Today, during a break in between classes, the following exchange took place between one of my female Taiwanese classmates and me. She had this little booklet listing all the universities that MCU students can do exchange programs with and was trying to get my input on the American ones before she made her application.
Classmate: “Are these places cold?” (pointing to a listing for a university in Minnesota and a university in Ohio)
Me: “What do mean cold?”
Classmate: “Colder than Taiwan?”
Me: “Yeah of course. Every place will be colder than Taiwan. Out of the two the one in Minnesota will be colder than the one in Ohio though.”
Classmate: “How about this one?” (pointing to a listing for a university in South Carolina)
Me: “That one will be warmer but still colder than Taiwan.”
Classmate: “But does it have a lot of black people?”
Me: “What does that matter?”
Classmate: “Black people are dangerous.”
Me: “Why do you say that? White people are dangerous too. Why are you only afraid of black people?”
Classmate: “The movies. All the gangs and guns are dangerous.”
This isn’t completely verbatim but I tried to get it as close as I could. The ending of the conversation was said with hints of humor and blitheness but one could tell these were real thoughts going through my classmates head and were real concerns she wanted addressed before choosing a university to spend time at as an exchange student.
I also had a similar conversation with a Taiwanese friend who was going to go work for a while in Houston.
What does this mean other than it is definitely true that the wrong-headed but major message sent out from Hollywood/Mtv/mainstream media is that black people are dangerous gangstas? What should the call to action be? My classmate isn’t a racist. She is just trying to make the best decisions with the information she has…something all rational people do. That means that she can be convinced of a new reality without blind hatred getting in the way.The problem is not with her, it’s with us.
Should media outlets care how blacks are portrayed as opposed to how others are portrayed? Should I care? Should I care what Taiwanese students think of black Americans as opposed to other Americans? Should black Americans care? Should all Americans care? Should all the world care? I believe the answer is yes but that means actionable change needs to be pursued and that is where I get completely befuddled.
What can be done other than publicly denouncing these lies about my black brothers? Should all Americans be forced to move back into the cities so that, at least, to be authentic they’ll (the media outlets) have to show a “new” racial diversity in portrayals of inner-city problems? Should we all just keep yelling at black Americans that this is all there fault? Should we support the propagation of media that demonizes other people groups in greater proportion to balance this view so that at least all Americans would be seen as dangerous as opposed to just blacks? Should we make movies about Westboro Baptist Church, or the Iran-Contra Scandal’s connection to crack being introduced into American cities, or how public education was thought up by rich people in an attempt to obtain workers who would be satisfied with assembly line lives? Should we do more to share with the world some of white America’s suburban/rural problems seeing as how we are the majority? Should we support exchanges and multi-cultural experiences for all people (young, old, black, white, American, Iranian, Christian, Muslim) so that we can base ideas about others in reality? Should we “purify” all entertainment and media messages into non-truth about inter-racial love and acceptance? What can be done that is actionable and also brings about positive change? How can we make Michael Jackson’s profound lyric, “I’m not gonna spend my life being a color” be true for EVERYONE and to EVERYONE?
These are the thoughts that are circling round my head.
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