Anderson Cooper 360: Blog Archive - UPDATED: AC360 Series: Doll study research � - CNN.com Blogs
this story continued throughout the week every night on anderson cooper. the next night, john legend commentated on his personal experiences with race, and his thoughts on the "doll study" outcomes. i will share with you some interesting points he made.
first, he said that recently he was driving around a predominantly white, affluent neighborhood trying to find a social at a friend's house. he was driving slow, of course, because he couldn't find the house, and someone approached his car to question his intentions of being in "their" neighborhood. basically, they told him they didn't want any trouble "around here" and for him to leave. little did they know they were speaking to john legend. dummies. ok, john legend didn't say, oh, i'm john legend, i'm not going to rob you. he found the friend's house, and told them what had happened. in 2010, black people are still being stopped in white neighborhoods out of suspicion of "trouble," and apparently being from hollywood doesn't count you out of being a victim of it. where are we to go from here? can we go anywhere but up? because it seems things can't get much worse without going back to slavery or segregation which absolutely will not happen on my watch.
they tell us in race studies that children actually don't know they are different from each other until a "defining moment" happens that tells them they are different- positively or negatively. for example, "my mommy says we can't play together any more because you're black/white." what's going on this child's head at this point? ummm, what?? i'm black? i'm white? we're different? why? what is "different" and why does that mean we can't play together? a million questions. and questioning is not all together bad. it is encouraged, in fact, that parents talk to their children about race. this "talk" however brings up the next great point john legend makes. he says that it is not invariably the best idea to teach "color-blindness" to our children. why, you might ask, would it not be the best idea (though an ok one) to teach that we're all the same? because we're not. and everyone is beautiful in their own way, and these ways- color, race, religion, sexual preference- is what makes us who we are. how are children supposed to start finding "who they are" if we tell them we're all the same?? this would defeat the purpose of the soul search, right?
if you watch the videos, it is saddening that the white kids point at the black kids and say they're "bad" because they're the blackest, and the black kids point at the white kids and say they're the prettiest because they're white. who came up with this crap?? white people are the prettiest?? who ever set that standard? and it's not even statistically correct that black people are "more bad" because there are more white males in prisons than blacks. so what gives? well, look around. the so-called "prettiest" women on television, and in hollywood, are white, right? furthermore, the so-called "prettiest" black women have westernized themselves with longer, "frizz-free" hair, and tend to have more western features. this may seem complicated, but our children are obviously NOT oblivious nor naive. they see it. they know. and, worse, they're personalizing it to themselves. tell your children they're beautiful. tell them we are different. and that's ok.
this story continued throughout the week every night on anderson cooper. the next night, john legend commentated on his personal experiences with race, and his thoughts on the "doll study" outcomes. i will share with you some interesting points he made.
first, he said that recently he was driving around a predominantly white, affluent neighborhood trying to find a social at a friend's house. he was driving slow, of course, because he couldn't find the house, and someone approached his car to question his intentions of being in "their" neighborhood. basically, they told him they didn't want any trouble "around here" and for him to leave. little did they know they were speaking to john legend. dummies. ok, john legend didn't say, oh, i'm john legend, i'm not going to rob you. he found the friend's house, and told them what had happened. in 2010, black people are still being stopped in white neighborhoods out of suspicion of "trouble," and apparently being from hollywood doesn't count you out of being a victim of it. where are we to go from here? can we go anywhere but up? because it seems things can't get much worse without going back to slavery or segregation which absolutely will not happen on my watch.
they tell us in race studies that children actually don't know they are different from each other until a "defining moment" happens that tells them they are different- positively or negatively. for example, "my mommy says we can't play together any more because you're black/white." what's going on this child's head at this point? ummm, what?? i'm black? i'm white? we're different? why? what is "different" and why does that mean we can't play together? a million questions. and questioning is not all together bad. it is encouraged, in fact, that parents talk to their children about race. this "talk" however brings up the next great point john legend makes. he says that it is not invariably the best idea to teach "color-blindness" to our children. why, you might ask, would it not be the best idea (though an ok one) to teach that we're all the same? because we're not. and everyone is beautiful in their own way, and these ways- color, race, religion, sexual preference- is what makes us who we are. how are children supposed to start finding "who they are" if we tell them we're all the same?? this would defeat the purpose of the soul search, right?
if you watch the videos, it is saddening that the white kids point at the black kids and say they're "bad" because they're the blackest, and the black kids point at the white kids and say they're the prettiest because they're white. who came up with this crap?? white people are the prettiest?? who ever set that standard? and it's not even statistically correct that black people are "more bad" because there are more white males in prisons than blacks. so what gives? well, look around. the so-called "prettiest" women on television, and in hollywood, are white, right? furthermore, the so-called "prettiest" black women have westernized themselves with longer, "frizz-free" hair, and tend to have more western features. this may seem complicated, but our children are obviously NOT oblivious nor naive. they see it. they know. and, worse, they're personalizing it to themselves. tell your children they're beautiful. tell them we are different. and that's ok.
