women would lose the white men to people like Frado. In the Young Turk’s video, a similar situation arises. The preacher warns all of the young people that he will not conduct their wedding service if they want to marry a Black person.

In Japan, the fear of diversification has been evident over history. For much of history Japan had little contact with the Western world, and closed its ports to foreigners until they were forced open by Commodore Perry in 1853. However, despite this, Japan remains a mostly homogeneous country in terms of population. In the artwork: 31 Flavors Invading Japan. This painting carries a lot of symbolism about how Japan was being corrupted by western influence. In the painting, a Geisha is in a disheveled state with ice cream running down her face, and in a very ungraceful body position. Traditionally Geisha would appear to be highly composed, and would be the picture of grace. The painting thus becomes a representation about how outside influence is ruining Japan.

This Xenophobia carries on to the modern day. In the Ms. Japan video we learn that many people were highly critical of her victory, questioning whether she was “Japanese enough” to be allowed to win. We also learn that mixed race children in Japan are bullied, some to the point of suicide. This stems from Japan’s xenophobia. This xenophobia extends not only to the point where less than 3% of children born in japan have a non-Japanese parent, but to the point where Japan declared that it would accept 0 refugees because of a fear that they would lose their national identity.

This reminds me of Sui Sin Far’s works: Leaves of a Mental Portfolio and Its Wavering Image. In the first, Sui Sin Far told her own story about growing up as a half-Asian half-White child in the western world. In the second, the main character went through an ordeal involving a reporter, and she ultimately ended up rejecting her White half, and decided to act as though she were 100% Asian.

Ms. Japan’s, Ariana Miyamoto’s, story is more like Leaves than it is like Its Wavering Image. Miyamoto states that being a Hafu is part of her identity and that she cannot define herself without that. Instead of trying to pretend that she is something she is not, she has embraced who she is, and competed in the Ms. Japan competition in order to advocate for the acceptance of people like her. She is much like Far in the fact that she held on to her identity despite the world trying to reject her.

In the end, culture is a tricky thing. Nobody gets to choose their culture, but that doesn’t mean that we are limited to it. We can choose to appreciate and partake in foreign cultures in respectful ways. And we should never disparage other cultures or try to be completely separate from them. Being around different people is what makes life interesting.

This has been a work by Jorge Rojas, and my class is over now, so goodbye Tumblr!

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