Over break I went to my roommate Alex’s house for the week. One night, Alex and I were watching TV and stumbled upon MTV’s show, The Real World Road Rules Challenge. About five minutes in, we witnessed two cast mates attempting to “poke fun” at their friends’ interracial relationship by using black face, which they did by covering their faces with nutella. While the two of us stared at each other in disbelief, her mom asked us why that was inappropriate, “black people make fun of white people all the time and no one points the finger at them.”
Month: March 2012
False advertising?
While shopping this week, I happened to spot this little number at H&M. I immediately thought, “wow! How cool!!” Considering that H&M is a major corporation which caters to all men and women, I didn’t think that they would ever sell merchandise that could potentially be political or controversial, or at least about a topic that makes people uncomfortable. I imagined people wearing these shirts in public, spreading ideas of love and equality, and beauty among all people. I guess that sounds a little good to be true. I thought about it a little more, even hesitated to try it on. Is this aversive racism? What do you think? I thought that maybe it was promoting colorblindness, however it says “different colors all beautiful” not “different colors all equal“. Because I do agree that people of different colors can be and are all beautiful, but it feels like the shirt is sending a greater message, like equality, probably because of the “say no to racism” part. As we learned, just “saying no to racism” isn’t that simple, since racism is so heavily embedded in our society and structural systems. So is wearing a phrase so simplistic only further hiding the problem? Like, “Cool! If I wear this then everyone will know I’m not a racist!!” This only leads to further denial that you are, in fact, are racist because of society.
Patrotism or Racism?
If there was ever a time in which a headline encompassed the entire meaning of contemporary racism, this past weekend was it. In Texas, two teams played a basketball game; Alamo Heights and their rival, Edison High School. After Alamo won and was presented with a trophy some student spectators began to chant, “USA! USA! USA!”. Why you ask? Alamo Heights High School is predominantly white and Edison High School is predominantly Hispanic.