Beverly Tatum on Racism 2!

Beverly Daniel Tatum brought up some excellent points in her argument of racism. I began to wonder if the hate of whites by African Americans is still racism. Though there maybe be a different term for it, there is still discrimination based on predetermined opinions and evaluations. Racism is the hate of a group, not just one person... whites and blacks are two groups... so I would say this argument is valid and it possible for African Americans to be racist towards whites. Based on definition, this makes sense to me. I also began to think about examples of Disney movies or just childrens movies that were discreetly racist and/or discriminatory. The best discriminatory example I thought would be Aladdin. A child often makes assumptions according to what they see. So if they are shown a man with tanned skin, dark eyes and hair, puffy capri pants, a velvet vest and a small hat on his head (presumably a Yamaka?), children may think that anyone of this same culture or race should look like this. The character and his monkey are first shown as stealing "street rats". This may even lead kids to believe that all people of a Middle Eastern background would act the same.

I also read up on the controversy over the workers and crows in the movie, Dumbo. Though I don't think I have ever seen the movie, these examples were very convincing. Someone asked the question on Yahoo! Answers and there were a lot of responses.. almost every one detailed this film. The workers in the beginning are setting up a tent singing about working day and night, and not getting paid. These African American men are working in the rain, which makes the argument more thorough. There are two crows that are apeaking borken English at some point during the cartoon, and they talk slowly with a thick accent. Many people can find racist parts of all films if they look for them, however; it is more often that whites will be racist toward blacks.

While I was researching this topic, I discovered that Beverly Daniel Tatum is the president of "America's oldest historically black college for women"...Spelman College. I think it's very appropriate that we read this in class, and that we acknowledge her position in African American history. She asks very important questions, all were surprising and intriguing. I definitely believe that active racism is more detrimental than passive racism, yet it is still important to share your opinions and lay down the law when something opely racism occurs in your pressence. Sometimes though, nothing can be said or you may be taken by surprise at what was said.. it's all in your confidence to stop the trash talk.