Perspectives on Race

All over the news for the past weeks is the story about John Edwards and his illegimate child. At first he tried to pay his assistant to say the child was his even though he had already admitted to having the affair. Now he is owning up to being the father of the child because he says he wants his daughter to love him. The girl is three years old and he has not participated in any part of her life until now. When this little girl gets older and hears all the stories about what her father did and how he only owned up to it because his assistant threatened to publish a book telling the truth, she is going to hate him even more than if he just disclaimed her until she was an adult.

It comes as a difficult confession for me, as I’m not normally one to give into senseless trends such as reality TV. Of late, however, I’ve found myself watching the show Jersey Shore frequently, looking forward to the next time it comes on, and even talking about it with friends. The show revolves around a group of young, Italian males (I believe) who are now affectionately referred to as “Guidos” based on traits such as very tan skin, built bodies, and flashy attire with ornate designs among other things. The term “Guido” seems like it would be highly offensive to some, especially those of Italian background who are generally linked to the stereotype. If it wasn’t already bad enough, the show itself frequently depicts the residents of the Jersey Beach condo partaking in questionable activities and making/taking rash decisions/actions. I’m ashamed of myself for enjoying such garbage programming, but in all honesty the show seems to be drawing more and more love to the “Guido” community so hopefully this makes it less offensive (even though I doubt it does). I hear people on a daily basis saying things like “I wish I were a ‘Guido’.” Facebook groups and surveys such as “Find your Jersey Shore nickname” pop up seemingly by the minute, and it seems like this stereotype has lovingly(?) seeped into our pop-culture. Nonetheless, calling people “Guidos” is stereotyping, and it should be taken with a grain of salt.

So M. Night Shyamalan is directing the new film “The Last Airbender,” based on the popular Nickelodeon show. The show, which was influenced by Japanese and Chinese culture will have little Asian representation in the movie. The lack of Asian actors for the main characters, who are being portrayed by white actors, has sparked controversy. Shyamalan has a right to artistically craft a film that represents him as a director and appeal to the audience. But, i don’t see how a creating a movie without the asian influence makes sense. I just don’t want the film to go in the direction of Dragon Ball Z’s failure.

When I found out I got accepted to UF I was happy and excited. The teachers at my high school were happy also. However, there were a few teachers that were trying to get me to attend an HBC. They said an education is an education but going to a HBC is good for me because I can get a better understanding of the black culture. The thing that got me thinking was when they said, at UF I would just be a limited black girl there with a number and that’s what the teachers would look at me as, just a number.

Now, two years later and I’m a little older I realize everyone here at UF is just a number when starting out. It doesn’t matter what race you are. What I do understand is you have to make yourself known and heard to the teachers. Its my job to get them to know me and not be that number they look at everyone as in the classroom as.

There have been so many times when I would hear someone say “ why u acting black” or “why you dress black”. How could this be possible. Being black is no such thing.  Like I heard this white guy ask another white guy  why he talks black? Just because a white boy uses slang do not mean he is acting like a black person. Only black people did not create slang.  what makes me so upset is that why does this white guy have to be acting black? Is it because he  maybe loud or using improper speech? Some people make it seem as if is it’s not normal to see white people dressing or talking “black”. Just because most black people use these words or dress a certain way does not mean they own that specific language or style.

Being a person of mixed race has provided me with many awkward situations in where I have to answer questions about where I’m really from after the person does not initially think I am american.  Recently I took a trip to go buy some beverages for a party later that night and was required to show my I.D. to the clerk, apparently they were having a slow night because she took the time to stare at me and compare it with the card, I thought she was going to ask me about my birthdate to verify that it was actually my card.  She instead asks me where I am from, because she saw my last name which is a very common Anglo-Saxon name and then she looked at me who is a mix of white and asian.  I told her that I was from Florida, to which she followed up with the same question I always get which is “No, really where are you from?”  I briefly explained my background to her which she found quite amusing because she wouldn’t have thought I spoke english until she saw my name on the I.D.  These situations always are interesting to me because you usually can catch the other person’s level of exposure to race when I first encounter them and how they receive me.  In this case the cashier figured that by my appearance that I probably couldn’t speak english, it wasn’t until I spoke that she was sure.  Is it fair to make these assumptions and should the people who are assumed about care?

I’m sure all of us has encountered this at one point or another. I find it amusing when someone says something completely ignorant, stereotypical, and RACIST, then follow up with the comment, “Oh, but I’m not racist…I have black friends”. The word ‘amusing’ is light compared to what I would really like to call this statement….but ignorant to say the least. I find this to be an oxymoron. But furthermore, it’s even worse when people point out the number of friends they have of another race. For example, my best friend was trying to defend her fiance by saying that he has two black friends. This enraged me even more than the stereotypical comment he had said previously. I am not saying I am perfect in any way, because I also feel that everyone is a little racist in some sense. However, if someone were to claim that I were racist, my ‘black’, ‘white’ or ‘Asian’ friends wouldn’t start flashing through my mind. The saddest part of it all is that that many people genuinely feel that having ‘black’ friends will cancel out any chance of them being labeled as racist. This of course can happen with any culture, but my personal experiences have been with either Hispanics or African Americans as the target group. If you see anyone making this sort of mistake, please say something! These people need to open their eyes and stop being so blind to their own ignorance!

Earlier this week I went out to dinner with a really good friend of mine and with us were two of her other friends that I didn’t really know. (I’m Black, they are all White) Since we became friends she has taught me a lot of Jewish cultural things and I have taught her Black cultural things to keep us from being so ignorant about the other. While I usually find it offensive when people ask me to educate them on “Blackness” we both have the understanding that I am only speaking for myself and I know she is trying to keep from being so ignorant. Well she decided to ask why her sorority sister (who is one of about 3 Black girls in her sorority) went tanning with them the other day. When I asked what she meant, one of her friends said, “but wouldn’t tanning make her darker?” with a perplexed look on her face. It took a lot for me to swallow what I wanted to say, that not all people hate dark skin and think it’s hideous like you do, and instead I just shrugged and said everyone is different. Everyone, both White and Black, talk about dark skin as ugly, not as an opinion, but as though it’s fact and as though beautiful very dark skinned people are an anomaly.

Today, I was reading a story about a relationship where the man was from the Philippines and the woman was black. She described their six month relationship as pure bliss and they were thinking about marriage. He then tells her that his parents are racist and she wasn’t able to tell them that he had a black girlfriend. She was absolutely heartbroken because the parents were writing her off without even meeting her. She came from a respectable family and had good values. Eventually, the boyfriend told his parents about her and they were completely outraged and wanted nothing to do with their son. He stood by his girlfriend and at the end she said, “And all of the sudden, I realized that what his parents thought didn’t matter at all. I reached out and grabbed his hand. Our skin melted, and you couldn’t tell where his stopped and mine started.” After reading this I was saddened that his parents would turn their back on their son just because his girlfriend was dark. It made her become ashamed of her skin instead of embracing what God had blessed her with. What do you think about this?

The other day, President Obama gave a speech to the State of the Union. We all know he’s a well spoken individual and he has a very powerful presence when he is addressing a crowd of people. With that said, how many people have seen our President on television and ever forgot he was black? MSNBC reporter Chris Matthews took it upon himself to comment on how much he enjoyed the President’s speech. To show his appreciation, he commeneded Barack Obama on how well-spoken he was and how good his speech was. After he said all of that, he said “the speech was so good, I forgot he was black”. After I heard what he said, I didn’t know how to feel. It’s so sad that no one can look past the fact that our President is black. This hasn’t been the only racial incident disrespecting our nation’s leader, this is just the most recent. There isn’t a way to act black, or sound black, or even give a speech black. It’s good to know Chris Matthews doesn’t expect black people to be as articulate as Barack Obama, but it isn’t good to know that he’d have the balls to go on national television and let his lips go on a racial rampage. For the sake of our country, I hope people just forget that he’s a black President and recognize him as just the President. Whether he’s black, white, green or yellow, he was appointed to do a job, and there isn’t a “black” or “white” way to do it; there’s only the right way.