“In a 'post-race' country like America where nothing and no one is racist, where people are more likely to believe in UFO’s than in institutional bias, which does back flips to obfuscate the operations of white hegemonic power and therefore ensure its continuance, anyone seeking to expose white supremacy or battle it is in for some serious uphill. You will be attacked. You will be censured, usually by your own community. People will say that you are obsessed with race and that even mentioning white people in the context of white supremacy is itself racist. These days the average person doesn’t even have to be taught not to bring up white supremacy. Here in our country, as in Mordor, everybody knows not to say the dark lord’s name.”
—Junot Diaz, Facing Race 2012“Attraction is not just about a feeling. It’s a heavily mediated experience and part of an industry that pumps billions into creating images of what women should look like. It can be hard to decipher what you are attracted to versus what you have internalized as attractive. This goes for both how we see ourselves and how we see others, and it leaves a lot of room to fester for some really messed up ideology about size, race, and sexuality. White standards of beauty get conflated with romantic ideals and create Cinderella-esque ideas of what romantic femininity should look like, all serving to uphold a certain standard of beauty. This impacts our self-esteem, the kind of energy we put out there, the types of people that are drawn to us, and ultimately who we end up dating.”
—Samhita Mukhopadhyay
“We've heard the 911 calls. We seen the 13 year old witness. We've read the letter from the alleged [sic] killer's father. We listened to the anger of the family's attorney. We've felt the pain of Trayvon's mother. For heaven's sake, for 24 hours he was a deceased John Doe at the hospital because even the police couldn't believe that maybe he LIVES in the community. There are still some facts to figure out. There are still some questions to be answered. But, let's be clear. Let's be very, very clear. Before the neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman, started following him against the better judgement of the 911 dispatcher. Before any altercation. Before any self-defense claim. Before Travyon's cries for help were heard on the 911 tapes. Before the bullet hit him dead in the chest. Before all of this. He was suspicious. He was suspicious. Suspicious. And you know, like I know, it wasn't because of the hoodie or the jeans or the sneakers. Cause I had on that same outfit yesterday and no one called 911 saying I was just wandering around their neighborhood. It was because of one thing and one thing only. Trayvon is black.”
—Michael Skolnik, White People, You Will Never Look Suspicious Like Trayvon Martinif whiteness can colonize and determine the political geography of every continent on earth, place itself at the top of the worldwide power and economic ladder despite being a global minority, convert billions to its religions, and wipe out entire indigenous societies, why do you think it needs you to defend it on the internet
My son (13 y.o.) just got suspended for the day for answering the question, "What did you learn in history this year?" with "No one's pain is greater than the white man's pain, and any attempt to prove otherwise will cause him to smite thee" on a test. So I'm taking him out for lunch and my husband is buying him a new video game for his PS3. :)
Why it's problematic that Disney keeps on cranking white princesses:
Look around your neighborhood, look around your classroom, look at your friends. We are all culturally diverse. We are not all white! White should not be the norm. When we think about princesses we should not think about a white european princess automatically. There are African Princesses, Asian Princesses, Hispanic Princess, Indian Princesses,etc. There are so many princesses to pick from!
That’s why I’m so conflicted on Disney’s Snow Queen/Frozen. I love the story and I love Hans Christian Andersen, BUT WHY ANOTHER WHY WHITE PRINCESS/ WHITE CHARACTERS? I can almost sadly garantee you won’t see any POC in that film.
Moreover if you’re argument is that “Oh IT’S EUROPEAN STORIES SO THEY HAVE TO HAVE WHITE PEOPLE!” I’m sorry to break it to you but:
- NOT ALL EUROPEAN PEOPLE ARE WHITE.
- EUROPE DOES NOT EQUAL ALL WHITE.
Also if you’re argument is that “OH well THOSE ARE REALLY GOOD FAIRYTALES/STORIES THAT’S WHY DISNEY PICKS THEM” Again I hate to break your heart but:
- Have you read Mexican fairytales? African American Folklore? Asian stories? Every single countries has a diverse set of tales that could be amazing turned into wonderful Disney films. Also imagine the scenery and breathtaking animation? To draw an African Savannah? The shores of any Pacific Island? The Great pyramids of Aztecs/Mayans?
- Do you know how amazing it would be?
I am Hispanic. I have never seen a Princess who looks like me. I have a 8 year old sister. She’s dark skinned and her favorite princess is usually Ariel or Tiana. Ariel because of the fact she’s mermaid, Tiana because she loves her dress and she identifies with her, she sees Tiana as closely resembling her. I want her to keep having more Tianas, in a sense more princesses she identifies with. More princesses all my siblings and cousins can identify with.
Yes I grew up with a world with white princesses and I love many of them. I absolutely love Aurora for the sake of the Sleeping Beauty. I learned to identify with them. When Tiana came out it was a big deal to me, because Tiana is the only princess I personally connect with. I share a similar personality to Tiana but I’m not saying The Princess and the Frog was perfect. No, infact it shows the most blatant racism. The princess (Tiana) in the story spends most of the film as frog. Never in the history of the Disney have they have princess spend her entire film as an animal or non human form. Disney was still shaking in their whitecentric boots that they fear having a black princess for too long in a movie might not work. Whatever argument you might want to contradict or argue in favor of Disney’s choice is invalid.
Now Disney, you come here cranking up stories and more princesses and still exposing the same white characters. I’m fed up. I want another Asian princess, give me a Japanese Empress, an Pacific Islander Princess, a African-American warrior princess, give me an Indian Princess, give me a freaking Hispanic Princess.
Pocahontas,Jasmine,Mulan and Tiana can only do so much versus the white empire of characters and princesses you have created.
I would argue that maleness and whiteness are commodities in decline. And while those of us who are not male or white have enjoyed some benefits from their decline, the sort of violence and murder that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary will continue to occur if we do not find a way to carry them along with us in our successes rather than leaving them behind.
opinionator.blogs.nytimes.comI can’t believe this is like a real thing that is in The New York Times. Another quote:
From the civil rights and feminist movements of the 1960s and onward, young men – and young white men in particular – have increasingly been asked to yield what they’d believed was securely theirs. This underlying fact, compounded by the backdrop of violent entertainment and easy access to weapons, creates the conditions for thousands of young men to consider their future prospects and decide they would rather destroy than create. Can you imagine being in the shoes of the one who feels his power slipping away? Who can find nothing stable to believe in? Who feels himself becoming unnecessary?
I mean holy shit.
“Whiteness in the gay community is everywhere, from what we see, what we experience, and more importantly, what we desire. The power of whiteness, of course, derives from appearing to be nothing in particular (Lipsitz, 1998). That is, whiteness is powerful precisely because it is everywhere but nowhere in particular. When we see whiteness, we process it as if it doesn’t exist or that its existence is simply natural. We don’t see it precisely because we see it constantly. It blends into the background and then becomes erased from scrutiny. And this whiteness is imposed from both outside and inside of the gay community.”
—“They Don’t Want To Cruise Your Type:Gay Men of Color and the Racial
Politics of Exclusion” by Chong-suk Han
