Race and Reproductive Freedoms

Huffington Post's take on this racist, opportunistic, manipulative ad.

RALLY FOR WOMEN'S HEALTH

Saturday, February 25th

1-3 pm

Foley Square

UPDATE: The Rally for Women's Health was a beautiful, inspiring event. Foley Square was filled with a really eclectic group of people.  Part of me was surprised to see so many men standing in solidarity with the women present at the rally; unity of groups like that is such an amazing thing and really adds to the feeling of support. In the days leading up to the rally, the above billboard was the focus of many primetime news segments, radio discussions, and blog posts. There was definitely a mix of outrage and support for the billboard in the news.  While some people felt that this ad was exploiting the African-American community and selfishly playing on fears, others felt that high rates of abortion within communities of color was an important and timely topic to discuss.

At the rally however, it appeared as though the former was more heavily represented.  Staff of Planned Parenthood, women's rights activists, politicians, and artists all took the stage to offer their support for the agency.  A few of them referenced this billboard in outrage, saying that they as Black women refused to become pawns in the pro-life agenda (I am paraphrasing here).  The crowd cheered and there was definitely public support in speaking out against the billboard. Surprisingly, I didn't see any signs that were directed at this billboard, even though it had become a pretty major part of the debate at the time.


And just for fun, here are a few pictures of me, my sign, and my friends at the Rally!

"I'm a woman, NOT a womb!"

The other side of my sign...!!!

And my favorite:

Outsourced?

Has anyone seen the NBC show Outsourced?

Check it out at 1:23.

This article sort of misses the point.
"Why can’t the show acknowledge Todd’s got a little Michael Scott in him? Rather than letting all those jokes fall flat — and worse, fall racist — why not just give us a hint that Todd, mostly a well-meaning, non-annoying guy, has his blind spots?"


Because, you know, racism is fine and forgiveable if it comes from a grown White man who means well, right?


A much funnier commentary on this ridiculousness.




I feel that there are both institutional and cultural components to the racism of this show.  Culturally, there's a form of xenophobia at work here and a definite sense of internalized superiority - a sort of "you're different, we don't know you, so we're going to create a 'funny' caricature of you to make ourselves more comfortable". By juxtaposing the dominant American view of 'amusing' Indian culture against the normalized behavior of the White male lead, the show reaffirms viewers sense that they are in the right.  But the institutional racism is what makes this comparison possible at all.  If our society, media, and pop culture were not built on a foundation that wholeheartedly supports the dominant culture in so many ways, then 'entertainment' of this sort would not be possible. Institutional racism is what tells us that it's okay to create Outsourced, it's okay to watch Outsourced, and it's okay to laugh at the jokes...even if you'd feel bad if you thought about them much further beyond the punchline.


My personal experience of traveling to India definitely influences my dismay at this show.  I had to come to terms with the fact that children were touching my White skin in awe, and their fathers were talking about how much more beautiful my light skin was compared to their deep brown skin. It was jilting to have that perception of superiority be stated so plainly; in the United States, we don't talk about internalized superiority so openly, do we? But it's there, to be sure, and it was obvious in the implications of the questions I was asked upon my return: It's dirty there, isn't it? Those people wipe their ass with their hands, huh? Ugh! What a backwards country, right? (To which I would always respond, WE ARE THE ONES THAT ARE BACKWARDS!). We're 'polite' here - we don't name our superiority complexes, we just live our lives, establish our laws, and laugh at our night-time tv shows in ways that make it clear without ever having to say a word. 

One of my favorite scenes:

This movie shook me up.

Sometimes, I don't know how to ingest something. This is one of those cases. I feel affected by what I saw on the screen, but I need more time to process it. There were parts of the film that I could identify with, and others that were foreign to me - these are the parts that frighten and excite me. It made me aware of my Whiteness all over again, and I felt out of place in the theater as one of the few White people present. 

The sections of the movie that I felt a strong connection to and related to most were those that dealt with the difficulties women face in relationships. I wondered though how my experience might be different than a woman of color's experience...does my race serve as some sort of protective factor, or affect my experience in some way? I am sure that it does, but I am not sure how just yet.

The end of the movie, when the women all come together as one group, was inspiring for me - and it also made me think about a sense of sisterhood and community. One of the aspects of race that I first became aware of when I was younger was the sense of community that I perceived it as offering you.  Only, I didn't feel that sense of community; I didn't feel a connection to other White people, and it wasn't like there was a clearly defined 'culture' of Whiteness. I felt like I was missing out on something, like there was some intangible connectedness that I wasn't tapped into.

Now this whole idea may have been naive, and it may have been oversimplifying matters of race far too much. But I was reminded of it as I watched For Colored Girls, and I was reminded of the fact that authenticity in both in-group and out-group relationships can be hard to establish. I often feel like where I am in my own racial identity development has affected my ability to build authentic friendships with women of other races and cultures, while also putting me in a very different place than some of my White peers.  It's hard for me to make sense of and to be coherent in my explanation; all I can say is that these are the thoughts that are rolling around in my head after watching this film.

Racism in the Military

The Ground Truth: The Human Cost of War

This documentary effected me in a major way.  It really shows the extent of America's xenophobia and what that has resulted in.  It's awful what's happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, both for the citizens of these occupied nations and for the American soldiers who are forced to do heinous things and have to suffer with the psychological trauma and lack of services afterward.

The military encourages many ISMs (sexism, racism, heteronormativity, homophobia, etc). One of the ways that this manifests is in the slang used and the songs sung during training at boot camp.

Bomb the village, kill the people
Throw some Napalm in the square
Do it on a Sunday morning
Do it on their way to prayer.


Ring the bell inside the schoolhouse
Watch those kiddies gather round
Lock and load with your 240
Mow them little motherfuckers down.
- Marine basic training song, taken from The Lonely Soldier


Disturbing songs such as this one serve to desensitize and dehumanize whoever is on the other side of the battlefield. Training exercises also accomplish the same task; for example, take this passage from The Lonely Soldier:

"'They put us in this foxhole thing and there was this little hut far out to the left, and inside the hut were Iraqi people. We had to bomb them...they all had the little turban thing and the dress thing...' The military does use Iraqi and Arab immigrants, whom it calls cultural role players, for training...it also uses nonwhite and women soldiers. Eli PaintedCrow commented on this: 'They never use white soldiers to do the roleplaying, but they could. But we're not supposed to be bombing White people, I guess.'"

 The message is loud and clear. Even if racial slurs are prohibited in the military, racism is alive and well - along with many other ISMs. The dehumanization of different groups is ingrained in military culture and history, particularly the hatred of women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community. When an institution devalues the life of one group, the humanity of all groups is compromised.

Republicans "play the Black card" in the debate over women's rights...

Excellent commentary on Rep. Gwen Moore's speech

We talk about the intersection of ISM's...well here it is.

I'm having a difficult time right now with this.  I am mortified that there is a very real chance that the government is going to cut all funding to Planned Parenthood.  I think that my generation became very complacent in the fight for women's rights; we felt like our mothers had done the job for us and we were comfortable - more or less - and felt protected. But clearly we can't be complacent anymore. 

This isn't just an issue impacted by the clear sexism inherent in our ruling government. The Republicans have chosen to accuse Planned Parenthood of being racist as well (ironic, no?) and are using that as a main argument in support of the Pence Amendment.  While Planned Parenthood's founder Margaret Sanger did support eugenics over 100 years ago, the organization now supports many low-income women of color in family planning. The article I linked to above includes a link to the book Medical Apartheid for more on that if you're interested.

If you're in the NYC area you can protest this legislation at the Rally for Women's Health on February 26 from 1-3 pm in Foley Square.

You can also sign a petition here: http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/stand_up_for_women/?r_by=-3800340-F9WTdRx&rc=paste1

How far has advertising progressed in the last century? (Spoiler alert!: Not very far at all.) Let's take a look at some vintage ads and their more modern counterparts:

Then, you could use Pears' Soap to get "good and clean".

   

Now, there's a cream for that. You don't want to be "wrong", do you now?...

Of course not! You want to be "fair and handsome", according to this ad. 

Apparently, the two are exclusive.

Then, these White men were just sort of confused about why this stereotypically represented indigenous man wouldn't want to wear a lovely pair of oxfords...

But now, this chick is downright pissed.  Beware..."White is coming".

White man asking Black man to bow then....

And now, a White man having a bunch of Black men bow down to him.

Can't you see this dude on a plantation?

It seems to me that the key in advertising is to reinforce societal beliefs and power dynamics ever so subtly; every once in a while (really, pretty damn often) an advertiser slips up and creates one of the ads that we see above. But which advertisments are worse - the ones that are glaringly, overtly racist, or the ones that perpetuate racism in a covert way?

The problem with ads that are so clearly racist is that the public can rally around them; they can be part of the outcry of how sad the skin-lightening ads are, how awful it is that this company should be promoting light skin over darker complexions. It's an easy out, something we can all point to and say "shame, shame".  

But the covertly racist ads are even more insidious, I would argue.  A marketing campaign doesn't have to promote skin bleaching to send the message that white skin is better than brown skin. It only has to have almost exclusively White models, or equate Whiteness with fairness, goodness, and happiness, for example. The message still gets across, only when it's covert or subtle, there isn't as much public awareness or outcry.

What do you all think about how race is represented in advertising? Have you seen any ads recently that reinforced racial stereotypes?

FDNY electrician finds noose in locker

NY Daily News story

In an AOL News article on the same story, it was mentioned that in 2005, "firefighter Lanaird Granger filed a complaint saying that he found a noose at a Brooklyn firehouse. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled in his favor. Nobody was ever disciplined in the case."


For all those who want to say that racism doesn't exist, what's this?


What bothers me is that incidents like this are ones that everyone can rally around; it's clear that this is wrong, and there aren't many people who would deny that this is in fact racist.  These crazy acts of hate give White people something to point at and say, "I do not agree with this, therefore I am not racist".  When there are such glaring examples of outright hatred, who's going to pay any attention to the subtle microaggressions and institutionalized oppression that occurs every day?


Answer: The people who have to live with it every day. The people who's lives are effected. The people who receive constant messages about who they are and what they can and cannot become. The people who can't afford to deny the existence of hidden, insidious racism.

Where's the White community?

It's hard to feel a part of any community when most White people don't even identify as White. I know that American society is built to serve us, that we are taught the White person's history almost exclusively, that everything around me is constructed to make me feel comfortable and at home.  But somehow, I don't.


I've been reading selections from Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum.  As I've moved along in the development of my own racial identity, it's been hard to know where I fit anymore.  There's not many spaces where it's acceptable for me to speak openly about race, my past transgressions, and the understanding of myself and others that I'm starting to come to. I don't want to be a burden to my friends that identify as people of color and be constantly talking to them about it; I used to be the person that was always wanting to be taught, and I don't want anyone to feel like I'm asking them to do that for me now.  But at the same time, I know so few white people that have given any thought to the subject.  Back home in Massachusetts, the discussion seems to still be back on whether or not racism still exists - seriously - so it's hard to even move past that to the point of any real conversation.  So where am I left? A few good books, a couple of friends, this one class on ISMs?


I want to become more aware and I want to work against this system of oppression rather than remaining a part and beneficiary of it, but I don't know where I belong in that fight.  Like the black kids who sit together in the cafeteria because they need a group of people who understand what they are dealing with, I want a group of like-minded anti-racist white folks so we can help each other along in this process, and ultimately work more productively and respectfully towards ending racism.