Arr the Singre Ragies
by Guest Contributor Jen, originally published at Disgrasian
When I was at Yale, Mixed Company had the reputation of being the “funny singing group.” You know, as opposed to the “hot singing group” (that would have been the Baker’s Dozen, or the “BD’s” for men, and Something Extra, aka “Sextra,” for women) or the “serious singing group” (Red Hot + Blue) or the “angry feminist group” (The New Blue, to which I belonged).
But that was a long-ass time ago, kiddies. And my-oh-my how things have changed, as evidenced by Mixed Company’s current YouTube parody
of Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies”:
Does the world really need another “Single Ladies” spoof? Or, for that matter, more pedestrian rice jokes? Don’t get me wrong, we rove a good lice joke. And of coulse we rove it rong time. We just don’t rove these ones.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve gotta go make the rice and make it nice, and then shoot myself in the face for actually having to sit through that.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Jess wrote:
OK, someone help me out.
I thought it actually started well. I mean, the parody of all the stereotypes wasn’t as sharp as I had hoped, but it was getting there.
And the thing about guys with “yellow fever” was ok, kind of. I mean, I’ve met a few people like that and I understand they are annoying. So far so good.
Then they got to the fake accent rice joke and I wasn’t sure that was working for me, and I think at that point it went off the rails.
Did I miss anything? Am I being stupid? I was waiting initially for the punchline but it never seemed to get there — we got the accented rice joke instead.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 12:08 pm ¶
Brandon wrote:
It did not start well. It started with the steretype that Asians and Asian-Americans are obsessed with academics. Now, coming from Asians or Asian-Americans, there could be some good comedy there… but where’s the commentary?
Also, the fact that this is something that comes from Yale really bothers me. I’m imagining that at elite academic institutions there is a certain xenophobia over foreigners taking the slots of hard-working American students, not to mention how those foreign students are seen on campus.
Terrible.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 1:06 pm ¶
wendi muse wrote:
funny enough, one of my friends, who is female, asian-american, and an alum of a prestigious university, posted this on her facebook page this morning. when i saw it (before reading the guest contrib piece here), i thought it presented us with a typical conundrum we explore here all the time: what are the limits (if any) of humor? and to be more specific, ethnic/racial humor. to take that further, how to we talk about humor about an ethnic/racial group WITHIN said ethnic/racial group ( a la chris rock). sure, chris rock gives far more commentary than the ladies features in the video do, but part of me wonders if that comes from youth, lack of experience, and the inability to challenge the stereotypes they present in such a short song.
it’s much easier to present a stereotype like a jingle than analyze it. things would get lost due to both the brevity and simplicity of the song. they are a humorous group, not an anti-racist one, so maybe they saw their purpose as that of humor more so than commentary. then again, they may make commentary in their own ways in some other outlet (i am not sure). if that is the case, does it then counterbalance the (bad) jokes they make here?
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 1:19 pm ¶
Mammith wrote:
Hmmm, I can see what they were trying to do and there was some funny moments in there. But it suffers from the problem of follow through, what are people who aren’t part of that community/group/whatever gonna get from that? To some the joke is ‘Oooh what a funny take on stupid stereotypes’ but to a lot of others I fear it’s just ‘OMG ASIANS LOL’
Always gotta be careful with satire.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 1:55 pm ¶
Ike wrote:
It was a bad spoof, even if we ignored the fact that it was stereotyping Asians. I’ve seen better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4hTkRokQPY
***Is “Mixed Company” an all Asian singing group? Or does it include all the students?
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 2:19 pm ¶
wendi muse wrote:
oh man…that naija rework of single ladies is going to be stuck in my head all day (is it just me or is it more awesome than the original song?). i liked their take on soulja boy back in the day too! thanks, ike. made my day.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 2:43 pm ¶
Bobby wrote:
Few can successfully satirize racial stereotypes. Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle come to mind. These girls don’t even come close.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 3:00 pm ¶
Luis wrote:
Hoho, this certainly blew up pretty large. I’m always surprised when stuff on campus gets wide coverage like this. I guess that’s what happens with the Yale brand on it.
I didn’t hate the video. It has moments, and I think, like all good satire, that it never forgets who it’s ridiculing–people who hold stereotypes. That said, the execution isn’t perfect. I think it deserves an honest assessment of what went right and what went wrong, instead of dismissal or derision. There is more than enough “satire” out there that is totally about ridiculing Asians and not satire at all that does require that treatment. Not this.
Mixed Company is what it sounds like, a co-ed group and racially diverse. I’m pretty sure the women in the video are all of the Asian women in the group.
–Yalie
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 3:11 pm ¶
Cara wrote:
not cool man, not cool.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 3:23 pm ¶
Brandon wrote:
People keep saying that this is satirizing racial stereotypes. I don’t see it. I think that satire requires a certain level of intelligence that just isn’t here.
As far as it “working” on any level… racial humor has to cut to the core of something to be funny. Funny and meaningful go together with satire.
If you want to satirize stereotypes, I have some brilliant advice for any humorists out there: include the idiots who do the stereotyping. That way, there’s no real question what you’re doing and who you’re mocking.
As far as defending these girls… they’re Yale students. I know that ignorance and bad taste know no boundaries, but I guess I hold them to a higher standard at an Ivy League institution.
And I’m just trying to imagine the meeting of this singing group when this came up. Did someone else come up with the idea and hand it over to the four Asian/Asian-American kids in the group? Did they come up with it themselves?
The more I think about this, the more I hate it.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 3:52 pm ¶
F. wrote:
Wow, Ivy League kids who show lack of discernment and inability to create effective satire when it comes to racial issues in their print/video media?
Color me surprised! That doesn’t happen often!
(Well, only about every month or so, see numerous instances at Dartmouth most recently concerning their incoming President, Pricenton’s Jian Li incident, Penn’s Where You Won’t Find Asians jokes, and so on… I can’t even remember all of them.)
You know, it’s perhaps intuitive to believe that these incidents of horribly-racially-insensitive-faux-paus-in-the-name-of-”satire” would be coming from, say, big state universities in the old Deep South, but no, they come from the universities where our “best” and “brightest” are educated… including a lot of Asians students.
There must be some truth to the “book smart, street stupid” theory. Or maybe Asians at Ivies are just inherently disliked.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 4:37 pm ¶
Lxy wrote:
One of the admission requirements for Yale University must now be an advanced affliction of White Hipster stupidity … I mean, “satirical humor.”
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 4:47 pm ¶
Invasian wrote:
Perhaps they were going for satire, but frankly, they fell flat on their asses in that department.
Sure, they pack almost every stereotype into the video, but they have this annoyingly gleeful nature that it seems like they are embracing them, rather than mocking or pushing away from the stereotypes. Maybe they like being submissive.
Like I have said before, way to sell out, ladies.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 5:08 pm ¶
Kai wrote:
I’d like to request a refund on those 2 minutes of my life.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 5:29 pm ¶
Restructure! wrote:
Fail.
The video and this post. Maybe I have a strange sense of humour, but if I heard a joke before (e.g., l/r and r/l switching), I don’t find it funny the second or 50th time.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 6:06 pm ¶
Ayo wrote:
I’m glad you guys put this up
i saw it gawker and felt such a paralyzing cringe
now we can all share the cringe…
ugh
losers
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 6:53 pm ¶
Sean wrote:
The conundrum of this type of humor -satirizing the streotypes of a racial group by a group member- is always a question of “Are they laughing with us or at us?”
Richard Pryor, Chris Rock and Dave Chapelle all faced this question at various points in their careers, and either omitted certain phrases, (Pryor) jokes, (Rock) or just outright quit. (Chapelle)
That being said, as an African American man -who’s well aware that stereotypes suck, even if they’re complimentary – I would LOVE and welcome the opportunity to trade stereotypes with these ladies.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 7:07 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:
@Ike/Kavita –
Slow your roll. I don’t really like the labeling of people as pathetic or Uncle Toms or what have you.
This is sliding way too much into a “who they are” discussion where as what we are looking for here is a “what they did discussion.”
Do I need to break out the Jay Smooth primer?
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 7:08 pm ¶
JC wrote:
It really was an epic fail. Sign.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 7:09 pm ¶
Minotaar wrote:
It appears that these individuals actually sang the piece and actually choreographed the steps themselves with some degree of originality. The music appears to have been synthesized to resemble the Beyonce music, but its not the same, indicating some work on that side too. All this in itself is no small technical achievement for people doing this in their free time. Coordination and practice takes a lot of group dedication, and obviously this consumed the lions share of the effort exerted. The social consequences of the work were probably not thought about very much from the performer’s perspectives because achieving the technical side of things was probably all-consuming. I’ve had some experience with this and getting people in a room to practice is like herding cats, even if no one has an attitude problem.
Unfortunately, this is probably an excellent lesson for these young performers who may or may not have actual plans for a musical career: original music needs to be thought out seriously from both a technical and a social perspective. As young musicians, we’re often directed to learn to accomplish only the technical aspects of music (this is, in fact, another stereotype of Asian musicians, but lets leave that out). Its an error in our education, not in who we are. The negative social response to the music isnt because of a technical failure, but because they havent put that extra mile into thinking out the lyrics and the “social commentary” it is attempting to make.
Thus, not to get too far into the “who they are” side of things, but I feel the stereotype that young Asian-American females hate being asian discolors this video’s attempt at satirizing Asian-ness. We can only hypothesize how these individuals actually feel, and its easy to let our stereotypes color our sense of what the creators of this video actually think. So I feel that this attempt to mock stereotypes is actually defeated by the fact that it does not sufficiently defy other stereotypes. You can take a bunch of bald beefy white guys in camo gear and have them sarcastically make anti-black comments in a southern accent as a “joke”, but the fact that it is too ambiguous that they are not skinheads is akin to the fact that it is too ambiguous that these women are not self hating. Its just too unclear if you are laughing AT Asians or at people who are mocking Asians. Does anyone else feel uncomfortable when a Jewish individual makes Jewish jokes?
Musically speaking, the whole thing is a rookie mistake. Got to think about what you’re singing.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 7:39 pm ¶
hexy wrote:
I wouldn’t say it started WELL, but the beginning certainly gave the impression it was setting up to satirise and take the piss out of the attitudes described.
Then it just… didn’t.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 10:53 pm ¶
brownstocking wrote:
@Invasian: maybe that’s what’s been niggling at me, I’m not sure if they are trying to turn stereotypes on their heads.
I dunno, yes, they practiced it, but it does fall flat.
@LaToya: while I don’t think this is a name-calling situation (well, other than say, “kiddies” and shake your head) do you think there ever is a time to call someone a Tom, or similar term?
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 11:42 pm ¶
kakodaimon wrote:
For the first bit I thought “Um, stereotypical, but if they wrote it I guess they’re allowed,” but wow did it ever take a turn for the even worse. I agree that we can’t know what they were thinking, though. Do we know the extent of their authorship?
Does anyone else feel uncomfortable when a Jewish individual makes Jewish jokes?
I think part of the point of Jewish jokes is to make other people feel uncomfortable – it can be a way to flip who has authority/power/confidence in a conversation when it isn’t going well. I remember once a supervisor of mine was like, “Oh, you work for [Jewish organisation X]? I hear they’re very well-funded, very well-heeled indeed,” so I made a Jewish money joke a) to hide how pissed-off I was, and b) to feed him back his own attitude but with the whole subtext explicit.
Sometimes I’ll make one to see how somebody reacts, or to make explicit what I think they’re thinking. And sometimes just because they’re really funny.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 11:55 pm ¶
Jean wrote:
I didn’t find it that funny but I didn’t think it was horribly offensive either. It was kind of weird how it went from stereotypes about Asian American college students and then to stereotypes about Asians. And what was with the Korean line at the end, ‘If you liked me you should have given me a ring?’ How does that fit in??
I did cringe a bit at the ‘dim sum’ part. Maybe because I’ve seen 2nd generation Asian Americans be offensive towards Asian immigrants. But I guess the idea behind the it could just be making fun of the ‘all Asians are alike’ stereotype.
Posted 31 Mar 2009 at 12:34 am ¶
Christine wrote:
It started out cute, but then fell into the same kind of “satirical humor” Yale is getting to be famous for. I think the key thing about that type of humor is who is the intended audience. With Chris Rock or Dave Chapelle, the jokes are usually intended for the audience that they are about. When Chris Rock makes a joke about black people that is clearly intended for black people to hear, understand, and laugh at, it’s less offensive (at least to me) because he’s not laughing at black people or trying to maliciously attack black people. Why? As a black person (who is not trying to separate himself from black people) he is going to get the joke on a certain level, and in fact he is literally included in it. But when a comedian makes a joke about a group of people that is intended for another group to laugh AT then it can be a problem. That whack comedian Evelyn Ku does it, and I can’t stand her for it.
The question with this video to me is, who is the intended audience. I’m not sure if it is really Asians, or if it is intended for non-Asians to laugh at Asians. It’s irresponsible of the group to throw this video out there without any context or explanation to clarify their intentions.
@ Luis,
I wonder if I know you. I hear ya, but satires that make fun of people who believe in stereotypes by using the stereotypes doesn’t make sense, because those people never get the joke, they just feel validated on some level.
~~Another Yalie
Posted 31 Mar 2009 at 12:39 am ¶
Ike wrote:
@Latoya:
You responded to the wrong post. I never called the “Singre Ragies”, uncle toms. I (sarcastically) called the Sri Lankan postman an Uncle Tom
Posted 31 Mar 2009 at 5:59 am ¶
merq wrote:
@Ike (26),
Yeah, that had me confused for a hot second.
But yeah, WOW. I’m sorry, but I didn’t see any stereotype-mockery or subversion there. That whole thing was kinda sickening.
I’ve said it before (about the likes of McGruder and, contrary to seemingly popular opinion, Chris Rock) and I’ll say it again:
melanin != bigot vaccine.
Posted 31 Mar 2009 at 8:34 am ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:
@Ike –
Yup, wrong thread. I’ll copy it over there.
Posted 31 Mar 2009 at 8:41 am ¶
CVT wrote:
This was painful on a lot of levels . . .
But – not really on an offensive level – it was more that horrible feeling of being embarrassed FOR somebody else. Embarrassed for the quality of the actual music, then embarrassed for an attempt to be funny gone horribly wrong, and then embarrassed for these young women who might not have even realized how they just pandered to a non-Asian crowd who will never know (or care) about the “satire” in the song.
Aiyaa . . .
Posted 31 Mar 2009 at 9:37 am ¶
RJG wrote:
Is it wrong to have the reaction of “well, at least they were Asian women and not some white kids and/or guys”?
Even though it comes off as trainwrecky and pandering to racial stereotypes, I feel I can at least label it as just (?) a dumb joke/something horribly executed/just plain godawful if it’s not making fun of a culture the people performing it aren’t even related to in any way.
Meanwhile, if it was some white kids I’d have an entirely different reaction. Or if it was about Asian women and performed by men (although that would mean it is more sexist than racist, I guess).
Posted 31 Mar 2009 at 11:38 am ¶
JLC wrote:
@ RJG
You’re right that it would have been worse if they had been white and/or guys.
But on the other hand it’s more frustrating that they’re Asian women. They were using “humor” to pander to white people, at the expense of themselves and their fellow Asians. Which is unsurprising, but frustrating nonetheless.
Posted 31 Mar 2009 at 12:02 pm ¶
Sean wrote:
Christine Post # 25
Good points about the intended audience. However, I can’t let Chris Rock off the hook so easily. If he told his infamous “Black People vs. N*****s” routine on BET Comic View, that would be one thing, but he obviously knew he would be addressing a wider racial demographic by telling this joke on HBO.
By his own admission, he disowned the skit when he realized that people who weren’t black used this “rationale” to re-enforce their prejudiced attitides. In this case, perhaps he misunderstood who his HBO audience consisted of.
As far as these particular Yale students go, I’m inclined to agree that YouTube wasn’t the best way to go about “keeping it in the family” – so to speak.
Posted 31 Mar 2009 at 12:40 pm ¶
BlackIvy wrote:
I’d like to chalk this up to another example of yale sucking (Go Crimson!) but truth be told this hipster racism crap is everywhere. Dont get me wrong, there are alot of really great clued in people, but im getting to the point where I would rather be around a bunch of openly racist folks who at least can dialogue honestly about stuff without a primer about how they cant be racist because they are a minority /have black friends/ like JayZ etc. My boyfriend said he almost lost it last weekend when a guy at a friends party referred to him as the “HNIC”. Of course it was ok cuz he was Asian . . . WTF? Oh the indignities of living in “post racial” America. *smirk*
Posted 31 Mar 2009 at 1:58 pm ¶
jmn wrote:
Ahahahaha! And now the video has been set to private. I guess I should count myself lucky as deciding not to click on the video link until now. I still have my two minutes intact.
Posted 31 Mar 2009 at 3:35 pm ¶
steve wrote:
yellowface w/o the make-up. satire requires a little more than regurgitating the same old tired stereotypes.
Posted 31 Mar 2009 at 4:18 pm ¶
Minotaar wrote:
What is a “HNIC” ?
Posted 31 Mar 2009 at 4:38 pm ¶
Fiqah wrote:
@Minotaar: “Head Negro In Charge.” SIGH.
Posted 31 Mar 2009 at 4:49 pm ¶
Embarcadero13 wrote:
@BlackIvy: Recently, in San Francisco, a white male hipster told me that he “knows what its like” to be a racial minority because he has full sleeves (arm tattoos that cover his whole arm up to the sleeve). I guess he had gotten turned down for a job or something. That made him a POC.
No. joke.
Posted 31 Mar 2009 at 4:57 pm ¶
Luis wrote:
Two things:
1. People need to separate their hate/envy/suspicion of Ivy League colleges from this conversation. Conflating that with a critique of this video makes your point sound petty and pathetic. I recommend checking it at the door. We can dish about the Ivies as institutions later, I’m all for that and have plenty to say about what’s wrong with them from an insider perspective.
2. I’m wondering where the general level of rage about this video is coming from. I’ve been giving a lot of thought about my own responses to things, particularly what I feel is my own misplaced anger and indignation at things I want to critique. I wonder how much of that is my own desire for a cathartic experience, and would like you all to take some time to think about it in your own lives.
There are times when I feel my rage is understandable and needed. Incidents of systemic oppression like unequal jail sentencing and police violence in Black communities or the use of paternalistic Asian stereotyping that forms a barrier between Asians and positions of political leadership (note how many Asians are appointed to expert positions in government and how few win elections–and face anti-Asian remarks when they try). I’m vocally angry about the dehumanizing rhetoric that turns the entire Mexican-American community into poster-children for illegal immigration, and the violence against that community that spills over to other Latinos (especially Central Americans and Ecuadorians) who are killed after being misidentified as Mexican.
But should I get angry about hipster racism? Do I need anger in order to critique? I think it depends on the context. Recently at Yale, in 2007, there was a flap over the printing of fairly inflammatory and sexually explicit language against Asian women in a humor publication. Despite the fact that an Asian woman was partially responsible for the article, the satire was rotten in the most dangerous way. There was no attempt to make commentary on the stereotypes, just a blatant and uncritical use of language that supported the worst kinds of views of Asian women. The entire POC community was angry, and it followed what seemed to be a trend of using anti-Asian racism as the “safe” alternative to anti-Black or Latino racism. I think anger was right there because it promoted a culture of fetishism and objectification that threatens Asian women daily on college campuses, but there are so many other incidents in my life here and in some of the anecdotes others are posting that make me wonder if I would be more effective by being calmly, though unapologetically, critical.
I’ve been trying to employ this stance day to day, and I feel that incidents like this video are good examples of times when people stray and need compassionate discussion instead of anger and stone-throwing. I’m not a Christian, but I do subscribe to the line “he who is without sin cast the first stone.” I am not perfect. I will say something sexist or racist before I am through in this world, and would hope that people will want to compassionately discuss my failings with me so that I can improve. True transgressions require a sharp response, but a tattooed hipster who thinks ink is the same as melanin needs tending.
I don’t know if this video deserves anger and derision, it might. I don’t know what they are, but I know what they did. And I need to decide whether an angry and sarcastic response to what they did is going to help them and others, or if it’s going to selfishly help me.
Give it some thought.
@Christine
Well, I’m the only Luis in SY, if that helps you out.
Posted 31 Mar 2009 at 6:16 pm ¶
brownstocking wrote:
@Luis why do people need to separate whatever feelings they have for ivies from this conversation, since a group from said ivy produced this video and wanted it to be broadcast?
I’m seriously asking because I don’t see any ivy-specific envy or hatred in here. Now, over at ivygateblog? I could see your point.
Some people do need their anger, some don’t. Not everything is a trigger for everyone, just like your triggers won’t move certain people.
Posted 31 Mar 2009 at 7:22 pm ¶
Christine wrote:
Thought that might be you, but you hadn’t specified SY before. What up? lol
Posted 31 Mar 2009 at 9:52 pm ¶
wendi muse wrote:
i have seen a lot of references above to “white hipster racism” or “hipster racism,” but need i remind everyone that sarcastic, ironic humor, especially about race, has existed for quite some time and not just as presented to us by the faux-subversive skarnettes you reference. it’s unfair to throw the blame on people who have nothing to do with the making of this video. the divide between asian-americans of the first generation and or “Assimilated” sort and people who are immigrants and/or adhere to traditional lifestyles has existed for a long time. this isn’t the result of some assholes over at gawker or tattooed gentrifiers. . .
Posted 01 Apr 2009 at 3:59 pm ¶
JLC wrote:
@ wendi muse
“the divide between asian-americans of the first generation and or “Assimilated” sort and people who are immigrants and/or adhere to traditional lifestyles has existed for a long time.”
Is that what you think this is about? I don’t think so. This is about those who are willing to play on their own race’s stereotypes for cheap laughs, and those who aren’t.
And from where I sit, in NYC, this sort of Asian self-denigrating humor often takes place in the context of white hipster racism.
Posted 01 Apr 2009 at 4:49 pm ¶
Luis wrote:
When talking about “white hipster” humor, we also have to remember that there are plenty POCs in these hipster crowds. They’re actually quite multiracial, even if tastes and attitudes are generally dictated by the white majority. This is at least true in large multiracial cities. The pressure for Asians, and other POCs, in this crowd is to maintain the same ironic relationship with race as a hipster is expected to maintain with anything.
So even though a Fort Greene-esque Black Hipsterdom can be its own crowd, it still has some kind of a relationship with White Hipsterdom over the way in Williamsburg.
Fundamentally it’s an upper middle class social phenomenon.
“@Luis why do people need to separate whatever feelings they have for ivies from this conversation, since a group from said ivy produced this video and wanted it to be broadcast?”
Because students at an Ivy-league institution don’t represent:
a) The College
b) The student body
So trying to parlay this video or that article into a larger generalized argument about the schools or the rest of the student body is absurd and fundamentally poor argument. Talk about these four girls, talk about Mixed Company (their a cappella group), but don’t pretend this represents Yale or Ivies in general when some of the most critical voices are coming from other students and alumni. The article you just read is written by Jen from Disgrasian, a Yale alum. There was a large student discussion this week about this video specifically, and race and satire in general. So stuff like this:
“Wow, Ivy League kids who show lack of discernment and inability to create effective satire when it comes to racial issues in their print/video media?
Color me surprised! That doesn’t happen often! ”
is ridiculous. If the satire was well done, you never would have seen this video. It would have been circulated among Yale students, a few of their friends, and then it would fade to obscurity. I see plenty of great stuff every day that never finds its way onto a blog. The only stories from Ivies that become large national stories are the ones where something goes wrong, because that’s what people want to see and hear. Yale girls make funny satirical video: not a sexy story. Yale girls make bad, potentially racist satire: very sexy story.
Talk content.
Posted 01 Apr 2009 at 7:30 pm ¶
Lxy wrote:
@Luis.
Just because there are “POC” who may or may not engage in White Hipster racism/humor should not minimize where this tradition comes from, whose worldview it represents, and whose interests it serves (i.e. certain privileged Whites).
And race is usually articulated with “upper middle class social phenomenon.” These issues are rarely separate and discrete.
Thus, there are not a few so-called people of color who adopt or defend dominant White American values as they ascend the USA’s caste system.
And regarding your comments about Ivy Leagues (or Yale), no offense, but I think that your response is an overreaction and reflects some sort of defensive Yale “school pride.”
Whether one likes it or not, people in positions of privilege and power (like Yale students) are held up to more scrutiny than those beneath them, and they are seen to reflect the elite institutions that enable their privilege.
I am an Ivy League grad myself (Brown), and I don’t think this criticism is merely because of “hate/envy/suspicion of Ivy League colleges.” It simply is part of the “price” of possessing power and privilege–in politics, business, the media, or society in general.
Posted 03 Apr 2009 at 2:06 am ¶