Rachel's Tavern- Shakesville Comment on Whiteness and Racial Awareness
- Arrested for BAHWB (Being at Home While Black)
- John Hope Franklin Has Died
- Bottles, Breasts, and Mothering “Choices”
- NAACP Class Action Lawsuit on Subprime Loans
- We Have a Future Blogger
- I’m Afraid President Obama, Himself, is a Bit of Coward on the Race Issue
- Highly Skilled US Immigrants are Emigrating: What’s the deal?
- Troll Comments Galore
- Mark’s Spinach Face
Dec
31
2006 The Year In Race and Racism: Been There Done That List
Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Interracial Relationships, Media Praises and Critiques, Original Essays and Analysis, Race and Racism, Uncategorized by Rachel
Editor’s Note: The women of Racialicious asked what the big trends in race and pop-culture were in 2006, and I thought I would respond with my own post.? I came up with a list on my own, and then I went and read the comments section on their blog to see what others were saying.? Based on those comments I added one more thing to my list, but I was in agreement with several of the commenters over there.
Rather than judging “hot” trends, I thought it would be useful to take a past, present, and future perspective, focusing what topics? were out of fashion in 2006, what topics were? most popular, and what topics I think are going to be predominant in 2007.? ? I have decided to divide the list into three parts–1)The? Been There Done That List of Unfashionable? Racial Issues 2)The I’m So Hot I’m on Fire List of The Most Fashionable? Racial Trends? 3)The I’m About To Catch On Fire List of Racial Trends.? ?
The? Been There Done That List of Unfashionable? Racial Issues
This represents? a? few of the topics that? lost steam in 2006.? Just like flare leg jeans, they just don’t have the appeal that they once did.? We? just didn’t hear about them in 2006 and probably won’t for a while.
1) Multiracial People and the Mixed Race Movement:? This topic? has fallen off dramatically.? It was a hot issue? for most of the 1990s, and kept it’s steam for quite? some time, but the articles about Tiger? Woods and Mariah Carey just aren’t? “cool” anymore.? The only? related topic that was still discussed in ‘06? was transracial adoption.? I can’t pinpoint the exact reasons we don’t hear about this as much, but it just seemed to disappear.
2) Pro-Diversity Rhetoric: In 2005 when the affirmative action cases were in front of the Supreme Court, we got to hear fairly extensive arguments about why racial and ethnic diversity had educational value, but not in 2006.? I found very few articles on the subject.? ? Why is? this topic? out of fashion?? Diversity has been abandoned by the left and the right.? For the left, diversity and multiculturalism didn’t do a good job at addressing racism and discrimination, and on the right,? there is a sense that? we have already achieve diversity and social equality.? There is also a tremendous subconscious fear among many white Americans that the changing immigration patterns will make them a numerical minority.? (This is also why I think Latinos are going to become white in the next 20-30 years.? It will allow whites to maintain our numerical advantage.)
3) Media Depictions of African American Life:? In general, I think Black American culture? was “out of style” this year.? I know it is passe to say an entire subculture? is “out of style,” but when it comes to media, the number shows or albums depicting anything serious or realistic? about African American life were? nearly non-existent.? Even those very stereotypical 1990s “hood” movies (which purported to say something about Black life even though they didn’t say much)? are gone.? Moreover, Black families were also in short supply (the exceptions being What About Chris? and The Pursuit of Happiness).? We did see dramatic depictions of Black American characters, but those characters seemed to be depicted in predominantly white settings (especially the workplace), and their representations were not intended to reflect the experiences of African Americans.
What do you think?? What race related? subjects are “out of style”?
Comments
16 Responses to “2006 The Year In Race and Racism: Been There Done That List”
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I think Akeelah And The Bee was in 2006.
There was a line that did not get much attention and was the subtle undercurrent of the movie in regards to the tension between Akeelah and her top competitor, an Asian-American man asks his Asian American son that if he could not beat a little black girl, then how could he expect to win the championship.
But if whites wrote, produce, and directed the film the line would be dismissed as having no real representation of what Asian Americans think of African Americans.
I will have to do some research and see if I missed if Asian-Americans protested that stereotype or not.
If someone had asked me this question before I had even seen your post I would have totally said: The Diversity Argument has come and is gone now. I went to University of Michigan during the affirmative action trials and all the talk was pro-diversity. I was talking it too cuz I was supporting the University and push to keep affirmative action. More recently I was sadly disappointed with the outcome of proposal 2. I didn’t like the pro-diversity rhetoric when I went to Michigan and I’m sick to death of it now. For those who don’t know me, don’t misunderstand me. I like diversity. I welcome it. It is NOT the only or even main reason to support affirmative action or equality in the educational system. That’s all I’m saying.
BTW I loved Akeelah and the Bee and I’m not sure about number 3 but I also am beginning to hate the media and really want to avoid it. I see where you are coming from with shows like Grey’s Anatomy. I also still think it is a good show.
[...] 2006 The Year In Race and Racism: Been There Done That List - Rachels Tavern This represents a few of the topics that lost steam in 2006…Multiracial People and the Mixed Race Movement…Pro-Diversity Rhetoric…Media Depictions of African American Life… (tags: racism race mixedrace diversity africanamerican) Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
Stories like the one below are getting harder to find
Jamila Khalil’s 3-year-old daughter, Sofia, is supposed to be in her Islamic Sunday school class. But the spirited little girl, wearing white tights and playing with her brightly colored necklace, is reticent to join in on the lessons on Islamic religion and culture, and instead drapes herself over her mother’s legs inside this Sharon mosque.
It’s children such as Sofia who, Khalil worries, will be hurt by Governor Mitt Romney’s recent suggestion to tighten surveillance on certain Muslims in redoubled national security efforts.
- from Missy Ryans article in the Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/09/29/romney_remarks_alarm_muslims/
On the depiction of black family or lack thereof- depending on how one defines “black family - it seems to me that the lack of “A-list” black actresses may have something to do with that.
But then again black male/black female romances have been determined to be bad for business as it will be seen as a “black movie”
Akela and the Bee was this year. I haven’t seen it, so I can’t comment in depth on it. Assuming it does reveal something about African American life, I would argue that it challenged the trends.
The only TV show right now (off the top of my head) that portrays African American life is probably Everybody Hates Chris. I think we should make a distinction between portraying African Americans and portraying African American life.
Tariq, Do you think it is just the actresses because I think the actors may be following the same trend. Care to elaborate?
Nikki,
What do you think could/should replace the “diversity” argument? I actually thought it might work. It is a fairly conservative argument, as it is typically spun, so I thought that might make it last.
Bill,
I hope you get the chance to read my next post : )
I’m making the opposite argument, but there’s nothing wrong with a little dissent.
Do you think it is just the actresses because I think the actors may be following the same trend. Care to elaborate?
When I think of black male “A-listers”, Denzel, Jamie Fo
, Will Smith, Samuel Jackson and Morgan Freeman come to mind.
How many black female “A-listers” are there? Is Halle Berry still an “A-list” actress? If they want to portray a black/black coupling then the female is just someone with one scene
Still, unless it is a period piece (Dreamgirls) or bio-pic (Ray) they typically do not portay “African-American life” in the movies.
There is some overlap in this with your other post talking about the Grey’s Anatomy trend.
Like you, I’m a little split on it. On the one hand I think it is good to portray black people as a people rather than “black people”. On the other hand, it doesn’t really reflect reality. Ironically, I believe that this thinking probably contributes to white youth having blackface parties.
Finally, an all (enter any group except white) ensemble is seen as a “nitch market” and limited.
Being able to check off more than one box took a lot of steam out of the mixed race movement, but I expect to see it again around 2008
I seriously thought it could work because I do support diversity in the classroom but I think conservatives realized it could be used to help liberals too and they are thinking maybe we should leave it alone. Who is really going to say diversity sucks? Folks may argue being around peers alleviates pressure from folks not quite seen as peers but they aren’t going to use that to argue against diversity. Thus the argument for historically black colleges. Conservatives are going use reverse discrimination, true color blindness blah blah
I really would like to see some good ole’ hard research to link educational inequalities to past discrimination. Difficult task? Of course, I’m just not convinced its impossible. Study a place like my hometown Detroit. Even if you fund Detroit schools the exact same amount of money as the suburban schools surrounding, you can’t say that would make them equal. Detroit schools have suffered for sooo long that they not only need to be at the starting line they need a 40 second head start to even fairly compete.
I think the “EQUALITY” argument should replace the diversity argument, not the racism argument. I do realize this brings in the issues of race, gentrification and all types of issues with Detroit. If you looked at Detroit “color blindly” w/o the race of the children any fool can see the students don’t have equal educational facilities,resources and opportunities that their surrounding partners have.
I don’t know Rachel, I really think/wish people would get real about living in a racialized society, especially the consequences of it. Accept it exists (which seeems to be really hard for people), talk abut its effects and solutions to combat it. Hard to get rid of something you don’t acknowledge. Let me get back to you. I need to think about this some more.
Nikki said, “I think the EQUALITY argument should replace the diversity argument, not the racism argument.”
But we have to formulate this in a way that acknowledges that we are not in the same position right now. The “equality” argument has been reduced to “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander” “racism is a two way street type arguments,” which I think are a real distraction from the bigger problem. The hand ful of whites who face discrimination is bad and unfortunately, but it pales in comparision to the discrimination against people of color. So I’m stuck with convincing whites that this is a fact, not just a perception.
I was just trying to think of something that would work with liberals and conservatives. As much as I would just like to banish them from the earth, they are here. I agree it can be a distraction. I also work in a legal center so I see things in a more “how can I win this case” as oppose to wouldn’t life be great if this occurred. I was answering the question more as in how to shape policy and look affirmative action in the courtroom. Legally racism especially institutionalized is harder and way more work to prove.
I think you are getting at attacking the root of the problem, which I think is a much bigger task to take on. Yet, it IS a valuable and neccessary cause. Someone has to force people especially White folk to look at racial discrimination. I think both things need to happen.
For example, I want to say screw the Dems and screw the Repubs let’s just start a third party but it’s not that simple. We got to infiltrate, influence or destroy and then go flip mode on them. When liberasl usually run independent or start their “own new” party they weaken the base and give the Repub power to attack while we are weak. Did anyone ever think about working on the Dems and the Repubs at the same time? Instead of using one party to NOT get what we want. Then while both are where we want them, then start a new party. Shady, manipulative maybe?? but for the greater good?? yes. What can I say I’m stategist and conspiracy theorist to my heart.
The equality argument is just name/language but underneath is the truth, the racism argument but I’m using the conservative language just like conservatives use the language of the civil rights to benefit them. I mean Dumi or BlackatMichigan wrote a post about reclaiming the word racist. Maybe if we work on that first, affirmative action and equality would be easier to achieve but I’m worried about what happens in the in between. Ward Connerly starts going on a rampage while people are not paying attention. Sorry I think I’m rambling now.
I would like to know how many mixed race, African
American children are born each year. The blending of races
is my favorite topic to reserch on the web. I also would like
to know what percentage of the nations schoolage children
are mixed race African american. When I see the latest
stats on the subject I am greatly encuraged because it lets
me know that this nation and the world is more accepting
of African people. I have been married for 14 years to my
wonderful wife who is White. We have two children, one
biological who is mixed and another who is adopted she
is Black like myself.
[...] And by the way, be sure to check out Rachel’s Been There Done That List of Unfashionable Racial Issues and Im So Hot Im on Fire List of The Most Fashionable Racial Trends of 2006 . [...]
[...] Last month I posted a list of what I thought were the hot and not so hot racial trends for 2006.? At that time, I promised to post a list of what trends I think will be popular in 2007.? Here is my list. [...]