Blending But Not Losing

As I watch my 8 year-old daughter go through the process of trying to find her place in the world I have noticed that she wants very much to find countries that she can identify with. Which is easy as far as her mother's side is concerned since all she need do is focus on Mexico, since my wife and her family are Mexican-American. While we she knows her other half is African-American, that distinction does not give her a particular country to identify with, only the broader notion of Africa, one of the largest and most diverse continents in the world. So when she asks what country my family is from, all we can say is we don't know for sure, but definitely it is in Africa. You can imagine, the answer does not do a lot for her, when all she wants is to be able to identify a place on the map, which is a big thing to her right now, looking at places on a map and on a globe. Pointing to a wide area is just not as exciting as pinpointing a place and culture. All of this makes me think about a couple of things.

One is how important it is that while we celebrate the blending of ethnicities and cultures we need to also make sure that we do not allow that mixture to become so blended that we forget or don't recognize what came together to make it so. That would be a tragedy. Even multi-ethnic people need a heritage, a culture, or more accurately, heritages and cultures, to be proud of. The beauty of their blending is the expansion of what they are, so we should not let anyone lose anything in the process.

The other thing that comes to mind is the reminder that for blacks, this uncertainty for most of us of exactly where we come from in the world is indeed a hole in our psyches. Sure we know Africa and can be proud of that continent. But African cultures are not at all alike. Northern Africa to South Africa, from Nigeria to Ethiopia, there are some truly unique people, histories and traditions. My Africa may not be, and is likely not, the same as another black person's Africa. It is also true that for blacks, not knowing exactly where we hail from, at least our African sides, is also a perpetual reminder of slavery since that is the reason we do not know from whence we come.

The good news is that Alex Hailey was not the only one to do the work to figure out their African roots. It is possible, though sometimes difficult to figure out our roots on this great continent. I think I owe it to my daughter, and son, to find out, to make it easier for Maria to point to a spot in Africa and say here is where one side of my family traces back to.

Some Upset That Role of "Bi-Ethnic" Woman Went To Angelina Jolie

The latest brouhaha in Hollywood (aside from Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan) revolves around Angelina Jolie being tapped for the part of Daniel Pearl's (the slain Wall Street Journal reporter) bi-ethnic (black and white) wife in an upcoming movie. Apparently there is a fair amount of grumbling from some in the black acting community, particularly black female actors, that the part should have gone to a black actress rather than a white woman, or at worse, the role should have gone to a multi-ethnic actress, like Halle Berry or Jennifer Beals.

I have a couple of problems with this notion. First, as a director, I try really hard to fill roles according to "open casting" ideals. In open casting, you try to put the best person in the role regardless of race or ethnic concerns. Of course, this ideal can only work up to a point to be believable for the audience however. For example, I don't pay attention to ethnicity when casting a husband and wife, but if they have a child, and the child is supposed to be biological, then I would be asking too much from the audience if I cast a Korean child in that role. But whenever possible I think Hollywood should try to think outside the box when casting. By doing this, minorities can only benefit since the majority of roles are indeed written with whites in mind. I think of Louis Gossett who took on the famous role in "Officer and a Gentleman" though the role was intended for a white actor originally.

Now when we are talking about an historical or real person, then again, there are limitations without causing the audience to step out of the world of make-believe. Which may be why some are focused on this role. But that brings me to my second disagreement with those who say Angelina should not have done the role. If Mrs. Pearl was half black and half-white, then to say that only a black person can play her is ignoring the fact that she is equally white so therefore a white woman has as much right to play the role as a black actress.

Now there is the argument that says then at least give the role to a bi-ethnic woman. But here again, that is such a limiting way to cast. And a mindset that in the long-run will not do minorities any good since it is saying in essence that the only person that should get a role is someone that fits the original writer's perception of a character.

I say let Angelina do her thing. But I also say, let's hope that the attention she will get in doing this part, will draw more focus on the idea of open-casting. I'm not naive enough to think that this is a given, but if we want others to accept different types in casting, then we have to be willing to accept it too. And don't get me wrong, I am well aware of the difficulty black women have in getting good parts in Hollywood. I just believe that in the long run, the only way to broaden the field for them, and others, is to push open casting whenever it is legitimately doable.

Racism's Roots

I saw a really interesting video on YouTube the other day. It was a young girl singing the dictionary. That's right. She was going through the dictionary, word by word (not the whole thing of course) and singing it. It was absolutely amazing to tell you the truth. It shows how incredibly talented she is that it is was absolutely entertaining and well sung. Imagine what she could do with a song with actual lyrics. The video is apparently one of the most viewed right now and is getting a lot of play. Hopefully it leads to something for her.

But wouldn't you know it, stupidity and racism had to rear its ugly head. I was reading some of the many comments from viewers, most of them amazed and praising her, but a few idiots found their way in. Some pretty awful racist stuff was said about the young lady and African-Amercans for absolutely no other reason than the fact that some people couldn't deal with the young woman's talent and they saw an opportunity to be ugly.

This shows me again that most of the time people say or do things like these people did, it is because deep down they are afraid and intimidated. Had the young lady been doing something that did not require talent, odds are they would not have made any comments. But it was because she is so talented, they clearly felt less than and felt the need to try to bring her down.

Thankfully, most of the commenters praised the girl and her talent and could see through the idiots who tried to denigrate her and what she did. Jealousy and fear are proving to be the real roots of racial stupidity.

Here is a link to the young lady's video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JhbyLnCi2rQ

One Big Family

My wife and I had another smile-inducing experience yesterday. We attended a spring festival at our kids' new school in Burbank. And once again, we were simply amazed at the multicultural and multi-ethnic mix we saw. Again, giving us that joyous recognition that the world as we know it is changing very fast - in a good way.

This particularly elementary school's demographics are about one-third white, one-third Hispanic, and one-third Asian, black, Indian, and other ethnicities, including multi-racial. But interestingly, even within the "white" one-third, what is considered white is not typical. In this area a very large portion of that number are ethnic immigrants from Armenia and Russia. American "whites" are actually a small number within that group. The principal of the school told us some 31 languages are spoken in the homes of the children who attend this public school. How cool is that. So you can imagine the beauty of the playground yesterday. To these kids "race" was definitely not a reality. Culture certainly was, but that is not a bad thing. It was also beautiful because the school kids, the 1st and 2nd graders, then the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders, did a hip hop dance performance that was really well done. So here you had all these ethnicities dancing together to largely black American hip hop music. That is what life should be about. That kind of blending of groups and cultures.

Celebrating All That We Are

The recent Cinco de Mayo festivities was a great opportunity for our family to get out and have our kids celebrate one side of their multi-ethnic heritage. Our daughter particularly, takes great pride in her Mexican side and she certainly showed it by proudly waving and carrying her Mexican flag during the festival we went to in downtown Los Angeles this past weekend. It was good to see that she recognizes that component of who she is because though there will be others who will try to get her to deny that she anything other than black, she knows her mother and her heritage is as much from that culture as my side. And she knows her Mom and I very much want to make sure she celebrates all that she is and not just half.

Of course the challenge for us as parents is to make sure that she does not try to make a conscious decision to "be" just one thing over another, whether that is to be only black or to be only Mexican-American. Because not only would that be erroneous but it will also lead her to heartache as she will surely be challenged on such a notion more than a few times. My wife and I have made a conscious effort to get the kids to cultural events from both sides of their heritage and to make sure they are learning history that they can be proud of. So far it seems to be working. We expect there will be times where we, and they, will be challenged, but such is the process of raising well-adjusted kids.

Rush Limbaugh's Parody On Obama

You know I haven't paid much attention to Rush Limbaugh in quite sometime. It seems to me that his influence has waned significantly in recent years and he is but a shadow of his old self. But today I heard for the first time his musical parody about Barack Obama. The parody, called "Barack The Magic Negro" is sung to the tune of "Puff The Magic Dragon" and is sung by someone who is supposed to be singing as if he were Al Sharpton. It is an incredibly stupid thing to do and once again proves why Limbaugh is no longer someone to be taken seriously. It is also another sign of how people have no idea how to deal with someone like Obama.

The song is as much a dig at Sharpton as it is at Obama, which again shows how people like Rush think since in his mind, the two men are obviously linked. To Obama's credit by the way, he said he was not disturbed by the song and that he did not take such things seriously. That kind of brush-off is exactly how we all need to respond to people like Limbaugh who in the end are clearly threatened by people like Obama and what they stand for.

If you have not heard this ditty try this link: http://movies.crooksandliars.com/rush-barak.mp3

Which Continent or Country Has The Worst Racism?

If you get a chance and it is still there, please click on the video clip to the left regarding European racism and soccer. It is both fascinating and scary at the same time. It makes me wonder, which still has the furthest to go, our country or Europe. Judging by the clip and some of the blatant examples that are shown, it seems that no matter how bad things might be over here, they are much worse in Europe. One point that is made in the clip is that this may be due to the fact that Europe never had a Civil Rights Movement to force it to deal with such things. I have never been over there and it makes me wonder if I want to go. Though I also think we should not judge the behavior of the general population by the antics of rowdy, rabid sports fans. But then again, these people are part of the society.

Ironically, watching such a report makes me really appreciate the United States. Because even if we don't have it completely right yet, we as a country, do try very hard to be better. Look at what happened with Don Imus. I'm not sure much would have happened in Europe if he had said what he did on the air there.

Interracial, Mixed, Bi-racial, Multiracial - What Is Proper?

I've noticed that different people, even within the Mixed community, have a hard time deciding what is the best way to refer to people who come from parents of different ethnicities. Some say Mixed. Some say bi-racial. Some say multiracial. Some say Interracial. Some like me, try very hard to stay away from any word that uses as its basis "race" since we do not like perpetuating the notion that we are different races instead of just different ethnic groups. So you will notice I tend to say Mixed or bi-ethnic most of the time. But I agree with those who say "bi" anything is also a misnomer since most all of us, including those who see themselves as one thing, are also mixed with other things in our past, even if not in our immediate parents. So folks from this school prefer multiracial or multi-ethnic. I guess that does make the most since, so now that I think about it I am going to switch to saying that instead of bi-ethnic.

All of this is a good problem. Because if we are even at the point of having to choose a name to describe this growing and glorious group, it means there are enough people out there to make it an issue. And generally speaking, I am for each person being able to decide on their own how they choose to label themselves or their family. I am not for anyone dictating what we say. But I do hope that people can in time drop the racial component since in the end, that is what separates us, this idea that there is something as rigid as race between us. What separates us is much more fluid and certainly less real than most imagine it to be. So call it what you will. And enjoy the fact that we have reached a point of having such a "problem" anyway.