Baby Demand

From Jack and Jill Politics, a site I find myself liking more and more, some disturbing news:

"At the very top of the adoption hierarchy are white, blue-eyed, blond-haired girls," Fleming said. "And unfortunately, at the very bottom of the hierarchy are African-American boys."

It turns out that people from Canada and Europe are adopting African-American babies, while Americans are going overseas to adopt, often for European or Asian babies.

This is what I would call very good evidence of white supremacy, the belief that white children are best.

It also goes hand in hand with the prevailing stereotypes that people from Asia are naturally smarter.

In any case, I'll echo the original post:

Is there anything more revealing about what society considers beautiful or valuable than which children we would choose to have, if we could choose?

Don't tell me that skin color, or race, or ethnicity don't matter. There's so much evidence to the contrary.

Africa and the United States- Our (unchanged) Relationship

via BoingBoing, a column in the Washington Post that points out just how much us "Westerners" still foreground white people and push Africans into the background, even when talking about Africa:

Such campaigns, however well intentioned, promote the stereotype of Africa as a black hole of disease and death.

...

These descriptions run under headlines like "Can Bono Save Africa?" or "Will Brangelina Save Africa?" The relationship between the West and Africa is no longer based on openly racist beliefs, but such articles are reminiscent of reports from the heyday of European colonialism, when missionaries were sent to Africa to introduce us to education, Jesus Christ and "civilization."

...

And not only do such depictions tend to ignore the West's prominent role in creating many of the unfortunate situations on the continent, they also ignore the incredible work Africans have done and continue to do to fix those problems.

...

Why do the media frequently refer to African countries as having been "granted independence from their colonial masters," as opposed to having fought and shed blood for their freedom?

Well said. Go read the whole thing.

No matter how much goodwill one has, or how well one means to do, knowledge and self-awareness are still required.

How can people honestly talk about Africa without really talking about Africa at all, but instead talking about the white people who visit Africa and the rich white countries that fund a lot of the work? (And yes, I realize it's near-total folly to speak of "Africa" like it's one country.)

Also: It's arrogant and racist to expect Africans to automatically be grateful to receive Western help. For many Africans, Western "help" was the problem in the first place.

My Heart Can Only Shatter Once Per Day

...and this is what caused it to fall into little pieces today.

From a dissenting opinion:

After closing arguments, the court found that it was in Simone D.’s best interest to administer ECT even though it acknowledged that she would probably never “get better” [italics added]: “she perhaps could die. Perhaps she wants to die. But that’s not for us to determine. We must prevent her from dying.”

To sum up:

1) Women are subject to electroschock therapy 2x-3x as often as men.

2) ECT doctors are 95% men; patients are 70% women.

3) The women in the story doesn't speak English.

I call white-supremacist capitalist patriarchal bullshit.

Stupid American Racism, Continued

Eric recently posted about a new show from CW - go read his post, then mine, because mine is essentially an extended comment/reaction/liveblogging of the trailer (which can be viewed here):

So I'm trying to play the devil's advocate...maybe the folks at CW think they are 'humanizing' the Pakistani Muslim kid?

...

Watching the trailer....*puke* It's going to be bad. It has that feel, like it would have been bad in the 80's (but at least it would have fit in).

Did they really just imply that the most shunned kid in school (who is nevertheless good-looking and smart) is ten times more acceptable and "normal" than a Pakistani Muslim kid by default? They did. Shamelessly.

I am speechless. This kind of shit really fucks with high school students who really struggle in the hell that is the high school social world.

Did they just have a student accuse the protagonist of being gay because he didn't view his sister's breasts as sex objects?

Barf.

At least now I know where the high school students I worked with last spring got all the crap they were spewing at each other.

...because it's totally natural to be freaked out by Muslims and/or Pakistanis.

"If I ordered a coffeemaker and I got a toaster I'd return that." - the mother, as a reference to unexpectedly hosting a Pakistani Muslim exchange student (rather than a tall, Nordic, blond dude).

It's almost too obvious to have to say, but: When you make a joke like that, the reason it's funny is that you just objectified a human being and made them into an object - and then rejected them. When combined with the fact that the person making the joke (except she wasn't joking) is white and the person on the receiving end is a person of color, wow! RACISM!

...One More Time:

The teacher on the first day of class: "For one year, we will be in the presence of a real live Pakistani." The catch is that we're supposed to view the teacher as backwards and ignorant, but the only reason that's in the show is that it validates the ignorance of the viewer. It doesn't really work otherwise - 'Oh, since no one else knows anything about Pakistan or Muslims, it's OK if I remain ignorant.'

Um, no.

The teacher also called Islam 'Muslimism.'

/liveblogging. I couldn't take any more.

This kind of shit leads to Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, and a thousand others.

This kind of ignorance leads to fear, which encourages dominance and hierarchy of the "unknown Other," which leads to pain, violence, and death.

It also prevents the development of empathy and compassion, since they are predicated on deep knowledge of other people, and this is predicated on stereotypes and caricatures.

In other words, I'm with Eric: This show needs to be canned (and the creators fired). Now.