Ethnic Notions

Ethnic Notions struck me in several ways: the culture of entertainment in the United States, the way that oppression continues because it psychologically controls people, the fashion in which blacks were supposed to be non-threatening, and also the way that our opinions of these caricatures have changed over time... or have they? Sorry, that seems like most of it. But I was very glad I watched the youtube video because it got my juices flowing (and now my words, I suppose).

Throughout my lifetime, I have been exposed to examples of blacks as entertainment for white people. This movie and Invisible Man have been more recent ones with their Sambo dolls and Mammy figures. But I am also thinking about the ridicule of black names by my classmates. Many black names are more creative or out-of-the-box than many “white” names, often times because they are newly invented. Part of this, I think, comes from the culture of R&B and jazz. I am thinking about many examples of blacks not being considered for voting or jobs because of their inadequacy. In all these ways, the idea of blacks being on the same level was hard for people to grasp. It’s interesting to me that we tend to poke such fun at anything that is different than us. I believe that many of the Sambo dolls and other black caricatures come from the insecurities of many figures in history (and today as well). There are many sayings that proceed along the lines of, “If you don’t get out now, you’ll never get out.” This has been applied to relationships, the Midwest, etc. But I think that often poor stricken areas keep their members in. In Ethnic Notions, there was a bit of talk about the oppression of blacks. It is easy to see that even though many obvious trails of racism are no longer here, racism persists, even if its forms are less overt. The caricatures displayed in the video may not be gone, but are black females really portrayed as “sexy” in our media today? Models are almost exclusively white;but does that mean that the “Mammy” character is really gone? If any of you have any ideas, I encourage you to share!

I would like to finish with a little piece of advice -- something that I have been thinking about since the summer but also since the movie. We, as a class at Uni, are privileged to be able to talk about the way that race manifests itself. We have education that many people are not able to get. I think that if you ever find yourself with someone who either racially crosses the line, or has questions about this topic, you are responsible for sharing your knowledge with them as well. Education really is the key in the erosion of racism in this country. And it’s cool that this class has a very real world aspect, because there are many things we can do with the tools we are acquiring!