Comments for Anti-Racist Parent - for parents committed to raising children with an anti-racist outlook

Comment on Calling anti-racist white parents of white kids! by Lyonside

Lyonside — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:37:15 +0000

Malcolm - ALL OF US are a little bit racist, even if we don’t act on it and don’t even consciously think in a racist way. We live in a racist society. To quote Melissa on Shakesville, “We’re soaking in it.”

Many white westerners (Americans, Canadians, Western Europeans, etc.), out of ignorance (the classical sense meaning “lack of knowlege”), or out of wanting to think of themselves as OK (which most people are)), do not see or are unaware of their white privilage. That in itself does not make them racist.

Your comment, however, IS racist, by pegging all racism on white people and basically ignoring the point of the thread: antiracist parents are of all ethnicities, and shouldn’t be afraid to work for equality despite not seeming to have a horse in the race. Pun intended.

Comment on What if Racialicious wasn’t just a blog, but an actual experience? by PureGracefulTree

PureGracefulTree — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 05:46:08 +0000

LOVE this idea, but I can afford neither the time nor money right now as I’m unemployed and facing a cross-country move. I hope you’ll offer it again in the future, Carmen—it sounds fantastic!

Comment on Open thread by Jennifer P

Jennifer P — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 01:48:50 +0000

Just a quick vent. I have decided that I am “disappearing” the copy of Disney’s Peter Pan I got as part of a big lot of VHS tapes someone was giving it away. My 4 y.o. son has watched it a few times with his dad, but I hadn’t watched more than bits and pieces before last week and holy crap I had absolutely no memory (from my own childhood) how much completely out of control “Indian” stereotyping is in that movie, and when my son started talking about building a fire and dancing around going “woo woo” I decided that thing is going in the trash as soon as he’s not looking. I’m sad, because there are a lot of aspects of that movie that he (and I) really like, but it’s just too big a part of the film toFFWD over and too unbelievably offensive to ignore. (I don’t think he has any concept that the whole “woo woo” thing is at all racial–it’s just a cool dance that he’s imitating like he does with so many other movies–so I’m not saying anything about that unless he continues doing it.)

Anyway, I was just wondering if other people had stories (or warnings) about other movies, etc. that they’ve felt the need to jettison. It would also be great to hear suggestions for more positive and authentic materials about Native American culture. We live in Arizona, so we take him to tribal festivals, etc. several times a year, but both he and his 5 year old cousin recently started asking me “What are Indians?” (when I told them we were having Indian food for dinner). I think I did a decent-ish job of explaining that India is a country far across the ocean where they invented the really good food that we were going to have for dinner, but that American Indians are the people who live here, and were here before the Europeans came and got confused and called them the wrong name. But it would be nice to start supplementing that with a somewhat richer perspective.

Comment on OMG…Remember “Free To Be…You And Me?” by Jennifer P

Jennifer P — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 01:16:51 +0000

Oh, yes, I definitely didn’t mean that I think challenging gender stereotypes is no longer necessary or relevant, just that the particular dynamics have shifted a lot, so some of the specifics seem out of sync, while some of the issues we face today (princess mania, hypersexualized clothes for very young girls, much more violent movies and games, rampant consumer marketing to kids, etc.) aren’t really addressed. It would actually be great to see someone do something like this for the 21st century–it’s amazing what’s happened to children’s media since deregulation.

Comment on Peanut Butter and Race Relations by Amanda Casabianca

Amanda Casabianca — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 07:29:38 +0000

@HEY

Yes, don’t insult me please, I never quote unless I’ve read it and you did not tell my ANTHING I did not know already.

Over a decade ago , at age 20, I co-founded The Bay Area Paul Robeson Centennial Committee and spent over 100 hours this past spring hours re-editing Robeson’s wikipedia articles, I’m very well aware of how race plays out in Western society via his life and my own.

The White Man’s Burden has become much more than the original work. It can be used for many other ways of describing racial blinders and deep rooted conscious and subconscious feelings of white guilt, supremacy and or superiority

Were you aware that Orwell was snitch? Both men wallowed in empire though Orwell tried. Apart from Wigan Pier and A Homage to Catalonia, I think he is a grossly overrated writer. Kipling was actually better, Gunga Din and all.

From CounterPunch:

“Over the past couple of years the matter of George Orwell’s snitching has been a public issue. Orwell, in the dawn days of the cold war and not long before his own death, compiled a snitch list of Commies and fellow travelers and turned them over to Cynthia Kirwan, a woman for whom he’d had the hots and who worked for the British secret police. Now, Orwell is Hitchens’ idol, and he lost no time in defending Orwell’s snitch list in Vanity Fair and The Nation. Finally, CounterPunch co-editor Alexander Cockburn wrote a Nation column giving the anti-Orwell point of view, taking the line that the list was mostly idle gossip, patently racist and anti-Semitic, part and parcel of McCarthyism. Bottom line snitching to the secret police wouldn’t do. Hitchens seemed genuinely surprised by our basic position that snitching is a dirty business, to be shunned by all decent people.”

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Sat, 04 Jul 2009 07:06:45 +0000

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Comment on Girls can do anything: Ask Emily Yeung by Renee

Renee — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:01:56 +0000

@Lori
In Canada they air very regularly on tree house. If you can find them on your network youtube has a bunch of episodes that you can check out.

Comment on Sacrifice and the black family by Emi

Emi — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:53:24 +0000

In the late 50’s my high school was the only one in our city. There was no other choice of schools to attend, which resulted in a majority of ‘white’ students, and a small percentage representing various nationalities, religions, ethnicities and cultures . We spent 3 of the best years of our lives together, with everyne expected to meet the high standards set since the 40’s, and everyone learning to get along in spite of differences. No quotas, special considerations or privileges. We elected a black student as our jr. class president. We elected a black student as our homecoming princess. We elected many hispanics as our representatives on student councils. A 2nd generation Japanese student l was elected our Sr. class president. We were not forced or coerced to vote for them for any reason. The entire student body voted for them because we liked them, and felt they were the best candidates. One of our classmates was the grand-son of one of the wealthiest families in town, and another, the
great-granddaughter of slaves. They received an equal education, had the same teachers, the same classes, the same requirements for graduation, and both worked hard but had fun at the same time. He attended our local state college and became a nationally recognized leader in business. She went to Jr. College and night school to get a teaching degree, and ended her career as our Superintendent of Schools. If voters would take the politics and politicians out of public education, and vote intelligently, our children would not have to suffer inadequate schools and lowered expectations. Next election, before you waste your vote on a candidate because of his or her perceived charm and speaking ability, don’t be fooled by slogans and promises. Educate yourself. Study their past voting records and history, and study their party platform. Personally, I have only heard of one political party advocating vouchers to help parents get access to the best education available for their kids, and one candidate for the last 3 election cycles making vouchers a priority. It is time for people to get serious about every minority kids future, and stop wasting votes that keep them enslaved in a system that almost guarantees their failure. It is unacceptable that a minority child can only have a quality education if their parents are wealthy, or President and First Lady. The black and hispanic community should not be looking to more money and government intervention as the answer . How about all of the wealthy and upper income blacks (Oprah, entertainers, and athletes come to mind) getting together and privately funding vouchers for every American child? A pittance to them, but a far better investment than spending millions on bling and taking employees on cruises.

Comment on Open thread by S's mom

S's mom — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:42:13 +0000

Karen~~I don’t get any comments. The most I got when he was a baby (from complete strangers) was that he has big eyes, but I think most babies have big eyes and we no longer get those comments since his eyes aren’t especially large anymore. (When I mean baby, I am talking about six months or a year, not newborn.)
The only other comments I get is that he is “cute” and a lot of times I think people say it because they think he is exotic looking, but since I don’t know for sure, we just say “Thank you.”

Comment on How I failed my son in one simple question by patsgirl

patsgirl — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:23:11 +0000

@Greg– This is what I said: “I hope that you consider apologizing to your coworker, not for your child’s curiosity, but for your insensitivity towards her”. I won’t pretend to understand all the other stuff you’re going on about in your response to my comment.

Comment on OMG…Remember “Free To Be…You And Me?” by OR mama

OR mama — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:00:32 +0000

i loved that record growing up. we started playing it for my son from the get go. i’ll even (anonymously, of course) admit that i sometimes play it when i’m the only one home.

i’ve never seen the video…will check it out.

Comment on Calling anti-racist white parents of white kids! by Malcolm

Malcolm — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:09:38 +0000

Whites are racist and enjoy the benefits of whiteness!

Comment on What if Racialicious wasn’t just a blog, but an actual experience? by Amanda Casabianca

Amanda Casabianca — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:28:19 +0000

Before the Racialicious Blog can win me over as Anti-racist Parent has, there needs to be a more consistent code of who blogs and how commmnets are moderated.
A few of the guest bloggers are too overly emotional and anti-free speech for my liking. Plus the deluge of posts does not allow for an extended dialogue with bloggers and commentators.

Taking your concept off the blog and into the world of seminars is a welcome step.

Comment on Peanut Butter and Race Relations by hey

hey — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:26:11 +0000

Also…have you even read “The White Man’s Burden”? Do you know what it’s about? Although it does have at its center the paternalistic and dominant relationship of White men over non-whites, it was written on the occassion of the USA’s war with the Phillipines and does not refer to Blacks or Africa at all.

Comment on Peanut Butter and Race Relations by hey

hey — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:18:41 +0000

Just a small comment re: Amanda Casabianca’s post…Kipling was born and raised in India, and his relationship to “empire” was almost entirely within an Indian and South Asian context. I’m sure he must have visited some part of Africa at some point, and had dealt with Africans and Black people in his life, but they are not the dominant race or ethnicity in his dealings with colonial subjects. Orwell was also born in India was a British officer in Burma (in Southeast Asia) for many years–again, his British Empire is one based in the East, not in Africa, although again he must have visited the continent and dealt with Blacks in his time, his frame of reference is firmly placed in the tropics of Rangoon and Mandalay, not in the Congo or Johannesburg. I know this is only tangentially related to your point, which is a good one, but I spent years in college studying these two men (Kipling mostly, with some Orwell thrown in for good measure) within the context of British Colonial involvement in the Asian continent and just wanted to throw that out there…

Comment on Open thread by Marcy Webb

Marcy Webb — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:27:57 +0000

Karen, and, I’m sorry there was no direct link for you to a blog, etc. But, perhaps you’ll come back. Here is something which may help:

http://eyemd.wordpress.com/2007/02/02/are-double-eyelids-inherited-genetically/

He is Dr. Benson Chen, Asian Eye MD.

Comment on Gratuitous cute kid pic by Marcy Webb

Marcy Webb — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:22:24 +0000

Really precious. I hope they will be lifelong friends, as well as brothers.

Comment on Open thread by karen

karen — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:28:54 +0000

I’m going back to read the recent threads about how to handle compliments on “white” features.

I’m white; my husband is Canadian-Born-Chinese. Our newborn is already getting gushing compliments from my husband’s family on her double eyelids. I have nothing to say. I just ignore it. When I think about it later, I feel a little snarky, like I could say, “She could have quadruple eyelids and I’d still love her eyes.”

My family notices nothing. I doubt that they are even aware that many Asian people tape their eyes daily or even have cosmetic surgery to “achieve” double eyelids.

Any suggestions from other parents of Asian or partly-Asian children for how to handle comments on double eye-lids or a lack thereof?

Comment on Open thread by Marcy Webb

Marcy Webb — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:24:31 +0000

I think that we as persons of color don’t want to believe that we, too, hold prejudices. As it to be believe that as people of color, we’re by default immune to it all. After all, it’s far easier to point the proverbial finger away. However, when we as people of color step up and face our own issues with race, ethnicity, and the plethora of other isms, I think it enhances one’s humanity, and one’s ability to empathize more effectively when we point out the shortcomings in White people

Comment on OMG…Remember “Free To Be…You And Me?” by AZ in YUL

AZ in YUL — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:33:30 +0000

I grew up on FTBY&M too! -book and vinyl, never saw the footage before today. Must get the DVD! I bought the cassette for the car when my first baby came on the scene, and it is back on heavy rotation now that my youngest can express her desire for music in the car. My favorite track: Brothers and Sisters, Least fav: Girl Land. I also really appreciate William’s Doll-and can tell you that there are STILL people out there who NEED to really hear and understand it, even today. At the onsite day care (and I work at a University) on site, I have heard parents comment on children’s attire-either about little girls who wear their older brother’s hand me downs (mine!) or little boys who like to wear jewlery and dresses.
Thanks for the link!