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“Ugly Betty” is not about being unattractive, or at least not simply about being unattractive. It’s about class. And ethnicity. Its smart take on cultural and economic differences, enmeshed as it is in a fresh, funny package, makes it positively subversiv
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“Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have abandoned their plans to adopt an Indian baby because of the controversy surrounding Madonna’s recent adoption.”
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Fifteen years ago today, Magic Johnson made an announcement that would forever change his life and the lives of people all over the world. On November 7, 1991, Magic announced his retirement from the NBA because he was HIV positive.
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Few American writers have mapped the human heart with more care than Joyce Carol Oates. Oates’ new book, Black Girl White Girl, explores the tenuous relationship between black and white roommates at a prestigious liberal arts college in the 1970s.
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“Thus, the Herculean effort required to call me “Asian American” rather than “chink” is seen as a concession to “the PC police”, an unsettling infringement on the free-wheeling conversation of, I suppose, “non-chinks”…”
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“Once a black moves up the social ladder, he has the option to marry someone that is not black and give his/her children or grandchildren - depending on their appearance - the increasing chance to ‘opt out’ of being black…”
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“demagogues are trying to turn Asian Americans into “racial mascots” to camouflage an agenda that, if presented by Whites on their own behalf, would look too much like naked self-interest…”
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“The Papdits are a fictional Indian family…interacting with local yokels who are unaware that this is a “reality/scripted hybrid” played by actors who want to make them look ridiculous…a TV pilot being shown online at Innertube, CBS’s broadband outlet
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Lyonside wrote:
Ew.
From a “source”: “Angelina has a philosophy that people enter your life for a reason, that you go to a place for a reason. This made India a perfect spot for them to explore introducing a new culture into their lives.”
Wait, wait, wait, I dont’ care if it’s an anonymous source, is the article/source really saying that the REASON for international adoption is to introduce a culture into a parent’s life?
Kill me now. Um, read some history, visit a shrine, learn a language, make some FRIENDS. Don’t raise a CHILD, or expect an infant to suddenly, mentally, spiritually, GIVE you their birth culture. Culture is NOT genetic, and it’s insulting to think that brown skin in a certain shade MEANS anything other than.. well, brown skin.
Posted 08 Nov 2006 at 4:01 pm ¶
s wrote:
That “New Passing” thing is right on point! Except (hear comes the contreversial), I think one black gender does it far more often that the other. This is something that I hear mostly from men (as far as the color of their children) One man actaully treats his light-skinned daughter noticably different than the medium brown one. When it is brought to his attention by his biracial black wife, he says “Well, I told you I wanted light daughters”. Of, course, only his black male friends and agree with this treatment. Now the “good hair” thing, that an equally big deal to a lot of black men and women alike. When did we become so petty?
I have heard soooo many black men say that life is about making money and light-skinned kids. It used to be “in” to marry light skinned, and hopefully have light-skinned babies. But now, I guess the chances of “lightening” the kids is greater if you marry non-black. The rich and famous black men have been doing this “new passing” thing for decades. Look at Rick James, Richard Prior, and many, many other old schoolers. Snipes, O.J., the Barber twins, for example, keep the tradition going. How can I be expected to believe they ALL “just happened to fall in love with a white woman” when most of them came from an all-black community? When it was more common to be mistreated by a white woman than to be loved by one? Yes, when your income increases, your exposure to white people more than likely increases as well. But many “actively” seek out non-black people to associate with, date and marry, and most of those seekers tend to be black men. Some will admit to their attempt to “climb the ladder” by marrying out of race, but most won’t and don’t have to because of all the people who are so quick to defend EVERY black man with the “he just found love” explanation, which is not always fitting. It only fits the ones who actually found unconditional love, not the ones who found a way to sellout, to “escape”, or to climb the ladder.
If I could play devil’s advocate for a moment, I would say that SOME of these men probably recall the heartache they caused dark-skinned girls with their comments and actions and saw the pain that was inflicted on them, and decided to save their children from that heartache and unfairness. I’d assume that some black women do this as well. ( Furthermore, I think it is an insult to white men to say you married a white man because the black man is this and that, and vise versa.) However, this doesn’t solve the problem. I don’t know what would. As long as there is a stigma attached to being black, looking black, or being dark, there will always be a large number of people unwilling to marry or reproduce as such.
Posted 08 Nov 2006 at 4:58 pm ¶
kim wrote:
Hey guys, didn’t read this whole thread, just caught some pieces of the comments by ’s’ and found some pertinent discussion and links to this topic at the blog below (I’ve never sought to hyperlink before, and don’t know how, I’m sorry):
{Nappy as I Want to Be} the philosophies of a radical feminist of color @
reframing-productivity.blogspot.com/2006/07/saul-williams-black-stacey-i-linked-to.html
Also, Langston Hughes published a poem decades ago about the enhanced desirability of Black men of notariety to a White female audience that would have had no use for them otherwise. In the link, poet/performer Saul Williams discusses his hurt at being labeled ‘Black Stacy’ when he was groiwng up.
Each case must be taken on a one-by-one basis, to be sure, and I don’t waste any brain time on this subject, people watcher though I am.
Posted 08 Nov 2006 at 8:02 pm ¶
Minter wrote:
RE: Asian Americans Aren’t White Folks’ ‘Racial Mascots’ -
I am so glad I don’t live in the states. It seems like they’re twisting race into something beyond complexity, underhand and without resolving any issues other than for personal gain - I for one don’t wish to take part in such a insidious scheme.
Posted 09 Nov 2006 at 10:01 am ¶