race/ethnicity: Blacks/Africans

In response to Condoleeza Rice’s comments that contemporary racial relations reflect an American “birth defect,” Lou Dobbs offered a dismissive monologue in which he tried to deny that there is really any problem to talk about. In a truly beautiful moment of irony, he accidentally lets slip a good part of the slur “cotton-pickin’” in reference to Black leaders.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y0W19-N3Ik[/youtube]

* Title stole from Jessica’s post over at feministing.

Also awesomely ironic: Dr. Watson is more black than most.

These images came to us from Dianne who saw this on BoingBoing and dug deeper to find all these great examples!

Illustrating the way in which whiteness is taken-for-granted and others are always, well, other, Plan Toys sells these doll sets labelled “Ethnic Family,” “AsianFamily,” and, “Doll Family.”

They also sell a “farmer” and a “farmer’s wife.” Dianne notes: “Women don’t farm, apparently, they just marry men who do.”

They also sell this generic “Native American set” of which they write:

“Children can create imaginary stories with the Indian figures, camp, teepee and authentic accessories. They can learn about the traditional American tribe and their lifestye.”

Notice how American Indian tribal difference is erased with the phrase “the traditional American tribe.” Diane pointed out that the set actually combines teepees and totem poles which were traditions of tribes in the plains and on the west coast respectively.

In the “How to Play” section, it says:

“Children can imagine and tell stories about Red Indians, helping to stimulate their imagination and expanding their horizon.”

Yes they really do say “Red Indians.”

Diane notices that, just like the doll family is obviously white, “here again, apparently the default child is white, who can ‘imagine… stories about Red Indians.'”

Ironically, the company claims that they are “socially & environmentally responsible” and promote “good values.”

Thanks so much Diane!

NEW: Kirsten D. sent us this link to a series of Playmobil toys.  All of the non-white characters are given racial designations, but the white characters are not.  I included some examples below.

African/African American Family:

Asian family:

Grandparents:

Medical Team and Patients:

Prince and Princess:

Also in the neutral and the marked: men are people and women are women and from pale to pumped with racial stereotypes.

Kimberlee M. sent us these stills from a Winsor Pilates video and an explanation. She writes:

The Winsor Pilates series is something you might be familiar with since it is advertised on TV and is endorsed by many celebs. I recently bought a bunch of second hand Winsor Pilates DVDs and found that one particular DVD was incredibly racist.

Though Mari Winsor uses mainly white fitness models (and I have seen 8 of her dvds), in her dance fat burning workout, suddenly she has several black models in the foreground dancing with her. And the music? Some live drumming which is being played by black people.

A few particularly offensive moments:

At 29:55 minutes Mari Winsor exclaims “shake that booty” just before the scene fast cuts to a shot of the black woman’s behind:

Around 33 minutes Mari says to the drummers, “Boys, my loves, ya mon! Cool it down for me, you gonna cool it down for me? Let’s go back to the island mon!” One can hardly ignore the dramatic change in her ennunciation and diction when she talks to them, (gonna, mon etc) and her patronising, “boys, my loves”.

What is worse, not representing black people? Or only representing them in stereotypical demeaning roles?

…this workout dvd is CURRENT and is for sale on the front page of their website.

 

You might pair this post with these images that fetishize Black women’s behinds.

One of the frames for Obama and his candidacy that Wendy’s post didn’t cover involved the extent to which he does whiteness (and the degree to which we approve). This t-shirt, available on CafePress, riffs on his whiteness and the common compliment/insult about black people’s ability to be articulate:

Thanks to Jenny S. for sending along this image!

This commentary by Dan Charnas on Obama’s speech and the public reaction (found here) might inspire an interesting class discussion on race, politics, and getting along:

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/808451[/vimeo]

White People, Get Over Yourselves from Dantrification on Vimeo.

Thanks to Lawgeek for sending this our way!

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This 3-page ad for Brooks Brothers uses the tagline “Generations of Style.” I think it’s useful because the ad naturalizes the passing down of class (both economic class and classiness) from generation to generation, thus justifying class inequality. Also notice the racial segregation in the images.

While we’re on the topic of the current presidential campaign…

I’ve noticed something interesting about the images and phrases used to criticize Clinton and Obama. Why does the majority of anti-Clinton rhetoric use sexist images and language? And how prevelant is the (expected?) matching racism in the anti-Obama rhetoric and images? Why, instead, does Obama’s national allegiance and patriotism come into question? I think this would make for a great class discussion on intersectionality, an what prejudices are perceived to be “socially acceptable.”

Some possible questions for discussion:

• Is it more socially acceptable to be overtly sexist than overtly racist? Why?
• Why might it seem to be more okay to question someone’s patriotism/nationalism than to be overtly racist? What is the difference?
• What is really racist that doesn’t immediately appear racist?

And the images– again these come from Facebook groups with tens of thousands of members. See also previous images of Hillary Clinton here and here.

“I found my voice”:

“Stop mad cow”:

“Fly, my pretties, fly!  Bring me the presidency”:

And now for Obama…

And here are some attacking Barack Obama’s nationality and patriotism:

And the infamous image (more info from snopes.com):

Text:

With Tactel you can make a statement for all to see. The incredible range of tactel fabrics create imaginative, distinctive fashions. All with a luxurious soft touch and feel. Look for Tactel in today’s leading designer collections.

We don’t get it. Is there even something to get? Discuss.