Entry tags:
Counterfail Meme: Recommend 5-6 Works About Race - by a Minority or Culture not your own
I read somewhere on my flist that this was International Blog Against Racism Week (IBARW). Could have been last week, hard to keep track. Although I've always wondered why just do one week or one day in particular? Why not to do it frequently? Or spontaneously? I spend my working life with schedules and procedures...they annoy me in my personal life, perhaps for that reason?
At any rate, it struck me while I pulled the vacume around my apartment this evening that when people blog against racism or talk about it -- we talk about the negatives. LJ user Rahriah (I think I misspelled that), asked a week ago if anyone knew of any examples of "counterfail" as opposed to "racefail"? She could find hundreds of examples of "fail" but not many of "counterfail" - that is so sad. No wonder people die of high blood pressure, heart disease and cancer...all this negativity that we drill into one another's brains. I think this as I sit with a ice pack around my neck, recuperating from a tough day. Tough week. Tough year. Walking throught this year has felt a bit like trudging through thick muck. One slow footstep at a time.
Below is a list of five - six works that I can think of, off the top of my head, that helped me see a race or culture or ethnic group other than my own in a new and fresh way. That discussed our cultural wars in a positive way and not just a negative one. Painting a complex portrait. Most of them were not seen this year. And while they may not on the surface be viewed as positive, overall they provided a positive message about the ethnicity they were discussing.
These are the rules of the meme, by the way, should you wish to play:
Recommend at least five things, not by you and not by someone from your culture or race but from a race outside of your own that made you perceive that culture in a positive light and rethink race relations.
( my six choices...which I've discussed before )
The older I get the more I realize that race only serves as a barrier between us if we let it. The world bites and barks and stomps. But sometimes if you whisper, it doesn't. If you let it all wash over you like the tide. Doesn't mean one shouldn't fight...one should, to educate oneself, to keep an open mind. To not give into old assumptions and prejudgments. Not as easy as it sounds...but I've seen signs of encouragement. There are more minority actors and actresses as leads on tv shows now than there had been in the past - the cable explosion has aided that advancement somewhat. Not as many as I'd like, but more than there used to be. And while I still can count on the fingers of one hand the number of minority writers that I've read, they are multiplying. There are presses and imprints that serve solely minority writers - I know I found them in Writer's Market. The world is changing. Slowly. One painfully slow footstep at a time. But I see the changes. The information revolution has helped - we can now talk to people we couldn't before - people who do not live in our own country, city, town or next door within seconds. Total strangers. And often without knowing their gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. This I think is a wonderful thing. It challenges stereotypes. Whoever thought the greatest melting pot would end up being inside a computer?
At any rate, it struck me while I pulled the vacume around my apartment this evening that when people blog against racism or talk about it -- we talk about the negatives. LJ user Rahriah (I think I misspelled that), asked a week ago if anyone knew of any examples of "counterfail" as opposed to "racefail"? She could find hundreds of examples of "fail" but not many of "counterfail" - that is so sad. No wonder people die of high blood pressure, heart disease and cancer...all this negativity that we drill into one another's brains. I think this as I sit with a ice pack around my neck, recuperating from a tough day. Tough week. Tough year. Walking throught this year has felt a bit like trudging through thick muck. One slow footstep at a time.
Below is a list of five - six works that I can think of, off the top of my head, that helped me see a race or culture or ethnic group other than my own in a new and fresh way. That discussed our cultural wars in a positive way and not just a negative one. Painting a complex portrait. Most of them were not seen this year. And while they may not on the surface be viewed as positive, overall they provided a positive message about the ethnicity they were discussing.
These are the rules of the meme, by the way, should you wish to play:
Recommend at least five things, not by you and not by someone from your culture or race but from a race outside of your own that made you perceive that culture in a positive light and rethink race relations.
( my six choices...which I've discussed before )
The older I get the more I realize that race only serves as a barrier between us if we let it. The world bites and barks and stomps. But sometimes if you whisper, it doesn't. If you let it all wash over you like the tide. Doesn't mean one shouldn't fight...one should, to educate oneself, to keep an open mind. To not give into old assumptions and prejudgments. Not as easy as it sounds...but I've seen signs of encouragement. There are more minority actors and actresses as leads on tv shows now than there had been in the past - the cable explosion has aided that advancement somewhat. Not as many as I'd like, but more than there used to be. And while I still can count on the fingers of one hand the number of minority writers that I've read, they are multiplying. There are presses and imprints that serve solely minority writers - I know I found them in Writer's Market. The world is changing. Slowly. One painfully slow footstep at a time. But I see the changes. The information revolution has helped - we can now talk to people we couldn't before - people who do not live in our own country, city, town or next door within seconds. Total strangers. And often without knowing their gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. This I think is a wonderful thing. It challenges stereotypes. Whoever thought the greatest melting pot would end up being inside a computer?