Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Or, perhaps it's an acknowledgement by the people that make kids tv that actually, other races besides white matter, not just that race matters. And again, race matters to ADULTS, not kids.
Race matters to kids because they live in the world. It matters to Anna's kids and to Anna herself. Telling someone who actually deals with race issues that race doesn't matter is pretty much the very definition of privilege.
If race didn't matter, that you wouldn't seek out shows with diversity. Because hey, kids wouldn't see what race the characters are anyway, being so color blind at all. They could watch nothing but white kids all day and never notice that black kids weren't there, because they don't notice race at all, yeah?
Sounds ridiculous, right? That's because it is. Kids do notice race. They notice when black characters are used as tokens and only allowed certain tropes (sassy fat magic black lady who doles out advice, anyone.) They notice when other races just aren't there. They notice when the black girl has straightened hair.
Sid the Science kid has a black mom (with natural hair!) and a white dad. Which would be great if you could tell (the characters all have yellow skin if you haven't seen the show.) There's a show where race really doesn't matter because everyone is a slightly different shade of orange. Too bad that's not the universe where children actually live.
Only one has the lead character as non-european white, though some claim Dora is white hispanic. Whatever.
Regardless, of the shows with clear leads, and clear racial identities for those leads, almost all of them are white. Might as well pull a South Park and call them "Token". Usually a black boy and an Asian girl or one racially ambiguous kid to cover all their bases. God forbid they put TWO Asian kids, or one each a black boy and a black girl.
Oh, thank you, I was trying to think of Super Why earlier and couldn't remember the name. That's an interesting one because it has a black female character. One of the toys put out for that show is a soft doll. When they made the girl character, they lightened her skin and when questioned the company said they did it for 'aesthetic reasons' so the toy would sell.
Oh, thank you, I was trying to think of Super Why earlier and couldn't remember the name. That's an interesting one because it has a black female character. One of the toys put out for that show is a soft doll. When they made the girl character, they lightened her skin and when questioned the company said they did it for 'aesthetic reasons' so the toy would sell.
In other words, light skinned toys sell better.
Yes, I think people have good intentions but see the lack of overt racism and miss the implicit. Until you have had to go get your 4 yo from a play date crying because her friends would only let her be Mulan and not Belle in dress up, it doesn't really hit home.
Her bestfriend's mom was kindly trying to console her and tell her how pretty the Mulan costume is and how Chloe (my daughter) really did look just like Mulan. She never realized that it was hurtful and really, really unnecessary. She wasn't racist, she was implicitly accepting of racism. There is a difference but it is still something we should try to get past.
But by the age of 4, in the suburbs of NYC one of the most diverse cities in the world, little girls were not only aware of race but enough aware of it that they were trying to pigeon hole a half white child into an Asian character based on being 1/4 Asian. These are nice girls, one of them still is my daughter's best friend. But she understands better now, because my daughter talks about race AND IT IS A PURELY POSITIVE THING.
Yes, I think people have good intentions but see the lack of overt racism and miss the implicit. Until you have had to go get your 4 yo from a play date crying because her friends would only let her be Mulan and not Belle in dress up, it doesn't really hit home.
Her bestfriend's mom was kindly trying to console her and tell her how pretty the Mulan costume is and how Chloe (my daughter) really did look just like Mulan. She never realized that it was hurtful and really, really unnecessary. She wasn't racist, she was implicitly accepting of racism. There is a difference but it is still something we should try to get past.
Kids may be visual but it may not be racism. Honestly. My daughter is blonde. Her favorite princess was Belle - a brunette. I can remember other girls telling her that "couldn't" be her favorite princess because my daughter needed to find a blonde princess.
Only one has the lead character as non-european white, though some claim Dora is white hispanic. Whatever.
Regardless, of the shows with clear leads, and clear racial identities for those leads, almost all of them are white. Might as well pull a South Park and call them "Token". Usually a black boy and an Asian girl or one racially ambiguous kid to cover all their bases. God forbid they put TWO Asian kids, or one each a black boy and a black girl.
Um, you do realize those are somebody's picks for the top 10 shows, right? Not the actual top ten shows?
Of all the tv shows my kid watched, that were not ambiguous animal or made up characters, and were human - most of them were races other than white. These are the shows actual preschoolers watch, not an adults idea (again) of what they should watch.
Dora, Diego (Hispanic cousins), little bill (black family), Kai LAN (Chinese girl), the fresh beat band (1 Hispanic girl, one black boy, white girl, white boy).
Of all the shows she watched, only Calliou was a white kid, every other show had another race as a lead. Or were animal characters. Out of all the preschool shows that have human leads, there are a number of them that are not white.
Yes, I think people have good intentions but see the lack of overt racism and miss the implicit. Until you have had to go get your 4 yo from a play date crying because her friends would only let her be Mulan and not Belle in dress up, it doesn't really hit home.
Her bestfriend's mom was kindly trying to console her and tell her how pretty the Mulan costume is and how Chloe (my daughter) really did look just like Mulan. She never realized that it was hurtful and really, really unnecessary. She wasn't racist, she was implicitly accepting of racism. There is a difference but it is still something we should try to get past.
But by the age of 4, in the suburbs of NYC one of the most diverse cities in the world, little girls were not only aware of race but enough aware of it that they were trying to pigeon hole a half white child into an Asian character based on being 1/4 Asian. These are nice girls, one of them still is my daughter's best friend. But she understands better now, because my daughter talks about race AND IT IS A PURELY POSITIVE THING.
I think people get defensive about implicit (and in the case of your story, very overt) associations because they think implicit associations are something a person forms on their own. It's something a person does, which means they have beliefs about race, which makes them a racist...and that can't be them, because they aren't a racist!
But implicit associations are more something that is done to you. It's all the baggage that society puts in your head. You don't want it in there, but that's just not a choice you get to make.
And absolutely, talking about it and acknowledging it is good. It's the only way to fight it. And it has to start very young because the associations start young.
Kids may be visual but it may not be racism. Honestly. My daughter is blonde. Her favorite princess was Belle - a brunette. I can remember other girls telling her that "couldn't" be her favorite princess because my daughter needed to find a blonde princess.
The bestfriend was being Ariel. She is blonde. And you are completely ignoring the mother's implicit reinforcement of the same idea.
I would also like to point out that downplaying implicit racism is also not helpful in getting past it. It happened, it was based on my daughters race, and it wasn't nice. But by acknowledging it, we can stop it from happening in the future.
Shall I give one of the other dozens and dozens of examples. Would numbers make you believe that my child had actually been hurt by implicit racism? How many would it take? Or are you just going to try to explain them all away? Who exactly do you think it would help by making children feel like not only where they made uncomfortable based on their race, now they have to be made to feel as if they are "imagining" it?
Kids may be visual but it may not be racism. Honestly. My daughter is blonde. Her favorite princess was Belle - a brunette. I can remember other girls telling her that "couldn't" be her favorite princess because my daughter needed to find a blonde princess.
I don't think it's intended as racism, it's just a kid's honest impression that they've gotten from these movies. Imagine that was my daughter who's favorite princess was Belle, and being told that can't be her favorite princess because she's not white like Belle. Imagine a black child hearing that before Princess Tiana, which was only released what, maybe three years ago? The child saying it absolutely didn't mean it as an insult or to hurt anyone, but the child hearing it is going to be aware that they are "different." At least your blonde daughter and her brunette friend have other examples of princesses and characters that they can relate to. For other children, those examples are few and far between.
I think people get defensive about implicit (and in the case of your story, very overt) associations because they think implicit associations are something a person forms on their own. It's something a person does, which means they have beliefs about race, which makes them a racist...and that can't be them, because they aren't a racist!
But implicit associations are more something that is done to you. It's all the baggage that society puts in your head. You don't want it in there, but that's just not a choice you get to make.
And absolutely, talking about it and acknowledging it is good. It's the only way to fight it. And it has to start very young because the associations start young.
Agreed.
And we all do it. It isn't something just white people do, or is done only to non-whites. It is something PEOPLE do regardless of race.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
