The great American melting pot?
by Anti-Racist Parent Columnist Jae Ran Kim
Okay, I am totally showing my age here, but when I was a kid in the midwest in the 1970’s and 80’s, my siblings and I spent every Saturday morning watching cartoons and its safe to say that much of what I remember about the 3 R’s (reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmatic) came from the Schoolhouse Rock series that ran from 1973 to 1985.
Some of you might remember –Feeding on the commercial nostalgia and marketability, a few years back Disney put together a compilation of the 41 Schoolhouse Rock “episodes.” I thought it would be a fun way to kick in the nostalgia-memory cells and show my kids how tv was done in the “olden” days. They were amazed at “Conjunction junction, what’s your function?” and little, lonely “Bill” on Capital Hill. But then we came across the “America Rock” series.
In 1976, the Schoolhouse Rock creators began working on a series to celebrate and highlight the bicentennial that was titled “America Rock.” My favorite of the America Rock series was “The Great American Melting Pot” with the image of all these little kids jumping into a swimming pool “pot” shaped like the United States. Of course, as an internationally adopted kid, “The Great American Melting Pot” was a comforting notion. Heck, the United States is a country MADE of immigrants like myself! Right?
Uh, wrong. Looking back at TGAMP with fresh and adult eyes, here is what I learned: “American was founded by the English, German, French and Dutch.” And the “immigrants” who came “in search of honest pay?” They were Russian and Italian. That’s right - nary a Korean, Nigerian, Iranian, Japanese, Indian, or Kenyan. Not an Ethipoian, Somalian, Chinese or Guatemalan.
According to the 1970s version of the United States, this country was only made up of European and Eastern Europeans.
Nothing was mentioned about the people who were already on the land. Nothing about the slaves and indentured servants kidnapped and stolen and forced to “immigrate.” In short, nothing but a happy, pastel rainbow version of how great all the “immigrants” have “melted” into a giant pot. My daughter, in her viewing of this clip, said outright, “That’s racist!”
In the class I taught last semester, I used this clip in my lecture on the frameworks and messages we receive about race and differences in our childhoods, through media, and our culture. I think about how much more people of color are represented in the media now, versus when I was a kid; yet mostly those representations are still founded on stereotypes.
None of the America Rock episodes address slavery or how the early colonists tried to wipe out the First Nations people who were living on the land they wanted to homestead. Which in a way surprises me since this is after the Civil Rights movement and MLK, an era which I have always associated as a time of hippies, the feminist movement and 70s “Free to be You and Me.” To give you a comparison, the miniseries Roots was aired in 1977, the same year “The Great American Melting Pot” began its Saturday morning run.
In researching America Rock, I looked for some kind of critique of the biased representation of what “America” is (and of course, they say “America” but really mean the United States, not North or South America). I haven’t come across one yet. Even when Disney re-issued these episodes, where was the review about how “old school” they are? That the idea of a pluralistic society back then was equated with a European-ethnic identity and not a truly global ethnic identity?
It’s things like “America Rock” that contributed to my internalized racism and internal colonization. Despite the lack of people “like me” portrayed in these vehicles of education I completely bought into the melting pot mentality. It’s bizarre that as an internationally adopted person who was raised by a family who embodied the perception of what “American” was I was raised to believe I had the same white privilege of my family and could not reconcile why other people did not “know this.” Because duh - other people saw me as a racialized person. That’s a humdinger of a concept to try and get.
In trying to negotiate the way people of color are portrayed in our society’s cultural production, I’ve made a conscious decision not to prohibit my kids from watching these shows and movies, but to watch them together and point out how people like ourselves and our friends are portrayed in entertainment. As a result my daughter has honed a critical eye. When we went to a water park last spring, there was a “Tiki” theme to the park and my daughter was the first to notice the “mascot” was a buck-toothed, short and stout “Native Pacific Island” girl. When I was her age, I doubt I would have been able to articulate how I felt seeing someone like myself portrayed in such a stereotypical caricature – and although I was proud that my daughter is able to do so, it hurts to know that we’re still facing these stereotypes at all.
Jae Ran Kim, MSW is a social worker, teacher and writer. She was born in Taegu, South Korea and was adopted to Minnesota in 1971. She has written numerous articles and essays and is most recently published in the anthology “Outsiders Within: Writings on Transracial Adoption” from South End Press. Jae Ran’s blog, Harlow’s Monkey, is at http://harlowmonkey.typepad.com/
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Kathy wrote:
Thanks so much for this topic. I recently bought a book for
my 5th grader called: Jennifer, hecate, macbeth, william mckinley,
and me, elizabeth written by E.L. Konigsburg, which was
recommended here on ARP.
While I was happy that one of the main characters is an
African American girl, I found some parts of this book to be
troublesome.
For example, Elizabeth, the white character,
meets Jennifer, the African American character,
(who pretends to be a witch)sitting up in a tree.
Elizabeth narrates: “As she began to swing down
from the branches,
I caught a glimpse of her underwear.
I expected that it would look dusty, and it did.”
Later in the book, the girls have decided to
give up eating a special food. Elizabeth
is trying to decide whether to give up cake
or candy, and picks candy, while
Jennifer chooses to give up
watermelon.
I haven’t read any more of this book, but
I did check the title page, and it was first
published in 1967.
Posted 05 Mar 2007 at 4:34 pm ¶
Margie wrote:
Thanks for this great analysis, Jae Ran. I very much like your approach to addressing the racsim that has existed in the media (everywhere, really) with your children. What I worry about is if I, as the white parent of Korean children, can every really be tuned in to all of the instances of racsim. I try, but I fear that a live of white privilege makes it virtually impossible for me to see what a person of color sees.
Oh - just an aside - I can remember the first episode of the original Mickey Mouse Club. Talk about showing one’s age - and more importantly, talk about a show that misrepresented American demographics and left out people of color entirely!
Posted 08 Mar 2007 at 11:44 am ¶
Mom2One wrote:
I agree, great analysis. I work in a library and do monthly displays on various topics of diversity and am inevitably asked the annoying questions, “when is “White America Month” or “When is Male History Month?” *sigh* I have said that every single person on the planet needs to read “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” I think it’s made me more aware of texts and shows/media that don’t include races, but like Margie said, I wonder if I’m as aware as I would be if I were a person of color.
I also like your way of teaching your children how to evaluate what they watch. I’ll need to to that with my son as well, and simply try to develop a watchful eye for such things.
Posted 10 Mar 2007 at 2:53 pm ¶
Kathy wrote:
A few years ago, we bought the book “Pippi
Longstocking” because the main character
is a girl. We were very disappointed after
just a few chapters. Pippi talks about a Chinese
man who lives in Shanghai, who has ears so
big that he can hide under them in the rain.
Hasn’t anyone else noticed the Disney
show “the suite life of Zack and Cody” also
includes Brenda Song, who can’t t read
a poster in English?
How about “Freaky Friday”? This show, also
by Disney, has a scene in a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, except that the
only Asian American is the host, who
speaks with an accent.
Posted 11 Mar 2007 at 9:16 pm ¶
Kim wrote:
Kathy….
thanks for the heads up on the E.L. Konigsberg title. I’ve seen that trend toward the narrative to reflect, sometimes even in its attempt to dispel, the small-mindedness and bigotry of its (presumed) audience in many works. Too often it is read as seamlessly, and without interruption, as a given, immutable understanding of, say, the sky: “…on a clear day, the sky was a startlingly mild blue, and cloudless, with just a hint of wind to rustle the leaves on the dogwood just outside of my window, now just above my head as I rest on the hump of its root and fall into a gentle afternoon’s sleep….”
So seemingly natural, in its place, as-things-are-and-ever-were. So innocuously powerful in its perpetuation of a false truth as equally known, and natural for all its implications of what is true of others/for others, those unlike ourselves.
But…
to the Brenda Song characterization, on ‘The Suite Life of Zack and Cody”: I think the reasons for the character’s ignorance, and vapidity, are not reflective of an uneducable, nor foreigner-and-therefore-illiterate-in-English intention by the writers, but rather a statement on the willful, and eccentric right to, obliviousness of the steps toward maturation, seriousness and inclination toward meaningful vocations that the wealthy are afforded.
Sorry about that clunky sentence.
Posted 11 Mar 2007 at 11:13 pm ¶
Jae Ran wrote:
Kim, I agree that Brenda Song’s characterization as a vapid, spoiled rich girl was not intended to be a portrayed as a reflection of “foreigner” etc. But my kids detest her character. As one of the few Asian Americans on a prime show for their demographic, they really hate having their only options portrayed as stupid, vapid London, the kung-fu master (as in her Wendy Wu movie) or in other shows and cartoons as the nerdy, brainiac, technology-geek. There is very little variety of complex characters of Asian Americans on television shows for kids these days.
Posted 12 Mar 2007 at 8:56 am ¶
Kim wrote:
Jae Ran–
thank you for the wrap up. My last sentence here had tired me out, and I felt dry mouthed.
Yes, I would have to say I am disappointed at the continued portrayals of the Asian American youth as holders of the ‘ancient secrets,’ or mindless, empty-spirited, consumerist brats (and this in an effort to ‘normalize’ their suburban child portrayal, making them more like the white-and-thus-wealthy classmate).
My children and I sat and discussed the Wendy Wu program both during commercial breaks and after the program, with my husband and I eliciting from them their sense of offense and disapproval at the mean-spirited, selfish character Song portrayed, and then outlining and framing for them the ways in which the cultural and racial stereotypes were presented, and the impact that has on what little people see and come to recognize as ‘true’ because it is the mainstay of what is presented through the media.
Have to say, Jae Ran, I ran screaming into the kitchen every few minutes, with my husband dissuadingme from turning the program off, but using it instead as a mini-study (ha!) in recognizing specific stereotypes.
My husband found the depiction of the thoroughly Western, first-generation, Asian-American father, successful in his own right, and yet filled with an unnamed emptiness due (it turns ou) to a distressed connection and appreciation for ‘the old ways and customs,’ insipid, insulting, formulaic and undeveloped.
We used these moments as a springboard for discussion about other stereotypes in the media. And I think they got it, my kids. They really interact and engage, so I felt like we’d expanded that open door in the mind they were already showing themselves to have.
Posted 12 Mar 2007 at 1:02 pm ¶
Jae Ran wrote:
I’m totally laughing here, Kim, because I did the same thing with that movie. I have to *work hard* not to roll my eyes and just discuss the ways in which poc are portrayed in television.
An interesting annecdote. My daughter was arguing with her friend over the show, That’s So Raven. The friend (white) said she didn’t like “Raven” because the white best friend is such a ditz. My daughter told her, “well, so what? Every other show it’s the other way around. The white girl is the star and the brown friend is the silly or stupid one.”
Dang, I was so proud . . .
Posted 12 Mar 2007 at 1:38 pm ¶
Valerie Feria-Isacks wrote:
I’m sorry but I guess I have to disagree with this one on the School House video. If you look at the list of ingredients it included many of those ethnics you listed in, also in the pot itself are children of obviously different backgrounds.
As a child I think it was the first time I think I saw someone who looked like me on television! No it’s not as good as a lot of the stuff around nowadays for sure especially stuff you can get from speciality educators who have degrees is sociology or cultural anthropology but it was 1973!
Other than this all we had was white and black back then and black was very stereotyped!!!
It helped opened the door for the better stuff now and indoctrinated a large percentage of us here not to be racist in-spite of having parents who were.
Posted 13 Mar 2007 at 2:08 am ¶
Jae Ran wrote:
Valelrie, I took the “list” right from the lyrics -
“America was founded by the English,
But also by the Germans, Dutch, and French.
The principle still sticks;
Our heritage is mixed.
So any kid could be the president.”
My list, “Korean, Nigerian, Iranian, Japanese, Indian, or Kenyan. Not an Ethipoian, Somalian, Chinese or Guatemalan” were not included in their lyrics.
When I viewed this, I saw very little “diversity” in the melting pot, but I guess it’s all a matter of perception.
The clip used to be on YouTube but it’s gone now.
Posted 13 Mar 2007 at 6:14 pm ¶
Kim wrote:
The video link: at metacafe:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/232418/the_great_american_melting_pot/
*
While the words in the recipe, being alphabetized, do start with african and armenian, and go on until about puerto rican and maybe ukranian, only the countries referred to by Jae Ran in her list are sung, and only really obviously white White people are given cartoon drawings.
If you look really closely in the melting pot/jump in scene, you may see what looks like a boy whose head is wrapped in a turban, sitting of a floatie.
Kids who do not read, or are not fast readers, will not be able to find themselves here…
Posted 13 Mar 2007 at 7:02 pm ¶
Jae Ran wrote:
Kim, thanks for saying it better than I did! And thanks for finding the clip again.
Posted 14 Mar 2007 at 6:33 pm ¶
Katie wrote:
Kim and Jae Ran -
I did the same with the Wendy Wu movie! I babysit two very entitled little White girls, and while they watched it - and ate it up - I just sat there getting madder and madder, knowing I didn’t have the emotional strength to go through the whole desconstruction of it with them, and frankly that I didn’t get paid enough!
Posted 16 Mar 2007 at 4:12 pm ¶
Kim wrote:
Those children are entitled to know that your presence in their lives is both in what you present, and how.
Be gentle, but be insistent with the difference you bring to them. After all, you may be reduced to “that [ ] woman who used to babysit us,” one day, instead of “Katie - so smart, so cool, so real.”
We could all take a lesson and listen to the quiet, Vera style .(See submission on today, March 16, 2007, on the parent’s presence and prescience in the classroom.)
Posted 16 Mar 2007 at 7:32 pm ¶
Kyong wrote:
JR,
You should be proud of raising such a socially aware daughter. How observant and confident!
Posted 21 Mar 2007 at 10:08 pm ¶
Valerie Feria-Isacks wrote:
I took the list from the “screen” into account and it include Africans, Chinese, Japanese, etc. in the ingredient list in the screen frame.
Americans even to this day are woefully ignorant when it comes to African countries and history so it is not surprising it is lumped both here and in other places in the general “Africans” but that is still better than nothing at all or worst the ghetto stereotypes of other stuff on the air at the time.
Posted 12 Apr 2007 at 2:22 pm ¶
Valerie Feria-Isacks wrote:
Kim’s Comment “Kids who do not read, or are not fast readers, will not be able to find themselves here…”
I disagree I was a child at the time and saw Chinese, African-decent, Japanese, and an Indian in the pot. I do agree there were more white children than others but I caught it back then in my youth.
I think you are underestimating the ability of children to process data because I tested it by showing it to my 2 y.o. neice [who never saw it before] and she spotted the blacks, asians etc right away. Anthropology has shown people are drawn to familiar faces so as an asian she saw the asians first, then the whites, etc.
Posted 12 Apr 2007 at 2:28 pm ¶
Valerie Feria-Isacks wrote:
Also the girl at the end of the video closing the book looks Hispanic or Amer-Asian to me not white. Maybe being of mixed race I am more sensitive to these things than a white or black person would be. When I went to South Africa (where my husband is from) all the blacks and whites over there assumed I was white though to me I have very obvious asian features. They also though this guy from Singapore was “white” too eventhough he was very asian (most likely chinese) looking to me.
Posted 12 Apr 2007 at 2:38 pm ¶
Sigrid wrote:
I stumbled on this page when searching for an analysis on E. L. Konigsburg’s extraordinary treatment of race in Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William Mckinley, and Me, Elizabeth. Kathy notes two small concerns (I say “small” here not to belittle their importance but rather to indicate their fleeting appearance compared to the book as a whole) and then acknowledges she hasn’t read the rest of the book. Her comment is later appreciated by Kim who also appears not to have read the book. I feel it is only fair to offer another perspective from someone who has read it multiple times.
I have to admit I hadn’t connected the “watermelon” reference with race. I suppose we could fault Konigsburg as the writer and me as the reader for being insensitive on this. My understanding of the joke had always been that Jennifer’s precocious intelligence gives her the upper hand in the relationship. Elizabeth has to give up candy during holiday season (very difficult) and Jennifer assigns herself a very easy thing to give up (who eats watermelon in New York in the winter?). Similarly, the phrase “swing down from the branches” appears to be readily explainable by the context, although a more sensitive editor could possibly have caught the potential implication and encouraged the author to alter the wording.
So, why do I think this book is such an extraordinary example of antiracist literature? First, it dates from 1967 and features an interracial friendship between two girls in which the African American girl is the clear leader. Second, Jennifer is highly intelligent and academically motivated. This is apparent right away in her interactions with Elizabeth but becomes even more explicit further into the book when we witness her encounter with a librarian who is familiar with her habit of checking out stacks of books. Third, and this is the part that makes me return over and over again to the book in my mind, race is not an explicit focus of the book and is mentioned in only a few places. I’m not saying that antiracist books should avoid dealing directly with race — in many cases, perhaps most, it is entirely appropriate that they do address it directly. But in this book, the subtle approach is very powerful. From Elizabeth’s perspective, Jennifer is this amazing and even intimidating person. Elizabeth is attracted to Jennifer’s confidence and intelligence, and she does not appear to see any significance in the color of her skin. I think the first time Elizabeth mentions it, it’s a completely practical matter: Elizabeth knew without asking which parent in the audience of the school play was Jennifer’s mother because Jennifer was the only “Negro” in the class. When I reread this book as an adult, I realized that as a child I had not had any deep impression that Jennifer’s race was significant — the pictures made it clear that Jennifer was African American, but there was nothing to tell me that I should be surprised that the girls had an interracial friendship and nothing to suggest it was unusual that an African American girl should be such a precocious genius.
Reading the book as an adult with a better feeling for the nuances, the racism of the surrounding community is clearly very important to understanding Jennifer’s character. She is the only African American in class, her father has a humble job, and she lives in a town full of rich, white suburban brats. Being highly intelligent and encouraged to read well beyond her grade level, she develops a unique way to cope with her social isolation: she learns about witches through history and proclaims herself a witch — that is, someone whose rejection by the community can be explained by her special powers. Looked at from this angle, the book is a very poignant exploration of a child’s response to racism and classism in 1960s suburban New York.
This has been a very long post, so I’ll end it here. Let me just say that I appreciate Kathy’s vigilance and will try to be more attentive to these details, but I think that the book as a whole merits much greater appreciation from antiracist parents.
Posted 07 Oct 2007 at 11:51 am ¶
Leslea wrote:
Hi. I’m a writer.
Recently I did something crazy and edited the last three quarters of my first novel in a blitzkrieg of coffee and sleep deprivation.
I have multicultural characters in my book even though I am a midwestern American white lady.
You know what I noticed about some of my characters? They were stereotypical in both their actions as well as their mindsets. It really bothered me.
I deleted any reference that made me roll my eyes. A British person saying “chum.” A Tibetan bowing too much. A Catholic monk acting too sheltered. African American kid bustin’ rhymes.
I mean, I just had it going everywhere. It really made me sick, because my story is about connection, not about stereotypical characterization. I mean, I began it specifically about a woman who crashes through barriers, not only socially, but also through space and time (and even the concept of humanity as the sole form of sentient life in the universe).
And here, my characters were not just closed-minded as a matter of fact, but my OWN prejudice was showing. Prejudice I hadn’t realized I’d had.
I think, you know, if a writer can’t speak from experience to all socioethnic backgrounds (and no one can), then we have to look at the overall intention of the book and allow a little tolerance for the implicit human failings of the writer–writers aren’t God, and no book is a final product. We would revise them and fix them forever if we could. Honestly.
Anyway, this is a great blog. I’m glad I found it. I was just googling The Great American Melting Pot, because my kids love my old Schoolhouse Rock Tapes. And I’ve often though that the Social Studies tape in the collection is really–um–inaccurate.
But, anyway. Nice to meet you.
Leslea
Posted 07 Nov 2007 at 7:26 pm ¶
kim wrote:
And yet I wonder why the young Jennifer did not give up ice cream in winter.
Posted 08 Nov 2007 at 12:46 am ¶