Racism Around the World

This morning, President Obama arrived in Shanghai, the third leg of his four nation trip to Asia and his first visit to China. I was struck this weekend with the timing of his arrival to China with a photo that I just happened to see…..a photo of President Obama and his Chinese American niece taken during a vacation in August. As I looked at the photo, I thought of how much I wish our country could truly look beyond race.

China is now dealing with the issue of racism as well. As Chinese society opens up to the outside world and more Chinese marry foreigners, they are now dealing with very similar issues. There was an interesting program on NPR last week called “Mixed-Race TV Contestant Ignites Debate in China” about a young girl whose mother was Chinese and father was African-American. She was raised in Shanghai and recently appeared on a Chinese reality TV show. Her appearance has caused an online racist debate.

Hearing about this young girl, I was so struck by how similar her story is to many in our own country. And how much the story of differences causes stereotypes and judgments. I hope that as our world becomes smaller and smaller, that there will be more acceptance around the world with all people in all nations.

As you read news stories, do you feel that worldwide we are becoming more accepting of other races? Do you feel that the media runs stories to sensationalize race? What are you doing as a parent to raise an open family?

Movie Stereotypes?

Recently I listened to a wonderful lesson in racism. As a parent of children from China, I have tried to be really sensitive about racial stereotypes, but I have totally missed the boat on this one.

Our subject was the subtle stereotypes in Disney movies, but our speaker told us that this goes beyond just Disney. The videotapes and DVDs that our cabinets are chocked full of. I really have to say how naïve I have been about what my children have watched. After this hour long session, I will definitely be more sensitive about what they watch and how we discuss the racial stereotypes in the movies they are watching.

The list could go on and on, but a few examples that were presented were - the orangutans in Jungle Book who just want to be real people or the crows in Dumbo who talk with slurs or the hyenas in the Lion King who all negatively portray African Americans, the Siamese cats in Lady and the Tramp who are conniving, sneaky, with lisps and buck teeth, Tito in Oliver and Company who portrays a fast talking and stupid Chihuahua, the "savages"/Native Americans in Pocahontas or Peter Pan, and the Arabs in Aladdin (whose opening song actually was rewritten after it was first release) but who still portray Arabs as barbaric.

This was all eye-opening to me and made me much more sensitive to the “safe” movies my kids watch. During the clip that we watched, they interviewed children who had watched these movies and their comments were surprising. What cultural messages are my kids getting from these movies?

Have you been concerned about the subtle racial stereotypes in the movies your kids watch? Have you noticed these in children’s movies and how have you talked to your kids about them? As a culture, what can we do to support and demand positive racial stereotypes?

Karen LWB

Black and White

A few years ago I was with a group of women at the mall when an African American man walked by holding the hand of a Caucasian woman. One of the women shook her head and said, "ugh...I just hate seeing that." I was taken aback and asked her what exactly she was referring to, so she promptly told me that it "wasn't right" for a black man and a white woman to ever be together. I couldn't help myself so I asked her how me raising a Chinese daughter was any different, and she said, "oh but it just IS."

Huh??

Today I read an article in Newsweek about a black family who adopted a white girl who had been in and out of 12 foster homes.

The article itself was really interesting to read, but wow on some of the comments posted after it. Read them for yourself and let us know what you think.

One part of the article that I especially noted was this section:

Now lawmakers may rejoin the charged race-adoption debate. Later this year the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, an independent federal think tank, is expected to publish a summary of expert testimony on adoption law--—much of which will ask Congress to reinstate race as a salient consideration in all cases.

Do you think that race SHOULD be considered in adoption cases?

American Born Chinese

Like many that follow this blog, I’m a Caucasian mom of children adopted from China and an ardent supporter of the philosophy and work of Love Without Boundaries. I also happen to be a student of School Library Media Science….which sometimes puts an interesting spin on my world. And, sometimes, these spins bump someone else—maybe even you today. You’ll have to let me know.

Recently, as part of my coursework I was listening to a presentation about a new genre of literature that our kids are reading but we parents are mostly clueless about: graphic novels. Like most moms of a certain age that grew up reading and re-reading all the Little House on the Prairie books I could get my hands on, I was intrigued by the historical background and current merits of what to me look like comic books on steroids. There were slides to view, statistics to consider and sample novels. My ears really perked up when the presenter passed around American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang.

I had heard of American Born Chinese. It won the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award, which honors literary excellence in Young Adult literature, and other accolades such as being named an honor book of the National Book Award in 2006 for Young People’s literature. As a future librarian and mom to Chinese children it had been on my radar as one to read and know about but I hadn’t gotten to it yet.

Imagine my surprise when I randomly opened the book during the very nice, calm, professional presentation and read: “ Would cousin Da-Nee rike to tly Chin-Kee’s clispy flied cat gizzards wiff noodle?” This speech bubble was illustrated with images of a buck-toothed, Mao-suited, squinty eyed character that unknowingly drinks soda that a white kid had peed in. NO KIDDING. What?! Holy racism batman! What on earth was this book about? I paged through the book a bit and had…..well for lack of any better term….a reaction.

Class was ending and I returned the book to the presenter who was standing next to the professor and cautiously asked: “Is this book actually allowed in public schools today?”

Now, if you don’t know about librarians…you have to know one thing. We are the guardians of freedom of speech. We students of Library Science spend classes discussing censorship, defense of books against banning and how to handle those parents that approach us wanting those books removed. And here I was, all of a sudden, one of those parents not wanting my kids to ever have a chance to see racism, that with all my heart, wish to be such a part of their ancient history as Americans that they will never discover them in the library of their school!

The presenter and professor said, “yes” and left class with everyone else jingling keys and tossing backpacks over their shoulders. What could I do? As I drove home, I stopped off at my public library and checked out the book. That same evening I read American Born Chinese in its entirety and discovered something. The book is a great read. For a young adult novel, the story is complex, evokes a range of emotions in the reader and centered around the Chinese American experience. This graphic novel is a perfect braid of three stories involving: The Monkey King, a young Chinese American boy living in a mostly Caucasian community and a Caucasian teenager who hosts his embarrassingly stereotypical cousin from China. As each individual story twists through its plot, it picks up threads of the other two so that by the end, like a dramatic opera, all stories become one. As American Born Chinese explores each character who experiences life outside what is most desired, the final message is one of acceptance.

I wish someone had given me a heads up on the nitty-gritty of this novel before I unwisely formed an opinion and reaction from reading just a few pages. As a parent of Chinese born daughters and a son (and an additional homegrown son proud of “HIS” Chinese family) this is a book that you and we all should know about. My children are likely going to feel the reality of their minority status at some point. They swim through the stereotypes and racism of our times like everyone else. I wondered, as I finished the book, if the main characters were Hispanic, Dominican, Native American, Indian---would the story hold the same impact? I think yes. American Born Chinese portrays racism toward Asians in a way that I can use as a discussion point for stereotyping and racism that my children and I deal with in our lives.

As for graphic novels, it appears they are here to stay and are multiplying. A little reading on our parts will make for a lot of understanding between ourselves and our kids. For a good description of what a graphic novel is, I recommend starting with good ole Wikipedia for a definition of the genre. A website that reviews graphic novels for teens: No flying, No Tights gives plenty of interesting and wild reading. Every day, there are more and more graphic novels for young children as well. Check out the new genre the next time you and your children visit the library!

We’d love to know if my experience with American Born Chinese bumped you today. Is this a book that you were already familiar with? If so, what are your thoughts? Did you have a reaction the first time you read through it? If not, check it out….see if your reaction was like mine and tell me about it. I plan to discuss another book that’s good for Moms, Dads and kids ages 10-12 to know about next month. If you’d like to keep up, check out Rules by Cynthia Lord and let’s chat about what the sister of an autistic boy and friend of a paraplegic teaches us as we contemplate this life of giving.

Linda Mitchell

Linda Mitchell is a wife and mom to four, Associate Director of Education for Love Without Boundaries, volunteer at her kid’s school, student of School Library Media, K-1st Sunday School Teacher…..and creative writer when she can get a word in edgewise.

Raising Children in a Transracial Family

Becoming a transracial family, I have always wondered and worried about my daughters’ self-esteem. My daughter Anna often brings up how she wishes she had blond, curly hair. I usually tell her how much I wish I had long, beautiful silky hair like she has and her beautiful tawny brown skin (versus my pale freckly version). She is truly a beautiful girl and I just want her to know that. Often her comments shock me, because I just see her as my daughter and don’t notice the differences.

This week, I read a wonderful article on racism that really hit home. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-blueeyes26-2009mar26,0,3179239,full.story . The article was written by a journalist, who was adopted from Korea and raised in Iowa. What was most interesting was this journalist's meeting with a blue-eyed teacher also from Iowa, who in the 1960s did a racism experiment with her class that captured the nation's attention – Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes. More than anything, it gave another view of how my girls must see the world and how the world sees them. I don’t fully understand, but I want to…I love these two children more than anything, but there will be a piece that being Caucasian, that I won’t.

There have been times that I do worry about how our girls view themselves in our middle class neighborhood in suburban MN. Have they experienced racism? How should I best prepare them for when they do? They have had kids make the occasional nasty remarks, but are these typical playground remarks? When do you need to worry about them being more than that? What are you doing to be proactive in preparing your children for the fact that our world may still judge them by the color of their skin? And finally, do you think it is “easier” for a child to live in a large city as a transracial adoptee than a child in a small town?

Karen Maunu

Associate Executive Director