Feb

19

Shani Davis Takes the Gold and People Just Can’t Leave Him Alone

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Pop Culture, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Feb 19 2006
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Shani Davis Takes the Gold and People Just Can’t Leave Him Alone
Update#2: Keith Boykin has a great take on the Shani Davis haters.
Update#1: Here is a great editorial summarizing some of the racist reaction. The author also makes a brief critique of Davis’s somewhat colorblind response to the controversy.

US speed-skater Shani Davis, has won a Gold Medal in the 1,000 meter. Unfortunately, this win was not without controversy. Davis is being roundly criticized by his teammates, some in the media, and the US Speed skating Association. This editorial from the Chicago Sun-Times highlights several of the criticisms of Davis. He has been labeled selfish by his teammates for sitting out of the relay event to focus on the 1,000, his specialty. He has also lost financial support from the US Speed skating Association after he got his own sponsorship from a European bank, and others have criticized his mother for being too vocal about her son. Here is an extended quote from SignonSanDiego.com

Davis, 23, has never been your typical speed skater, coming to the lily-white sport from a gang-infested area of Chicago’s South Side with a mother who is constantly bumping heads with the federation.

The friction goes deeper than the team pursuit race earlier in the week. In early 2003, Cherie Davis accused U.S. Speed skating of failing to promote the black athlete and said it runs the sport ?like a country club ? just like Augusta National Golf Club.?

Things boiled over last year, when Shani Davis cut his own deal with Europe’s DSB Bank and refused to remove its logo from his U.S. racing suit for a federation sponsor. U.S. Speed skating responded by terminating its contract with Davis and forcing him to pay for using national training facilities.

Davis responded by splitting from the team and training by himself in Calgary, Canada ? and demanding that his bio be removed from the federation’s Web site. His name appears under a list of male athletes, but unlike the others, there is no link to a bio. (You can find one on his own Web site, along with pictures of his pet snake, Sheeba, eating a hamster.)

This criticism of Davis’s mother reminds me of the criticism level at Venus and Serena Williams’ father Richard Williams. Williams balked at the Tennis establishment and this 2002 article from Ebonyhighlights some of the criticism he faced. Davis’ mother’s critique of speed skating seems fair to me. This is how most White dominated sports work; it is only when athletes like Jackie Robinson, Debbi Thomas, Tiger Woods, or the Williams sisters, come forward that many people realize how racist and closed off the establishment of many of these sports are. The critiques from the insiders only get worse when these Black athletes choose to play by their own rules or note the racism evident in policies like those of Augusta National. The selfishness criticism also reminds me of the recent Apprentice winner Randall. When Donald Trump asked Randall to share his victory with his white teammate Rebecca, Randal refused, noting that he had a much better performance. Randall raised thousands of dollars and Rebecca raised zero in the final task; overall Randall was far more qualified for a whole host of other reasons. Casting Blacks as selfish when they look for their personal interests is quite common today. It seems that this is one of the key elements of contemporary racism–the intense scrutiny and the desire to paint African Americans as self absorbed. Rather than using racist terms or racial signifiers, people are able to criticize an individual Black person by focusing on allegedly selfish behavior. As for Davis, the man cannot even win a race without being subjected to intense scrutiny.

Just as a side note Davis is the first Black athlete to win a Gold Medal in an individual event. Vonetta Flowers was the first Black athlete to win Gold overall with her 2002 performance in the two person bobsled, and Debi Thomas was the first Black person to win a medal when she won the Bronze in 1988. Also, in 2002 Garrett Hines and Randy Jones got silvers in the four-man bobsled.

PS–Here is a link to an entry I wrote about Davis before the Olympics.

Feb

16

My FilmClash Response: Something New and Jungle Fever

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Interracial Relationships, Media Praises and Critiques, Pop Culture, Race and Racism, Reviews-Books Movies TV Albums, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Feb 16 2006

My FilmClash Response: Something New and Jungle Fever

Update: One of my readers Stephanie B. sent me a copy of her essay on the Movie Save the Last Dance. Since I have never seen it in it’s entirety, I cannot give a thorough review, but this does reasonate with what I have seen. Here is the link to her Essay So Jimi Izrael is hosting a Filmclash between two movies featuring interracial relationships–the new film Something New and the early 1990s Spike Lee film Jungle Fever. Jimi asked that I throw in my two cents (But, I’m gonna give 50 cents). Since I am not a film or music critic, I don’t want to spend most of my time providing an overview of the films. Plus, Jimi does that well. Let’s start out with the obvious similarities between the two movies. Both movies deal very directly with race and class politics of interracial relationships, and while gender is a subtext it is not at the forefront. In both movies upper middle class African American professionals reluctantly enter relationships with Whites. I think this focus on the interracial relationships of middle class Blacks also reveals another similarity between the two movies. Both movies are very clearly told from an African American perspective. I think this focus on middle class Black professional is reflective of the larger concerns of African Americans. In my own research, the relationships of middle class Blacks, especially Black men, are very contentious. On the other hand, African Americans rarely express negative attitudes when work working class or low income Blacks who marry or date Whites. Middle class Blacks are seen by many African Americans as the leaders of the race, and those people who see interracial relationships as a form of ?selling out? are more likely to level this charge at middle class Blacks. Conversely, both of these movies make leveling this charge even easier because the White respondents are both from lower income backgrounds. The idea that Black/White romantic relationships inherently cross class and race lines is a pervasive stereotype in sociological literature and in poplar culture. As a plot device, this gives an added reason to oppose the relationships, and it also makes the story line a little more complicated. Overall, I think both movies end up promoting this stereotype; however, I think they do an equally good job show how the class issue colors (pun intended) views of interracial relationships. The movies both tackle Black masculinity; however, they do it in very different ways. What I found most striking is the contrast between the fathers. In Something New Kenya?s father represent the ?moral conscience? and the accepting father; in contrast, Flipper?s father, played by the late Ossie Davis, represents the overbearing patriarch. I don?t have much more to say about this, but I am struck by what seems to be a more positive father figure in Something New. So let me give a brief critique of each movie?.. Something New (SN) gives a relatively optimistic outlook of interracial relationships. To understand the movie it is also important to think about the current racial ethos where racism is largely ignored in much of the pop culture. SN doesn?t ignore race like many movies–race is obvious to the story line. What I like about Something New is that I see it as a relatively realistic portrayal of interracial relationships. Like the ladies at Mixed Media Watch, I feel that most popular portrayals of interracial relationships tend be overly pessimistic about the potential for such relationships to work. IRs end up being portrayed as turbulent, unsuccessful, and deviant relationships, and there is an overwhelming focus on the racial aspect of the relationship. Other portrayals of interracial relationships have the exact opposite problems. They either totally ignore race, or they view interracial relationships as the panacea for racism. I think Something New does a great job of making race relevant, but not portraying such relationships as tragic. (That doesn’t mean I am completely satisfied witht the movie, but I do think it is better than most portrayals of interracial relationsips.) Overall, I think the theme of SN is that it is important to take risks and look for relationships that bring happiness. Several of the actresses in the movie reiterate the phrase??let go let flow.? This is made evident by not only the lead actress? willingness to cross racial lines, but also her willingness to cross class boundaries. Kenya is an upper middle class professional and her love interest Brian owns a gardening business. At times I feel like the moving is chiding Black women, for ?not stepping outside their boundaries.? I found this a little troubling because it?s an oversimplification?even if every Black woman in American was open to dating White men, would this be reciprocated? SN is a great date movie, but unfortunately it is the same Cinderella story that has been told a thousand times. The only twist is the interracial relationship and the fact that Cinderella is an upper middle class Black woman. From a sociological perspective, I was very disappointed that the movie completely ignored the reaction from the White man?s family and friends. After watching the movie, you get the impression that most Blacks are uncomfortable with interracial relationships and most whites don?t exist. White families and friends care very much about interracial relationships, and often they oppose them, but the movie gives no time to Brian?s familiy’s reaction. In fact, this seems to be the current trend in pop culture views of interracial relationships; they either tend to take place with predominantly Black casts in predominantly Black settings or they have a mixed race cast, but the primary focus is on the experiences of the Black person and his or her family and friends. Certainly there is nothing wrong with looking at Black perspectives on IRs, but I think the utter invisibility of White views on the subject seems is relfective of the fact the an honest portrayal of White views on interracial relationships would reveal more about White racism than most of us White folks want to. (Side Note: I found the soundtrack to be a real dud?not a memorable musical moment in the movie. The cinematography was also standard and a little boring.) Jungle Fever (JF) is set against the early 1990s resurgence of Black Nationalism and the urban unrest that predated the LA riots. While SN promotes a relatively optimistic view of interracial relationships, JF is completely opposite. Even the biggest supporters of IRs, have a hard time being happy about the interracial relationship between Flipper Purify and the temp secretary at his work Angie. The primary reason the relationship is so unsympathetic is that Flipper has a wife at home. No one is comfortable with the relationship neither family, not the local cops, and not even the people in the relationship, especially Flipper. JF promote some of the most common stereotypes of interracial relationships?that they are based on sexual curiosity, that the Black partner is insecure, that nobody will support the couple, that the relationship will always be an ?illicit underground relationship,? and so on?.. Moreover, Lee rehashes the tragic mulatto image in his portrayal of Flippers wife. While SN doesn?t show White opposition to the relationship, JF does. It is somewhat more balanced, but it is still clearly from a Black perspective as evidenced by the famous scene of Flipper?s wife and her friends lamenting losing Black men to White women. White opposition is often viewed from a distance in the movie. Even though I think JF is a very negative and unrealistic portrayal of Black/White relationships, I like the movie. What I like about the movie and many of Lee?s movies is that they are not simple morality plays, and they are not fairy tales. In fact, Lee often does such a good job of making conflicted and unsympathetic characters that you end up with the sense that as long as there is racism, nobody is going to win. I also like the soundtrack (Stevie Wonder), and the cinematography. There is a camera angle Lee uses that I vividly remember when Flipper is walking with his brother Gator. I would also be remiss if I didn?t mention the subtext of the crack epidemic in the movie. I was never sure exactly how this served to advance the plot, but I think it may be designed to reveal the larger problems created by racism. So overall, SN is a much better portrayal of interracial relationships, but it is unoriginal. JF is an overly negative portrayal of IRs, but the complexity of the movie and it?s great soundtrack make it very entertaining.

Feb

15

Here’s a Really Bad Proposal in Arizona

Filed Under Education and Academia, Sociology, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Feb 15 2006
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Here’s a Really Bad Proposal in Arizona
I received this blurb from the Chronicle of Higher Education today. This is a horrible idea:?

College students in Arizona may be able to opt out of required reading assignments they consider personally offensive, under a bill approved on Wednesday by the State Senate’s Higher Education Committee. The measure would allow students to decline assignments that “conflict with the student’s beliefs or practices in sex, morality, or religion.” Critics say the legislation is too broad and could undermine the integrity of courses.

What is the point of going to college if you only have to read thing that you agree with? That is a fundamental part of the college experience. Exposure to ideas that are outside the realm of our comfort zones is part learning. I may not agree with laissez faire capitalism, Christian fundamentalism, or biological definitions of race, and I don’t have to agree with works espousing these views, but it won’t hurt me to read them. After all, how am I going to know that I don’t agree with something until I read it? How am I going to develop a solid view point if I don’t even know what the opposition is saying? In my experience most college students haven’t even read and don’t fully understand some of the things that they claim to be against. Actually reading works that challenge their views can solidify their views or it can change their views. Proposals like this are generally part of an effort to undermine academic freedom and infuse more “conservative values” into the curriculum, but truthfully, I can see students from all political persuasions coming into class telling me they don’t have to do the reading because it conflicts with their views. Of course, my first response would be–you won’t know if it conflicts with your views if you haven’t read it.

Feb

14

The Disabled Need Love Too

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Feb 14 2006
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The Disabled Need Love Too
I saw this story on Yahoo! today. The article discusses a program in New York city that teaching dating skills to people who are mentally disabled. Here is a choice quote

At “You and I” events, the participants ? the guys outnumber the women 16 to 3 ? learn “social-sexual skills,” with specifics on body language, grooming and conversation starters. There are also sections on feelings, body awareness and sex education.

The program’s coordinator, Bobra Fyne, says it can be tough for parents to realize that their children are adults who are ready for relationships.

We just discussed this issue in my class today. I was trying to get the students to think about the connections between embodiment and sexuality outside of the typical biological view points. Clearly this group challenges the notion that people with disabilities can’t have a healthy intimate relationships.

Feb

10

Race, Porn, and Interracial Relationships

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Family Issues, Gender and Sexism, Interracial Relationships, Media Praises and Critiques, Original Essays and Analysis, Race and Racism, Sexuality and Heterosexism, Sociology, Uncategorized | 12 Comments

Race, Porn, and Interracial Relationships

When I first started studying interracial relationships, I thought I may be able to use the internet to locate Black/White couples to participate in my study. I would use Google or Yahoo!, and type phrases like “interracial relationships” or “interracial marriage.” Much to my chagrin most of the results that came up were pornographic websites. The association between interracial relationships and “illicit sexual encounters” is commonly accepted in American popular culture. Fortunately, this has changed somewhat in recent years; currently, none of the top sites that come up in a Google or Yahoo! searches are porn. However, that doesn’t mean that phrases including “interracial” no longer lead to pornographic sites or that such relationships are no longer considered relationships that are primarily associated with sex.To see the extent to which portrayals of interracial relationships are association with pornographic and non-pornographic material, I searched the following phrases on both Google and Yahoo! (See the table below). I also decided to compare this with what I would find searching for similar terms for Blacks and Whites, so I could compare them. I soon found out that searching for data on anything with White /Caucasian or “same race” or intraracial was an exercise in futility since these relationships are frequently unmarked. So when a White person has sex with a White person it is not called “White sex,” in fact White sex seems to refer to a particular practice that has nothing to do with race. Here are the results for the following terms. (Note: I searched each phrase enclosed with “” and I ended some terms with an * so it would capture plurals. I also conducted the searches without and with a filter, which sorts out pornographic images or when set at the highest levels explicit language. I chose to only use the moderate filter on Google and the higher level filter on Yahoo! because they seem to have different filtering standards.) In an effort to filter out explicit images but not necessarily explicit words. I then tabulated how many sites were filtered out and tabulated the percentage of sites that were not captured by the filter. The sites not captured by the filter would be the sites that the two search engines are not labeling pornographic. Of course, this is by no means a perfect measure of the percent of sites featuring interracial relationships that are pornographic because words like “fuck” are filtered out as explicit but the site itself may not be pornographic. Moreover, this is by no means a comprehensive list of terms. These searches were done about 1 month ago, and due to the ever expanding nature of the internet and the updating of sites, they are not easy to duplicate as they represent one moment in time, but I suspect that similar percentages could be found if similar data were gathered today.

A few things caught my eye here. Rather than writing this in an essay, I’m just going to use bullet points:
1. The first thing that is noticeable is how many sites more sites there are dedicated toward “interracial sex” or “interracial fucking” as opposed to interracial relationships or marriage, but among those dedicated to interracial relationships or marriage about half are filtered out by the explicit content filter.

2. There are many more sites that have “interracial sex” than “black sex.” There are nearly 3.5 millions sites or pages dedicated to interracial sex, and the vast majority of them do not make it through the spam filter, which means that many of them are pornographic.

3. About 2/3 of those sites that include the term interracial dating do not make it through the filter, indicating that most sites dedicated to interracial dating have pornographic content. The stats for “Black dating” are only moderately better.

4. Relationships between people of the same race especially White on White relationships are considered so normative that terms such as “intraracial relationships” or “same race relationships” yield very few results and most of them are academically oriented sites like this one, where researchers are comparing interracial and same race relationships.

5. When whites have sex, it is not called White sex. It is just called sex. A brief view of the sites that came up under that search rubric indicates that the reference to White sex are not racial.

6. Both African American/Black relationships and interracial relationships are commonly associated with sites with pornographic content. These racial terms frequently lead people to porn sites. While it is entirely possible that the majority of sites for whites who want to date whites have pornographic content, explicit racial terminology is not used

Just a few thoughts…..what do you think?

Feb

5

Interracial Relationships: Coping With Family Disapproval and Avoidance

Filed Under Family Issues, Interracial Relationships, Race and Racism, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Interracial couples are caught in an interesting position?they want to be seen as normal, but they often find that their desire to be seen as ?normal? or ?not deviant? is not validated by society in general and their families in particular. In fact, rejection from families or lack of full acceptance of interracial relationships is common place. Given the challenge of negotiating family approval of an interracial relationship many people in interracial relationships resort to coping strategies that attempt to make them feel as normal and as accepted as possible. In my research I found 12 common coping strategies couples use to deal with relatives who reject or may reject their relationships. (I’m only going to talk about a couple of them.)The most common strategy couples used in dealing with family approval was avoidance. Avoidance takes several forms such as not introducing the partner to the family for extended periods of time, hiding the relationship, limiting travel or outings, moving far away, minimizing contact with relatives, avoiding talk of race, and hiding family disapproval from one?s spouse. Avoidance was so pervasive that many respondents said that they did not talk to their families about the interracial aspect of their relationship.

One couple went for several years without telling the family about the marriage, or in another case a White man took down all of the pictures of his Black fianc?. In fact, many of the couples I interviewed lived far away from relatives or rarely saw relatives. It was almost as if have distance from relatives was a prerequisite for having an enduring interracial relationship. Both couples described above went out of their way to keep their relatives happy. They took on the burden of avoidance to keep from offending their relatives. Clearly, the racist relatives had and great deal of influence over their relationships, helping make the couples outcasts in their own families. The irony is that avoidance seems to help the relationship endure, but it also creates an incredible burden on the people in the relationship.

It should also be noted that the most extreme cases of avoidance, disowning or disinviting, came only from the White relatives in this study. This is not to say that a majority of White relatives disowned or disinvited, but in the cases where this happened it was all Whites. In African American families avoidance tended occurred, but in less extreme forms.

While avoidance is a common strategy used in interracial families, it is not always easy to maintain when families undergo life changing events. For many families sick or dying relatives challenged the use of avoidance, In some cases, family illness improved the relationship and helped heal old wounds. In other cases the family member?s illness didn?t result in greater approval; it became an excuse used to continue or express opposition, as if the relationship was contributing to the illness. Family illnesses and deaths are related to avoidance because families are expected to come together in these times, and the absence or presence of a loved one is a significant sign of either a rift or acceptance, but deaths and illnesses are not the only family events that challenge the avoidance strategy. Respondents frequently mentioned family gatherings, such as weddings, holiday dinners, or birthday parties, as pivotal points in the process of family approval. The events provide the opportunity for contact with relatives, which sometimes means reconciliation and other times, means further tension. At these family gatherings the couple?s breach of racial norms is more readily apparent because families are not able to keep the relationship ?out of sight out of mind.?

Since avoidance is so common many respondents, wondered aloud what family members were saying in their absence. Avoidance allowed family members to ?talk about people behind their backs.?. Even respondents who said their families were supportive repeatedly said they did not know what family members were saying behind their backs. This is probably one of the primary differences between Jim Crow racism and its contemporary racism. Most people, especially those who consider themselves liberal, hold negative opinions of interracial relationships, but they fear saying so openly?criticism of the interracial relationship becomes back stage behavior to be hidden from the couple.

Avoidance is not just about avoiding disapproving relatives. It also means that the individual members of interracial couples often avoid discussing these issues with one another. Since the vast majority of the couples in this research were interviewed separately, the differences in their stories were noticeable. Several respondents talked about how their partners? families accepted them, but they said their own family had problems. Ironically, both members of several couples said their partner?s family was more accepting than their own family. What became clear was that many people did not share the extent of disapproval in their families of origin with their partners, leaving the impression that the other person?s family was more accepting. Hiding family disapproval from the spouse may function to keep peace in the relationship, especially when a person is hoping for a change in a relative?s attitude. By making relatives seem more accepting, some people in interracial relationships are hoping to make their partner feel more comfortable and their relationship less contentious.

Avoidance is an understandable reaction to social disapproval; moreover, it is often a way to maintain a peaceful relationship with relatives. In some ways, it is easier to confront total strangers who oppose an interracial relationship than it is to confront relatives because the common view is that families are supposed to love and support each other. Although it is understandable, avoidance has its downsides. It doesn?t challenge racist views from relatives, which in the long term doesn?t address the problems of racism or family acceptance and in the long run it places an incredible burden on an interracial family.

Feb

1

Random Thoughts & Good Links

Filed Under Bunch-O-Links, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

I have been a little behind lately mainly because it is the beginning of the semester and I am preparing/teaching two new courses. I am way overdue for some links, which is unfortunate because I really have been reading some great stuff. I also figured I better say something about the State of the Union Address (SUA). The only problem with me talking about the SUA is that I didn’t see it. I watched American Idol, which managed to keep me awake, but the President managed to get out about 3-4 lines, and I zonked out. I woke up sometime around 10:45, which means I also missed the Democratic reply. Yeah, I did get to see 25,000 talking heads discuss the speech, but I like to form my own opinions. I got to hear a few clips this morning, and got a great laugh and the applause when the President said Congress didn’t help him reform Social Security–was that the Democrats??? LOL!! On another note, Coretta Scott Kind died yesterday and many others wrote about it, so I’ll add it to the links. This past few years has been a very trying time for thing King family and my condolences are with them. Anyways, here are some of the fabulous entries I have been reading……

1. Pub Sociology Discusses the Health Care Crisis.

2. Professor Kim’s great round-up on Coretta Scott King

3. Professor Kim also has another good links– Here she discusses the deaths of three well known African American Intellectuals. and here

4. Mixed Media Watch has two good posts. A link to an article discussing Black women in IRs and a just posted article from a White woman about talking about having sex with a Black man. The second one makes me queezy, but I think it reflects a common view of Black men’s sexualities.

5. “Step Away from the Bodega” ? EL at My Amusement Park discusses an article on the quality of food in low income areas of NYC.

6. NAACP Sides with Bush in CT Via Promethus6.

7. Ben Greenberg’s blog entries in the Dollars and Sense blog on Hurricane Katrina Victims in MS