RE: The Princess and the Frog--contains spoliers

I have recently scene the film and I was amazed. Stepping outside of first black princess for a sec, the 2D was amazing. Disney has really pulled through all its years of, well, kind of crappy movies. Now getting back to point, the first black princess was a success. Now there are those of you who say things like "but she was a frog the whole movie" or "she came from the projects" or "she wasn't originally a princess." Well, here is what I have to say on those matters. First of this black princess would by far be the strongest princess (in ways of commitment, dedication, role model, etc) Disney has ever had aside from Bell in Beauty and the Beast. Not only was there are magical sense in the movie, but also a reality side-- you got to work hard. Even if you've wished upon a star, you've got to do your share.

So what if she came from the projects, she had much more character than any other princess (I mean really, Arial from The Little Mermaid was in a word shallow, she couldn't accept who she was. Of course that's debatable but moving on). And that just showed how much more of a role model she is for her never-giving-up attitude. She went from the projects to running her own booming restaurant-- now that's dedication. And Disney was just trying to be historically correct--what do you want them to do? Lie and not be aware that the majority of black people, or people in general I suppose, back then were poor? Not to mention the great family ties she had (aside from the fact that Disney ALWAYS has to kill one parent).

And honestly, who cares if she was a frog practically the whole movie, we take steps to reach a destination, give it time. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of equal, multi-race entertainment. I kind of have a feeling that the only people who noticed that are people who are trying to prove they are aware of racism in the world. But really, if you are a person who just noticed there weren't any black princesses before the movie even was being advertised, give yourself a pat on the back.

This movie was great and I am excited to see more of the likes of it.

The Princess and the Frog

Today I am hitting another note, instead of books I am going to mention a movie. On December 11th, a movie will hit theaters. This movie is the classic story of The Princess an the Frog. There are two exciting things about this movie. Number one, this will be the first PURE DISNEY ANIMATION since movies like Lion King and Hercules dating back to the 90s. Number two, the more important one, is the fact that all the main characters in this film are black (or a mix of french and black). Now not many people understand what the big deal is, but how many animations do you know where the main characters are a race other then white? Aladdin? What else? You can't say Peter Pan because that movie was slightly racist. This is a new step into a new world people. Maybe I am a bit overdramatic, but this movie may open up a new world of princes and princesses for little girls and boys "of color." It does for me. So if you don't understand this, look at this from a different perspective.

Comment on what you think and any questions on the movie (there is a link for the movie in the title somewhere) and I will get back to you.

YA book covers vs. YA BLACK book covers

The other day a friend showed me this article on a racial dispute over the cover of a YA novel. The novel, Liar by Justine Larbalestier, is a story about a black girl-but dispite that, the cover is of a white girl. Justine says she argued with editors and sale reps who say that black covers don't sell well and more then a few accountants won't take books with black covers. The idea that this may be very well a fact is proof of racism in YA books today. Have a look at the article (posted by Cory Doctorow) and please comment on what you think. Here is a link is you are having trouble getting to the website.

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/07/23/race-and-book-covers.html

Character Descriptions

OK, so last night I was reading a book, Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen, and if you remember back in eariler posts I asked what race do assume the character is? Some of said that may be left open for the reader to deciede and that there may be no deffiant race for a single or group of characters. Well in the book I read last night, in every other character the narrarter introduced, they wouldnt give a description of the race except when "a black girl with long braids emerged," pg. 48. In every other context, it is usually just the description of what the character ("I saw the source: a short kid wearing a peacoat and some serious orthodontia, sitting in the backseat with a book open in his lap" pg. 103), except for the one on page 48. Why is it that in the book world we live in we need to be told if a character is of a different race but not often need to be told that the character is white? I know this book isnt the only one.

Twilight

Please read this passage from a popular book Eclipse from the Twilight saga.

"My first impression of Kim was that she was a nice girl, a little shy, and a little plain. She had a wide face, mostly cheekbones, with eyes too small to balance them out. Her nose and mouth were both too broad for traditional beauty. Her flat black hair was thin and wispy in the wind that never seemed to let atop the cliff."
-Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer, page 242

This is the description of a Native American, Kim, with the common features of a Native American person.
Please tell what your thoughts are on this.

And please, please, please take the test below.

The Color Line-Q's Part Two

PART TWO (make sure you have answered for part one below, when finished, please add and post your scores as a comment. Also, please bring this quiz-that I did NOT create, not sure who did-to a person of a different race then you and see what they have.)

Score 5 if the statement is often true for YOU.
3 if the statement is sometimes true for YOU.
0 if the statement is seldom true for YOU.

12. I can be oblivious to the language and the customs of the persons of color w/out feeling any penalty for such ignorance from the people of my race. (In other words, people of my race are not angry, disappointed, or frustrated if I don't know about the cultural traditions of people of color.)

13. I can criticize our government or talk about fear or opposing its polices without being seen as a racial outsider.

14. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the "person in charge" in a school, business, restaurant, or other location, I will be facing a person of my race.

15. I can conveniently buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, and magazines featuring people of my race.

16. I can go home from most meetings of the clubs or organizations that I participate in feeling tied in, not isolated, out of place, outnumbered, unheard, feared, or hated.

17. I can take a scholarship without having others suspect I got it because of my race.

18. If my family goes on vacation, we choose a hotel without fearing that people of race cannot get in or will be mistreated or mistrusted in there.

19. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.

20. If my day, week, or year is going badly, I don't need to wonder if each negative situation is due somewhat to my race.

21. I can comfortably avoid, ignore, or minimize the impact of racism on my life.

22. I can speak in a public group without my race being an issue.

23. Most dolls, crayons, band-aids, makeup, and any other items that comes in "flesh" color is more or less a match for my skin.

24. If a substitute teacher disciplines me, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my race.

The Color Line-Q's Part One

Please answer these questions below,
Score 5 if the statement is often true for you
3 if the statement is sometimes true for you
0 if the statement is seldom true for you.
PART ONE
Make sure you read the post above for Part Two.

1. I can easily choose to be in company of people of my race most of the time (in school, shopping, in a park or other public place).

2. If my family needs to move, we can be pretty sure of hassle-free renting or buying in a safe desirable neighborhood where we would want to live.

3. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasent to me.

4. I can go shopping by myself most of the time without being followed or harrased.

5. I can turn on the TV or open the front page of the paper and see many people of my race
represented in a positive way.

6. When I learn about our national heritage or about "civilization," in school and in the media, I am shown that people of my race made it what it is.

7. I can go into most supermarkets and find the staple foods which fit with my racial/ethnic traditions; I can go into any hairdresser's shop and find someone who can cut my hair.

8.I can count on my skin color not to work against me when I shop, whether I use checks, credit cards, or cash; store clerks assume that I have enough money to pay for my purchases.

9. I can swear or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, w/out having people say that these choices are due to the bad morals, or the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race.

10. I can do well in a challenging situation w/out being called a credit to my race. (EX. If I earn a school award, I am not identified as especially good or talented for a person of my race.)

11. I am never asked to speak for all of the people of my racial group.

How about me?

OK, so say you may not read other books with a different race then yours because you have trouble relating, how many people has that been the case? Well how about me, or my other friends that aren't white, I -at least- am barely able to relate to these characters (because they are white), but I still read them, because this style of reading happen to be the only one that I enjoy. And the majority of these books, especially famous books, that are open to me, the main characters are white. So I am enjoying a book, but am not being able to relate to my culture at the same time. This is the case for about every book I read.

Always look at things the other way around. If something is a certain way for you, how is it for other people?

Be the change

Change in racism and equal opportunities won't just come to us. We have to create them. Rosa Parks didn't wait for a white man to give up his seat. Martin Luther King Jr. didn't wait for someone else to decide to make the Civil Rights Act. Yes it is true that it is harder for people of a darker complexion to be successful in life, yes it is true that a white person is more likely to get the higher paying job then a black person. But even though this is true, it doesn't mean we should wait around for this to change. I don't like taking credit but right now, I am not waiting for someone else to notice that their is an unjust in the book world, I have created a blog to have more people become aware of that fact, and I don't plan to stop here.
I am also aware that there is a bigger population of white people in America then other races, even though those numbers are becoming more equal, there isn't anything within my power to change that. So maybe that is something I just have to wait for-but I can get ahead before those numbers even out. I am not going to wait to discuss and write stories equalizing and discussing race.
Also, I would like to point out that even though those numbers in poverty are mainly people of dark complexion and so forth, that doesn't mean that there aren't successful black, Asian, Latino ect. people out there. I mean AHEM, I am more then half white, plus my dad, all my relitives, my principal and teachers, I can name so many-not to mention the people I don't know personally. So there is not an excuse to not write about a successful black person right now.

Perspective

I do not see incorporating a different culture into a book we all love as bad. Just by accepting/seeing that books (not all) are in a way stereotypical to another "race", does not mean we have to hate that book now, or dislike the author. We can still enjoy the book just as much as we did before, but for future books, maybe to not make them as limited or exclusive. These works of fiction and fantasy may be just books to make things what we want to happen, but why does anything we want alot of the time end up being from a white person's perspective? Of course, I am sure that most books weren't written to be exclusive. But we are living in a culture were it has become the automatic assumption that the poor people or that the "ghetto's" are mainly black people, and that the nice house in the suburbs is a white family. This is what we are subconsciously taught how to think. Through movies, the media, history, and through books. And just imagine, if perspective and "race" were equalized in the book world (which is rather large), think about how that effects us, how we think.
Maybe it just needs us to see a different perspective. When books are the things I take joy from and often learn many things from them, I would like to take joy from reading about a character from a different perspective other than a white girls perspective, and I feel at a disadvantage when it isn't another perspective--NOT to say all white girl's perspective are the same, but I find many of the characters that are white that I read are very similar: in how they act and what they do.
Reading a book from a different perspective would affect us greatly, to make these things equal. You may think that its just a book, just a "race," its doesn't matter. But let me assure you, it matters to me, and I am sure I am not the only one. If you don't understand that, try looking at a different perspective.

Learn To Accept

Realize: when you read a book with a happy love ending with no drug or gang problems-who is that girl?
Know: Not all books are meant to be like that-but after living in this culture, that is what are minds have made up.
Accept it.
or
Change it.


CHANGE

Your thoughts please.

Get Out There and Learn

Why can't we learn to learn other customs and life styles? That way books won't be misrepresented. A good writer won't just stick to their customs and what they know. In fact, every person in general should get out of their comfort zone of what they know and learn other cultures and customs, and then maybe the knowledge of different cultures and styles can be also spread throughout books to if people are willing to write about them.

Also, If it is up to us to decide what race is the main character, and the author leaves that up to us, do you honestly personally picture the person as Latino? Or do you picture them white.

Something New

So if people of different race besides white may interfere with the story, why can't you change the story to that persons customs?
Also, why do you think their are more white authors in this area then others?

Why do you think publishers assume or maybe just would make more money on books with white characters instead of others?

Please write your thoughts.

Why Not As Popular?

So in truth, there are books that have minority people as the main characters (just not as many). The next question is, why aren't this books as popular as Twilight or Blue Bloods or The Truth About Forever? What is it about these books (the ones I just listed) that grab more attention then others such as Small Steps or others?

Please write your thoughts.

What Makes It Different?

Does a white character fit the role more? If so, why? If you think not, why?
And if so, how different would the story be if a black, or lationo (for example) person was be the lead role?
Please write down your thoughts.

Black People In The Teen Love Stories

Over the past years, I have read many teen love stories. I love them-addicted if you will. Espeically those such as The Mortal Instruments, and am a former lover of Twilight. I have also had my fair share of Sarah Dessen novels. In each of these, there has been a girl who gets involved with the guy and so forth. I love the strong roles and characters within the girls, but there is one thing that hurts me when I read them: All of these girls are white. All of these perfect guys are white. Tell me when you come across a book where the main girl is black and falls for a black man, and she doesn't get pregant, where he isn't invovled with drugs or is in a street gang. And in the stories I read, they are beautiful. But being biracial myself, I don't feel like I have much of a chance as a "love story" like this as much as my white friends who sit at my lunch table reading the same book. So this blog is designed to talk about this. And maybe create a beliveable beautiful "love" story with more then a strong white women character.