One of the things I have become a lot more educated about this past year is racial issues, particularly in media. It´s quite a complicated and sensitive thing but, it´s also one of the most interesting things I have ever researched and educated myself about. I am a big believer in doing research and forming one´s own opinions of things and investigating things has not only given me a lot to think about but also encouraged me to view things differently.
My own race is Caucasian. I am an ethnic Scandinavian, and as far as I know, I only have white people as ancestors. If you find that strange, allow me to explain. As far back as I know my ancestors all came from extremely isolated areas of Scandinavia and in all cases their family had been there for decades. You don´t exactly get much racial mixing in such circumstances. So my own skin color resembles that of a Vampire and I am never ever underrepresented in media. So when I look at racial matters in media I look at them as a white Scandinavian. And I find each and everyday that my views are challenged and I need to rethink things.
One of the things that has been on my mind lately is the frustrating difficulty of defining people by skin color. I honestly use the simple method of white, black and brown to refer to skin colors. It doesn´t matter one bit to me how dark/light people are although I of course notice it. So I feel my head spinning when I see people judging others on the exact shade of their skintone.
Recently I read articles in which people were complaining that Obama wasn´t outspoken enough about the white side of his family. It´s common knowledge that Obama is mixed race and in 2008 when he was running for president he was outspoken about his past and background and had nothing but good things to say about his mother´s side of the family (I read his biography!). After he became president, his focus obviously shifted to the difficult task of running the country. And now, 5 years later, people are apparently mad that he´s "too much concerned with his African-American" heritage. I mean, for crying out loud. The man is African-American and has a beautiful African-American family. It´s obvious to anyone that racism is still rampant in USA and that there is still a long way to go for black and white people to be equal. So naturally, the first black president, will be outspoken about his race and racial matters. It´s because it´s needed. We can´t tackle the problem unless it´s talked about and acknowledged. And that is what Obama is doing.
And then I found this article (I adore the blog by the way) Balancing Jane - Racism is alive and well. Apparently, people were angry because the actress that was cast to play Rue in the Hunger Games film was black! I mean talking about outrage, seriously. The character is described as having a dark skin tone (not a vampire one like mine) so the choice seems obvious. Yet people find the time to tweet and moan about the fact that they are angry because a)the actress is African-american or b)her skin tone isn´t dark enough.
Here you have a beautiful, incredibly talented actress (I loved her in the movie) that happens to be mixed-race. In fact the actress is half American, half-Danish (Scandinavia for the win!). But apparently people see a great deal wrong with her skin tone. They judge her, point-blank, based on nothing but the color of her skin. And there is no middle ground, it´s either too light or too dark. And I am outraged that people allow themselves to say such things about a minor.
Things like this make me want to hit my head against a wall.
Because, racism is rampant when we judge people based on nothing but their skin tone. And this happens in the media where everyone can see. What a wonderful message to send to people:"You are nothing but your skin tone and we will judge you according to that, not the character of your heart".
No comments:
Post a Comment