In these past 10 years here in the U.S. I have learned to be very sensitive to issues of race and ethnicity (not that I didn't think and worry about them back in Brazil, it's just that here these issues are addressed in a more straightforward manner, but this is a subject for another post). In fact, there is this wonderful blog/ group forum that I read periodically (since some of the columnists are some bloggers in my blogroll) and that I want to join as well, it's The Anti-Racist Parent blog - for parents committed to raising children with an anti-racist outlook. I've wanted to write about this for a while now, but now I have a good reason since I'm going to ask you to watch and vote for a great film whose subject is race and ethnicity -- particularly the problems that young girls face regarding their self-esteem and their image. Oh, and by the way, while I'm here recommending sites, my academic blogging friend Yvette, just wrote a GREAT post about the new "redesigned" Uncle Ben's rice campaign and the way that the images of African Americans have been used to sell food and other items. Her links are a must read too.
OK, so here's the real announcement: the magazine for young females, Cosmo Girl is doing a film contest for films made by young girls. Kiri Davis created this very thought provoking and moving at times (I cried at the end of the test with the children and the dolls) film titled
A Girl Like Me. This is what she had to say about it:
"The issues my friends and I face inspired me to create this documentary. Through my interviews, it became extremely apparent how European beauty standards still maintain a dominant role in our society. Society imposes standards that affect us all no matter what your sex or race is. I hope the film helps girls everywhere understand that you can’t allow other people to define who you are. You have to define and celebrate yourself. You have to love the skin you're in!"Go watch the film and vote for Kiri here! Voting ends this Friday, April 13, and you can vote once each day from each different computer you use, so spread the word!!! She was in third place until last night, but now she's in second. She deserves to win these 10,000 dollars -- it will help her go to college. You will have to install the latest version of Flash, if you don't already have it, and watch a commercial, but I think it's worth doing to help her.
Já que vc mandou, eu votei!
ReplyDeleteSabe que eu sou super a favor de criar filhos totalmente livres de preconceitos, mas acho que nessa discussão sempre falta as pessoas com deficiência, que são frequentemente mais discriminadas do que os "afro americans".
Zack tem na prateleira boneca negra e um na cadeira de rodas.Livros, histórias, amigos, acho que vale tudo pra mostrar que todos são iguais nas suas diferenças.
Always interesting to read you !
ReplyDeleteVivendo aqui penso tantas vezes em adoptar uma criança mas sei que quando voltarmos para a europa vai ser dificil a integração, pior do que os afro americanos nos EUA ... entretanto os meus filhos ganham muitissimo com a experiência de conhecer este outro lado do mundo e acho que vão voltar "open minded"
Afinal o que é o racismo senão ignorância (do outro, diferente )?
resposta à sua pergunta : acho que foi através de um blog sobre crianças multilingues q eu a descobri :-)
ReplyDeleteDid you know that you can vote in that contest everyday? It would be cool if you could post a reminder today and tomorrow. Poor Kiri is getting clobbered over there!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the links, Lilian! I'll check them out after the kids are in bed.
ReplyDeleteOh, I just watched it Lilian--so well done! Such a good, commendable film. I'm going to try and find a way to get the clip on DVD so I can try and show it to my students. We do a unit on race and identity in my English comp I class and we talk about a couple really great essays--this would be a wonderful companion to those readings. My students have voiced the same points raised here--questions of light-skinned vs. dark-skinned. What is so sad is that there's a real divide among the black women on campus. And I teach at an HBCU, where the emphasis should be on unity in the community, not division.
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