Open thread

5 Responses to Open thread

1. karen says:

   October 16, 2008 at 12:35 pm

   Our son is biracial – white and Chinese. Our (ancient, white) neighbor persists in calling him the “little half Emperor.”
2. Liza says:

   October 16, 2008 at 7:13 pm

   @ Karen:

   I had two reactions. One was “gasp! urgh!” and the other was, “Yup. Heard that before.”

   I have always struggled with how to “correct” older members of our communities with racially offensive comments. Part of me contextualizes their comments with “well, that’s what people thought/said back then” and part of me wants to yell “Get with it!”

   But, given that this person is your neighbor, and likely you have somewhat of a relationship, hopefully you can put it to rest simply by stating, “Please stop calling him a half Emperor, Ms. XYZ. We want to teach our son to use people’s names and not descriptive nicknames.” I mean, is it worth really going into the racialized -ism that calling your son a “half Emperor” is? I don’t know. But, I also know it wouldn’t sit well with me to do nothing.

   I’m sure there will be other comments about not taking that crap, even from the elderly. If it wasn’t a neighbor you have an ongoing relationship with, I’d say, yeah, stick it to them. But, if it’s someone you still have a relationship with, it may need to be tweaked.

   Good luck. Yeah, we get that a lot in our biracial family, too….
3. Sara says:

   October 17, 2008 at 8:00 am

   Last week someone told me she never would have guessed that my grandmother was Japanese because my eyes aren’t slanty, they are merely oval. For some reason I am always startled by these comments.

   Karen, your neighbor must be very frustrating!!
4. justamom says:

   October 17, 2008 at 11:43 am

   Last week my daughter in 3rd grade told me that two other little girls were talking about the color of her skin. It seems that the comments were not directed at her and were observational in nature. But she overheard them and it bothered her. Other than reassuring her about the beauty of her skin and making sure that she has plenty of interaction with others that look like her, what do I say to her? I know that we can’t take on every comment as racist in nature or even choose to fight every racist comment. I am looking more for how to make her feel stronger and more secure when she is in such a situation.
5. Psychobabbler says:

   October 17, 2008 at 12:05 pm

   I’m thinking about this article, which was was e-mailed to me this AM. Sigh.

   http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_buck16.3d67d4a.html