The Dollhouse...

All this talk about racial profiling, racism, black and white triggered a sweet memory for me that I hadn’t thought about in a long time. When my younger daughter was two, she attended a preschool where she played and learned with children of all races and nationalities. A little over a year later, when Christmas rolled around, we were making our lists and she asked for a dollhouse. A nice big doll house! I never wanted to disappoint my children at Christmas and her request was not going unfulfilled. 

The unusual thing about my daughter’s request was that she specifically asked for a black family for her dollhouse. At first, I was a little surprised by it because I guess I came to think that most children would want a family that looked like their own, in our case white. So I asked her again, to make sure I understood that she wanted a black family for her dollhouse. She not only confirmed what she said, but insisted on it. Honestly, I didn’t know what to make of it except that of the friends she had made at school, she must have been closest to those who were black. 

I told my husband about her Christmas list and how she insisted she wanted a black family. We decided if that is what she wanted, that is what she was going to get. It was obvious to me she would have been very disappointed with a white family and I wasn’t going to do that by going against her wishes. Instead, I decided to get her both a black and a white family for her dollhouse. The house was big enough for both families to live there happily enjoying all the new furniture that cost us a small fortune.

My daughter was thrilled with her new dollhouse and her black family. She even was receptive to the white family moving in with them. She played with that doll house for hours every day. The black and white children played together. The moms cooked together. The fathers left for work together. They all watched television together. One big black and white family.

It was a brilliant idea that my baby girl had to insist on getting a black family. And I think it was a pretty good idea that I also got the white family. In playing with her dollhouse families, my daughter learned that there was no difference between the two families, except color. Maybe psychologists should study the effects of giving very young children dolls that are both black and white to play with. Children aren’t born racist, they are taught to be racist. Maybe if they start out as babies, playing with and nurturing baby dolls of other races, they might learn something from that and look beyond color when they are older? There is no reason that white little girls should play only with white dolls. I probably wouldn’t have thought of that if not for my daughter. I probably would have gone the traditional route and just gotten her the white family.

My daughter taught me something that Christmas that I will never forget. She didn’t just look beyond the color of a person’s skin, no, she looked beyond color and also embraced it. At three years old, her heart and mind were open and she knew intuitively that all people were the same. It wasn’t a matter of tolerance or acceptance, which are often referred to as the opposite of racism, and mean you recognize a “difference” and you are willing to accept it. My daughter didn’t see a “difference” and, if she was aware of a difference, she embraced it willingly and lovingly.

Maybe all children are born with an open heart, like my daughter, and just need a dollhouse and a black and white family to live in it in harmony? 

Trayvon Martin, RIP...

Racism is alive and well and living in America. Trayvon Martin is not. Trayvon was killed in cold blood and buried by his parents while his killer is free to sit in his living room recliner, drinking beers and rooting for his favorite sports team. A friend of mine alerted me to this story yesterday and it haunted me all night. My blog cannot do justice to this case and it’s times like these I wish I had a larger readership. This is a story that everyone who lives in this country should be aware of, should be talking about, should be demanding that swift action be taken. Trayvon’s name should be a household word. It should enrage our sense of injustice. Let me tell you what happened, if you haven’t heard.

On February 26th, Trayvon Martin, a black, 17 year old boy, was returning to his father’s fiancée’s house after going out to buy some skittles and iced tea. When he got back to the gated community, George Zimmerman, the racist neighborhood watch volunteer and vigilant, spotted him and began following Trayvon. At the same time, Zimmerman took out his cell phone and called 911, reporting Trayvon as “suspicious.” Trayvon, who was wearing a hoodie, pulled it up and started walking faster, because he was being watched and I suspect he was afraid. Zimmerman was on with 911 the entire time and eventually caught up with Trayvon. Trayvon was also on the phone with a friend, who has told authorities what was happening at the time. Trayvon asked Zimmerman why he was following him. Zimmerman asked him what he was doing there. The next thing Trayvon’s friend hears is someone being pushed. Trayvon screamed for help many times. Other residents made 911 calls and his screams could be heard in the background. They were too afraid for their own safety to go out and help. The next thing they heard was a gun being fired and Trayvon was dead. George Zimmerman is claiming self defense. Trayvon was 17, unarmed, without a record and weighed about 150 pounds. Zimmerman was 28, armed, with a record and weighing in at about 250 pounds. Trayvon is dead. He was hunted down like an animal because he was black and killed by a single bullet. It was a cold blooded murder. The 911 tapes have it all recorded. Yet Zimmerman has not been arrested. They even have Zimmerman making this racist comment on tape:

“After being told not to follow Martin, you can hear Zimmerman saying "these assholes, they always get away" and whispering what sounds like "fucking coons" or "fucking goons" at the 1:52 mark. Zimmerman and dispatch end the call after he asks that police call him when they arrive to the scene.”

Why hasn’t Zimmerman been arrested? The evidence is as clear as day. He targeted Trayvon, it was a hate crime. Where is the outrage of everyone in this country? Of every parent who has an innocent child? Thankfully, I see that the case has gotten so much attention that it will be investigated by several agencies including the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and the FBI. 

There has to been some justice for Trayvon Martin and his parents. So, though I normally never ask that you spread the link to any of my blogs, I am asking readers to do so today. Let’s make others aware of this hate crime and the man responsible. Let’s help get justice for a boy whose life was taken because of the color of his skin.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/trayvon-martin-death-friend-phone-teen-death-recounts/story?id=15959017#.T2h-ocU7Vdw

911 Calls

The Oscars & Racism

There was the “racy” wardrobe malfunction that Jennifer Lopez was reported to have at the Oscars Sunday night. There has been a lot of talk on both sides saying yes she had one, and no, she didn’t. Television pictures show a blur over the breast area where her dress seemed to be cut just a tad too low. Online pictures and video do seem to show a malfunction, but the designer of the gown says it’s impossible because of the way that it’s made. I guess they will get to the bottom of it soon enough, but I digress from my original thoughts….wardrobe malfunctions will do that to everyone.

Back to racism. Two separate controversial incidents, at the Oscars, were being discussed today and frankly, I found both hard to believe. The first is the Billy Crystal “blackface” performance where he was portraying Sammy Davis, Jr. When I first heard of it, it brought me back to 1993 when Ted Danson got a lot of heated criticism for doing some  minstrel/vaudeville routine in blackface, and he did it at the Friars, not nearly as big an affair as the Oscars. He was with Whoopi Goldberg at the time. You would think that Billy Crystal might have learned how bad an idea doing “blackface” is and why. Doing blackface is never ok. People were tweeting their opinions all night. Apparently, Billy used to play Sammy Davis Jr. on SNL in the 1980’s and decided to reprise the role. But, even if Billy Crystal had a serious lapse in judgment, what about all the other people involved with putting on the show? No one chimed in and said we better rethink this idea? No one suggested doing something different that wouldn’t be so offensive?  I think this just about says it all: When Octavia Spenser won supporting actress for "The Help," comedian Paul Scheer tweeted her win "shows just how far we've come since Billy Crystal performed in Blackface."  So much for political correctness? 

Not long after I hear about Billy Crystal’s faux pas, I get wind of Ryan Seacrest’s very poor choice of words. Ryan was interviewing veteran actor Demian Bichir, on the red carpet. Demian is Mexican and has a thirty year career in acting. After their interview, Ryan Seacrest tweeted, "Demian Bichir's story is incredible...the guy moved here from Mexico and was making guacamole. Now he's nominated for an Oscar.” Ryan made it sound like Demian was just a Mexican laborer who got lucky and won himself an Oscar. Ryan’s remarks do sound stereotypical and racist and it seems the tweeters had a field day with it, calling Ryan ignorant and racist, and rightly so. People don’t know when they have crossed the line from being funny to being racist. It reminds me of the blog I recently did on Jeremy Lin, the Knick new basketball star. 

I shouldn’t be surprised by things any more, but I am. Crystal and Seacrest , in their zeal to be funny, better rethink how they execute their jokes and the topics they select. Both incidents were inappropriate. Crystal’s routine could have been changed and many people were aware of what he was going to do, so they could have spoken up. Seacrest just tweeted it out, without thinking, apparently the little censor in his head was taking a nap. I didn’t find his remark remotely funny and it certainly sounds racist. There really should be some repercussions for these kinds of incidents. We shouldn’t give them a free pass. Ted Danson didn’t get one. How about on top of the criticism they have to pay a huge fine that goes to a worthy charity affiliated with the group that the racism is directed towards. In Crystal’s case maybe the United Negro College Fund or the American Sickle Cell Anemia Association. For Seacrest, we know he makes tons of money and Mexico can sure put his to good use. There has to be some way to make people aware of there own ignorance. The guy who used the headline, “Chink In The Armor,” to describe the first loss of the Knicks after Lin joined the team, got fired. Are these two incidents any different? I don’t know, you decide.

Jeremy Lin Beats The Odds...

I have been hearing so much about Jeremy Lin the past couple of weeks. I am not a huge sports fan, so I had to look into who this amazing athlete was and why was everyone talking about him. People were so hyped about Lin that they created a whole new language to express their feelings and I heard that somewhere in China they even started a class to teach students these new American words specifically created for, Jeremy Lin, an amazing basketball player. Some of the words that I’ve heard are: “linsanity,” “lintastic,” “lin it to win it,” “nothing is linpossible” and on and on,

Jeremy Lin played great basketball in high school, but none of the college recruiters gave him a second look. Speculation has it that it was because he was Asian and there had never been an Asian-American basketball player before. And the perception that Asians cannot play basketball caused Lin to take himself to Harvard University and get an education there. A coach at Harvard told Lin he could be in the NBA, but he was never drafted. What happened was a series of events that can only be attributed to fate. Lin was picked up by the Golden State Warriors, only to be cut because they had enough guards. The Houston Rockets took him, but then cut him for the same reason, too many guards. Knick guard Baron Davis sustained an injury and the Knicks took a chance and picked up Lin. But, before they allowed Lin to play, Baron was due to come back and they were going to cut Lin. However, Baron was not ready to return to the game, and Lin was finally put in the game to show what he could do. Two weeks later, after Lin made phenomenal plays in game after game, his name became a household word overnight and, the Knicks, who had been losing miserably before using him, had a six game winning streak. It’s an unprecedented rise in success based on his extraordinary talent and especially surprising to many because Lin is Asian-American.

But, the same racial perceptions that kept Lin from getting his career in basketball off to an earlier start, has caused some controversy the past day or two. When the Knicks lost their last game, after several wins credited to Lin, ESPN ran a headline “Chink in the Armor.” Not only a racial slur and derogatory use of the word, but Lin himself has spoken about being taunted at Harvard by the use of that particular racial slur. A couple of days ago, after a win, a picture of Lin over of a fortune cookie with the caption “The Knick’s Good Fortune.” And let’s not forget The New York Post’s headline on it’s back page after a win in Toronto, “AMASIAN.” 

Jeremy Lin was obviously talented, but college recruiters couldn’t look beyond his race to see his outstanding skills as a basketball player. While in college, at Harvard no less, his coach thought he was good enough for the NBA, even as others on the prestigious, ivy league campus referred to him by racial slurs. He was cut by a couple of teams, before he was even given an opportunity to prove himself. And, when he was finally given an opportunity by the New York Knicks, because they desperately needed a guard, he rose to the occasion, exceeded all expectations and lead the team in a six game winning streak. An overnight sensation! Everyone is thrilled. The only thing is that the media still cannot see beyond his race. They think they are being cute, they forget their political correctness, they use racial slurs, “clever images,” and coined terms to refer to his race even as they praise him. 

Something is just not right with this picture. Imagine all the odds this young man has had to overcome to get where he belongs?  He still cannot seen as a great basketball player, without first being seen as Asian American, above all else. The same erroneous perceptions about his race, that kept him out of the sport, is still haunting him in the limelight. First he got no attention because he was Asian American, now he gets tons of attention, not so much for his skill, as his heritage. Imagine if every athlete had to put up with those kinds of insults in guise of praise? I can’t imagine how Lin must feel to be finally able to get an opportunity to play on the Knicks, in New York, and get some much attention for his skills on the court, only to still have to deal with thinly veiled bigotry. 

Jeremy Lin beat the odds in basketball, but unfortunately he still has some challenges ahead of him.

Racism Is Alive And Well…

…allegedly at an elementary school in Georgia. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the headline to the story: “Slavery Examples Used n Georgia School Upsets Parents.” So I had to read the article and, sure enough, there was a serious issue. The math problems being used by the elementary school are very inappropriate, in fact they are outrageous. Here are a couple of third grade math examples:

"Each tree had 56 oranges. If 8 slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?" and

"If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in 1 week?"

I will post the link to the article below. On top of the fact that these questions are being used, the parents are upset at the way the issue is being handled. What was the rational behind these seemingly blatant racist math problems? They claim it’s part of a cross-cultural approached to teaching, so that lessons in history are worked into the math problems. But, I have to ask, are the educators in Georgia really that dense? If teachers there think questions like these are appropriate, shouldn’t they go back to school? The principal explains it’s a matter of poorly worded questions and from now on they will go over work sheets to make sure the questions are not offensive. Am I crazy, or shouldn’t teachers know better?

And when teachers, who are supposed to be educated, cannot see a problem with posing such questions to third graders, how can we expect to ever eradicate racism in this country? All I can do is shake my head.


Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/08/examples-of-slavery-in-school-worksheet_n_1192512.html?ref=education&icid=maing-grid7%7Caim%7Cdl15%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D125886