Williams Syndrome aka WS

I came across an article that talks about how there are a group of children or people that do not seem to form racial stereotypes about anyone. I first I found that highly impossible because everyone has some knows of some sort of stereotype about another culture or race. But they weren't talking about just any people. They were talking about specifically children. Children who have a neuro-developmental disorder called Willimas Syndrome are "overly-friendly" and does not "develop negative attitudes about other ethnic groups, even though they show patterns of gender stereotyping found in other children." Click the link to check out the article. It's pretty interesting.

Children who Form no Racial Stereotypes

Good Times Series

I was watching Good Times, which was an African American sitcom based in the city of Chicago in the projects, and something dawned on me, no only is this a very stereotyped sitcom but it's also a very "not-true" stereotyped sitcom. What I mean is that the Evans Family, who are, of course, the main characters in the series, are predicted as strong, loving supporting black family, as every family should be, but to me it seems the way they are depicted as being happy in the projects troubles me. The sitcom does portray a hint of "settling for less", but other than that, it also depicts though, never shown in the series, how blacks fall victim into living in the projects. They fall victim to warfare, mugging, crimes and other sort. The sitcom started to be known as domestic comedy, but there was always comic relief with the oldest son of the Evans family J.J. Evans played by Jimmie Walker. Check out the link to an article about Good Times and a video clip.

Good Times: U.S. Domestic Comedy 

What is "Acting Black"?

"Acting black" is term used when a white person is portraying the image of an African American. It could be from, clothes, the way the talk, walk, live etc. There so many ridiculous ways to determine if someone is acting black and it's actually the most dumbest stereotype.

I created a video/interview of a very good friend of mine in which I went to high school and college with. Since the first time I met him, he always got comments about the way he dressed and that he was "acting black" which he is far from the actual meaning of the phrase. Check it out. He can definitely explain it better than I can.

Stereotype at its Best?... I'll Explain...

Being stereotyped for the color of your skin, how you talk, act, etc. is, of course, not a good thing. I think I might have established that plenty of times in the blogs that I have written so far, but (there is a but), I'm going to have to make one exception to this theory. Most if not all, are familiar with the movie Tropic Thunder. Robert Downey Jr. plays an Australian actor in the movie named Kirk Lazarus who under goes a procedure to darken his skin to play an African American soldier. Robert Downey Jr.'s character takes black stereotypes to the extreme, but it so hilariously funny. Most would get offended but a few friends of mine absolutely loved the movie particularly Downey Jr.s character. I must agree, Downey Jr. is a very good actor and it seems like he could possibly be the only one to get away with a role like this. I say this is a stereotype at its best because it didn't make me feel any type of way. It didn't make me feel angry or upset. I guess because you can see the seriousness of the role to this character Kirk Lazarus. He's really into character and is striving to be the best actor, but also loses himself into his character. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that even though Jr. played a walking stereotype that it was shown or portrayed negatively. It wasn't to make fun of, even though the movie is a comedy. Tropic Thunder also stars Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Brandon T. Jackson and Tom Cruise. Check the out the video clip.

Robert Downey Jr. talks about Tropic Thunder and the stereotype of playing an African American.

A clip of Robert Downey Jr. in as Kirk Lazarus in Tropic Thunder.

Racial Slurs I NEVER Heard of

There are a lot of ethnic slur used to stereotypes a certain race. There are not just used on African American, even though the N-word is at the top of the list. Different cultural and ethnic backgrounds has just as many ethnic slurs than African American. Ethnic slurs are derogatory terms used to insult a certain race or culture. There are a lot of ethnic slurs that are used among people of the same race as well. For instance: In the American Indian culture, there is term used amongst themselves when someone of their culture has lost touch with their cultural identity. The term for this is called "Apple"; being red on the out side but white on the inside. There are actually a lot of ethnic slurs used for and among African Americans that I have never heard of. Some of the slurs were used along time and no longer are said in today's society, some are freshly new or are aware of and some slurs were formed from the UK.  Some of them, I must admit, are very ridiculous.Here are some ethnic slurs that I found for African Americans or any person of African descent. "UK" will be by the ones that originated from the UK.

Alligator Bait -  also "Gator Bait." A black person, especially a black child. More commonly used in states where alligators are found, particularly Florida. First used in the early 20th century, although some hypothesize the term originated in the late 19th century.

Ann - black woman who acts too much like a white one. While Miss Ann, also just plain Ann, is a derisive reference to the white woman, by extension it is applied to any black woman who puts on airs and tries to act like Miss Ann.

Ape - a black person.

Aunt Jemima - a black woman who "kisses up" to whites, a "sellout," female counterpart of Uncle Tom. 

Bluegum - An offensive slur used by some United States white southerners for an African-American perceived as being lazy and who refuses to work.

Buffie - black person; a young, brown-skinned person (1940s-1950s).

Crow - a black person; a black woman.

Darky - Used as a term for a black person, which may cause offense. In South Africa, however, it is not considered either racist or offensive, but is quite acceptable.

Eight Ball - A Negro; slang, usually used disparagingly. 

Gable - a black person.

Golliwog (UK)- A predominately UK expression which originally was a children's literature character and type of black doll but which eventually became to be used as a jibe against people with dark skins, most commonly Afro-Caribbeans.

House N-word - A derogatory term for affluent or highly educated African-Americans. Derived from the fact that African slaves who worked in the homes of their masters gained their favor, and were able to advance socially by reporting suspicious slaves and or activity.

Jigaboo (UK) - a black person with stereotypical black features (e.g. dark skin, wide nose, and big lips). 

And I think you get the idea. These are just a few listed and there are so much more that I have read that are ultimately ridiculous. 

 

 

For Colored Girls... Did Tyler Perry Butcher the Famous yet Beautiful Work of Ntozake Shange?

So I seen the movie For Colored Girls this past Monday and before I go off to the opinions of the media and critics on what they think of the movie, I will first express my own opinion. I am very familiar with Ntozake Shange's original work which is titled For Colored Girl who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. I also have seen the stage production in which I absolutely loved. I believe Tyler Perry's adaption of this poetic play was visually successful being that the original isn't so visual. Tyler Perry definitely portrayed each women perfectly according to their color. I honestly believe that Tyler did a fairly good job at of the adaption.

Here is where my criticism and only criticism comes in at. The Color Purple is one of my favorite novels and I think Steven Spielberg did an absolutely excellent job of the adaption of Alice Walker's novel. Every key point and important part of the novel was in the movie which made it very strong. Unfortunately, I do not think Tyler Perry did all that he was supposed to do for this movie like Spielberg did in The Color Purple. But Tyler did stay remotely true to the ChoreoPoems of Shange's work in the film which I absolutely love.

Critics are very skeptical at the approach that Perry decided to take with the adaption of the play. Most think most or all of Tyler Perry's movies portray black men in a negative light including this movie. With this movie in particular, I have to disagree with critics but in other movies that Perry had written, directed and produced I haves seen the trend where Perry does portray black men in such negative ways.

This movie overall is a powerful movie. Some of the situations that takes place both in the play and, of course more emphasized in the movie, are pretty much to the truth on what goes on in African American communities and to other women in similar communities through the world. The movie does make you rethink a lot of things and leaves you to wonder and to sympathize for every girl who goes through the pain that was portrayed in this movie. The movie Trailer is even powerful which made me really want to go see the movie for myself. There were some things that could have been brought forth to the movie, but kudos to Tyler Perry.



 

Positive = Negative for the 1st Lady

Recently, Michelle Obama traveled to New Delhi to meet several privileged girls who are attending school. Most of the girls she visited with are the first girls to attend school in their, being the the standards in New Delhi are completely different in America. The girls were asking innocent questions about how women are treated in America as opposed to how women are treated in America. I must admit some of her answers were a bit odd being that she was in a different country where sexism is part of their culture. I myself, didn't want the First Lady to be ridiculed as a dictator pf some sort, but of course she was. The comments that spilled over the supposed to be positive article where that  racist, ignorant and stereotypical comments by non supporters of the Obama Administration. I saw the article in a positive light, but of course race and stereotypes must be the foreshadow of something positive. It disgust me reading the comments posted about this article. Check out the article and read the comments posts. It's a shame how there are still racism in out country.


Michelle Joins School Girls in New Delhi

SRU BLU3Z

This is my first audio blog about a stereotypical experience that I had when I went to Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. Listen. Tell me what you think.



audio for blog sound clip

The stereotypes that were presented to me when I was at Slippery Rock University were the most I have ever received in my whole entire life. I lived in a double suite in the dorms that they just built. I had three roommates who were all very cool, but they were a big part of the reason why I left Slippery Rock in the first place.

On move in day, I already felt kind of out of place, but I sucked it up and told myself that this was college, and I needed to make new friends especially with my roomies. As the days and the weeks went by, I started to realize that my roommates were starting to to get a little too comfortable; meaning that some things they would ask me were getting a little out of hand. At first I didn't mind because I looked at as them being curious and asking innocent questions, but after a while, I started to feel like a science project. They were studying me a bit too hard and after a while I started to get uncomfortable with it.

My roommate's boyfriend everyday would ask me "Could you teach me how to dance? I know you know that new Soulja Boy dance?" It started getting repetitive. I told him, "You know, we don't all know how to dance?" He says, "Sure you all do or at least have rhythm." I remember y closest roommate Jo had asked me could I fight some girl that she had just so happened to run into on campus. She said that this girl stole her boyfriend in high school and so on and so fourth. I guess she assumed that we could fight too or at least that's what we are known for. I liked her a lot though, and I don't think she meant anything by what she said, but at the same time it was hard to put a smile on my face and laugh about it late after that comment.

Certain questions like "Do all blacks eat fried chicken, Kool-Aid, Watermelon, etc" were getting so old and tiring, and I honestly got sick of it. My roommates and I started to have a lot of issues. A lot of the issues were amongst themselves, but mine with them were the constant questions about me like I was foreign. Our RA even sat down with us one time to straighten out any issues that we were having with each other, but it didn't work.

By December of '07, I had already withdrawn from the university, sold all my books back and transferred to Point Park University. When finals were over and our winter vacation began, I packed every last one of my things and moved back home ready to start my spring semester at a better, more diverse, non-ignorant university. That is my Slippery Rock blues.