I'm feeling kind of blah today, blog world. But it was important to me to make a post, so here I am.

I want to talk about the name of this blog. As I say in my "about me" sidebar, I knew that I wanted to write a blog about race, because race is something that I am really fascinated by. There are just so many different discussions that can be had, and I am always up for a good discussion.

As I learned more and more about these issues, I realized that there are so many different marginalized groups out there, that it just doesn't make sense to look at issues of social justice through one lens (race, gender, class, etc.) That's why the subtitle of the blog is thoughts on race and inequality in America. I'm giving myself the option to write about things other than race. All of these -isms are connected, and the sooner we can recognize that--the better off we will be.

I originally wanted to call this blog askablackperson.com (you can click on it, but it's not a working site.) I figured that I'd piggyback on the success of the Ask a Mexican guy I would read in my local independent weekly. Alas, when I went to register that domain name--it was already taken.

The point is, I always intended for this site to be a place where people could ask me questions. So if you have any questions for me, you should leave me a comment. You could email me too, but it's more convenient for me for you to just leave me a comment, because then I don't have to go getting on my other computer.

I'll leave you with this funny photo:

I am running out of creative titles for Music Mondays.

This week's selection for Music Mondays is I Am Not My Hair by India.Arie. Great song, no profanity, easy to understand. If you'd like to read along with the lyrics, you can do so here.

(Youtube is doing this new thing called Vevo with a lot of their videos. Judging from the comments, they still have some kinks they need to work out. Just an FYI.)



Two things I want to share: One, I really identify with a lot of this song, I wonder if most black women could write a song about their history with their hair. Second, I did a very unscientific poll on a message board that I frequent, and found out that over 70% of the respondents said that they had dyed their hair blond or gotten blond highlights sometime in the past. This made me sad. Well, not sad...but not happy.

Comments? You know what to do.

You are excluded from chicken cutlet night.

Let's talk about Jersey Shore. In case you've been living under a rock, Jersey Shore is a Real World type reality show that follows around a group of twenty-something Italian-Americans as they get drunk, dance, hook up, fight and work at a t-shirt shop. Another thing they do is make me laugh hysterically, and use my instant replay button to hear one liners like "Chill out, Freckles Mcgee!" and, "She looked like Mike with a wig on."

After the first episode aired, there was a fair amount of controversy, with people picketing outside of MTV's offices and calling for the show to be pulled off the air. I think the gist of the argument being that it was a negative, stereotypical portrayal of Italian-Americans.

I know when I watched the premiere, one thing that I was really struck by was the repeated use of the word guido by the cast members. Now guido hasn't been elevated to the status of being replaced with "the g word" but I was under the impression that it was a slur, and not an acceptable way to describe an Italian or Italian-American person. After watching the rest of the episodes, I still feel that way--this is not a word that I would use. But, watching the show I began to equate it with the way that some black people use "the n-word"--as a term of endearment, and taking something that has a negative connotation and turning it into a positive one. So Italians can say it to each other if they want, but if you say it in the wrong context and you're not Italian--somebody might beat you. Seems pretty straightforward to me.

In addition to supposedly giving Italian-Americans a bad rap, people are upset that they are giving New Jersey a bad name. The thing that is interesting about this is that most (if not all) of the cast isn't even from New Jersey! One is from New York, another from Staten Island and one is all the way from Rhode Island. This is MTV, you know they searched far and wide and selected from hundreds (thousands?) of people to find a cast that they thought would be the most entertaining to watch.

But let's get back to this idea that these young people are a sterotypical portrayal of Italians.

What stereotypes are they reinforcing? These are the ones that I have observed.

--That Italian-Americans have distinct accents.
--That they like to eat pasta.
--That they're loud. (but compared to whom--that's right...less loud white people.)
--That they're family oriented.

I've never heard that Italians like to drink or fight, so while a lot of the cast does both of these things--I don't see them as being stereotypically Italian.

What stereotypes are they challenging?

--That Italians are in the Mafia.
--That there are rigid gender roles. The guys do most of cooking on the show, and I think one of the last words you would hear to describe any of the female cast members is "submissive."

So, in many ways this is a stereotypical portrayal of Italian young people. But the problem comes with the fact that these are real people, not actors. They're not playing a role, they're being (for the most part) themselves. So what does it mean when yourself is a walking stereotype?

That's when we as a culture have to say, "So these people behave in stereotypical ways...is that bad?"
"They like to eat ziti; does that mean they're deficient human beings?"
"Yes, they tan a lot, which puts them at increased risk for skin cancer--does that mean they shouldn't live next door to me?"
" Ed Hardy t-shirts aren't really my style, but does that mean we can't be friends?"

In this instance, I don't think the stereotype itself is the problem. The people in this cast seem to be very fun, caring, loyal, honest people--qualities that most people would look for in someone to associate with.

I think the problem is not with the behaviors that Snickers, Pauly D, and The Situation are or aren't reinforcing. It has to do with the fact that there are so few portrayals of Italian-Americans in the media, and they are often very one-dimensional. Like, MTV has a show coming out called The Buried Life where four white guys travel around the country and checking off things on their Bucket lists. Why didn't they get four Italian-Americans for that show? Why has there never been a character like the people on Jersey Shore on a season of the Real World? Why don't we so rarely see portrayals of people who are proud of their Italian heritage but don't have accents, or aren't particularly close to their families? People from the dominant group get to be represented as pretty much everything in the media (except poor) whereas people from marginalized groups are so often pigeonholed into these very limited representations.

I think there is a whole nother idea about who is or isn't "getting the joke" but I will have to save that for another post--it's lunchtime.

What do you think? I'd love to hear your comments.

Music Monday

So, originally I thought this was the first time that I was going to do a Music Monday with a song from a white artist. But then when I clicked on the tag, I realized that no, this time was the first time.

This week's selection is Mother, Mother by Tracy Bonham. The link to the video is below, and if you want to follow along with the lyrics you can do so here.



You might be wondering...What does this song have to do with race and inequality in America? Or, maybe you're not.

Comments? You know what to do.

I'm Donna Chang.

Awhile back, I was at a piano bar celebrating a birthday party. Not my birthday, someone else's. As the party was winding down, I went up to the bar to close my tab. As is customary, the white bartender asked me for my last name. I told him and he said, "You don't look like a _____."

I've been trying to think of a last name that I could use for the purposes of this post that would get the point across, without me having to reveal my own last name. I've decided on Gustafson. So I tell him my last name and he says, "You don't look like a Gustafson."

'Tis true. When people think of someone with the last name of Gustafson they are probably more likely to picture someone that looks like this:



than that fine young woman you see over there to your right. I get that he was taken by surprise. What I don't get was why he felt compelled to say something to me about it. Was he looking for me to explain myself?

I too, was taken by surprise. I mumbled something (probably like ehhhmmggth) got my card, tipped his dumb ass and left.

Why did I call him a dumb ass? Because he annoyed me, and that is a term I like to use for people that annoy me.

But why did he annoy me? That is a more difficult question to answer. I thought what he said was inappropriate and racish. It's like, "You don't know me like that, bartender--just give me my mmereffing debit card and be on your way."

And like I said, I got the sense that he wanted some kind of explanation from me for why I had this last name that didn't fit with his understanding of the way the world works.

I suppose that one good thing about it is that his horizons were expanded, and the next time a customer's last name doesn't fit with his preconceived notions, his mind will be a little less blown. Or, maybe he'll say, "What the heck--you're the second black person named Gustafson that's come into this bar. What is the deal?!?"

I'll hope for the former.

If you've ever been in a similar situation, or if you haven't--I'd love to hear your comments.

P.S. Happy New Year!