It’s a couple years old (Bush was president, remember those years?), but Iranian American comedian Maz Jobrani still hits several nails on the head when talking about being Middle Eastern in America:
Category Archives: Diversity Videos
Video Thursday: The Promised Land
In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Gregory Brothers created a musical remix of his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech, delivered the night before his assassination in April 1968.
Are Asian Students Smarter?
A CNN report looks at the success of Asian American students in high school:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opBfHXePM2Y&w=475]
There are a few good things it brings up, in addition to looking at nurture (culture, parental influence) instead of just nature (genetics, biology), like the fact that test-taking and intelligence aren’t perfectly correlated. Perhaps most importantly, it points out the vast diversity with the group we call “Asian American”; Asia is huge, and Asian Americans come from a variety of cultures with their own expectations, priorities, and assumptions. It’s a helpful reminder that labels tell part of the story but never the whole story.
Westerns and Modern Movies
Here’s a great look at the portrayal of Native Americans in classic Hollywood movies:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hJFi7SRH7Q&w=475]
They do a great job highlighting the portrayal of American Indians as violent, uncivilized, and animalistic, and the effect that has on Native American moviegoers. I did notice, though, that all the movies they showed were fairly old, and that such blatant racist rhetoric would have a harder time now. But does that mean the problem has actually gone away, or has Hollywood just stopped portraying Indians at all, negatively or positively? Or have more subtle, insidious stereotypes slipped in to take the place of what we see here?
Eyes Lazy and Colorblind
This has appeared around the ‘net in the last couple days:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4DT3tQqgRM&w=475]If the video does not appear, you may need to download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player.
HP’s response partially explains what’s going on: “The technology we use is built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose. We believe that the camera might have difficulty “seeing” contrast in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting.”
“White Beauty”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIIM0VVk_sg&w=475]If the video does not appear, you may need to download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player.
There are four more segments, but I think we all know how it’s going to go: the (already) beautiful Indian woman will use the Magical Whitening Cream, gaining a “pinkish white glow”; the European woman will reveal her inner petty, jealous self; the Indian woman’s new, whiter skin will re-catch the man’s eye, and they will be passionately reunited. In an airport.
How to Tell People they Sound Racist
It should come as no surprise that we here at LEE & LOW BOOKS are rather fond of the written word. A lot.
But we also like the spoken word, so in addition to great posts and articles on race and diversity, we’re going to be sharing some great videos we’ve found around the web.
Like this one, from Ill Doctrine:
Latino in America: The Horror Movie?
OK, tell me that this CNN promo does not sound just a little bit like the trailer for a horror movie:
[vodpod id=Groupvideo.3810859&w=425&h=350&fv=affiliateSiteId%3D18188%26amp%3BwidgetId%3D27552%26amp%3Bwidth%3D420%26amp%3Bheight%3D338%26amp%3BkaShare%3D1%26amp%3BautoPlay%3D0%26amp%3BmediaType_mediaID%3Dvideo_807910] If the video does not appear, you may need to download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player.
The first time I saw this ad, I was sitting on the couch with my roomate. “Oh my God,” she said, “I can’t believe how racist that sounded.”