Okay, I hope hope hope this does not come off the wrong way to some readers. Its just something that struck me as... interesting.
So last week I was watching What Not To Wear. And the girl who was getting the makeover was doing her little after shopping interview" and she was wearing a t-shirt that said "I *heart* black people." (she was black/african american). At first I didn't think anything of it (I was trying to read the top line of her shirt b/c it was kind of wrinkled by her boobs so I only at first read "black people") but once I figured it out I thought... hmm... what would happen if a "white" person wore a shirt that said "I *heart* white people" or a chinese person wore a shirt that said "i *heart* chinese people" or an indian person wore a shirt that said "I *heart* indian people"?
Is it just me or does it seem like "race" or "color" (what is the PC term??) is one way? What would you think if you saw your "white" neighbor wearing a shirt that said "I heart white people"?
I know race/religion/politics/abortion/sexuality is often a terribly awful topic to get onto and this is probably a loaded blog topic. I just was curious, though, about others' thoughts on her shirt. Not that it offended me... I didn't see it as an "I hate other skin colors" shirt but I feel like if a light skinned person wore a shirt "loving" their skin color it'd be seen as racist.
What do you think?
What a great TFT topic.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, of course it could be touchy...
But I've thought about this often too; there are a lot of phrases, mantras and things like this t-shirt that are so lopsided.
It appears okay when a minority voices these things, but it is true that the second someone who happens to have white skin would say something to that effect, the "minorities" would be in an uproar. And the awful thing is, -and maybe this is just totally me- when I see/hear stuff like that? I honestly feel like the type of people who do/wear/say those things kind of do it partially to be in caucasians' faces about it... almost like they ARE saying, we can say this about your race, but you can't. But like I said, maybe that's just me and I'm overly sensitive to it.
The thing is, as proud/content/believing we are what we are/happy as I am to be white (simply because that's what I am)? I would NEVER even THINK, "I love white people." Never. It just wouldn't cross my mind.
Not only would I not want to lump them all together and say I heart whites, because there are most definitely creepy, jerky, trashy people who are white who I DON'T like; but why would the color of skin dictate who I favor? Why would skin color make me give a generalizing sweep of saying those people are awesome? It's just wrong I think.
I don't think anyone- unless they ARE racist (and I mean going any direction)- should wear a shirt like that. I understand it may be meant as a "funny" generic quip like "I heart redheads" or support for a group such as "I heart teachers" or maybe "I heart tree huggers", but when it comes to race being such a touchy subject for some? And you never know who means it seriously or not? It's just not okay in our world. And I think you are spot on because while some may find it cute or funny or "right on, black power!" on a black woman's t-shirt... if I wore that out in public (let alone on national tv!), "I heart Whites" would be read as "every other race is inferior.
And now I just wrote a comment that was longer than your original post. You're welcome. :)
Ditto to what Heather said! And I'm taking the easy way out on that topic because I could offer an ear load!
ReplyDeleteI agree completely, Nicole! Another thing that always boggles my mind is how they have special Black Award Shows for music, etc. Can you imagine if we had an award show and called it a White Award Show?? That just wouldn't fly!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree! If we wore something like that...BOY would shit fly. And having BET (Black entertaiment television) What if we had WET haha (white entertainment television) IT WOULD NOT FLY. TOTALLY AGREE with what you are saying
ReplyDeleteI agree with you but that is all I am going to say because if I said everything I wanted to say I would use up too much space.
ReplyDeleteSo long as we are going with general color....the Chinese shirt should read "I heart yellow people". I think you maybe switched from colors relevant to skin tone to heritages because you didn't even want to say "yellow" or "red". I was adopted from Korea into a very tall, blond, blue eyed Dutch family. My nickname is Token and I love to make cultural jokes about Asians to make people feel awkward and uncomfortable....because I maybe enjoy watching puzzled faces and others' inner discomfort slowly surface. But I digress. Anyways, I totally agree with everything Heather said. I make cultural jokes to lighten people up. I really hate when people make skin color an issue at all. It's really sad when people are unable to look beyond skin color.
ReplyDeleteTotalle agree with you Nic!! (I also love Rach's comment and he awesome outlook!)
ReplyDeleteI think people are too sensitive.
ReplyDeleteWhat ever happened to giving people the benefit of the doubt? I think it's funny that anyone would automatically assume it was created for the sole purpose of riling up white people. ??? What?
Does. Not. Compute.
Honestly, if I saw a shirt like that, I'd be like, "Right on, I "heart" black people too." And my next thought would be ... I need an "I "heart" beaners" shirt.
Now this is just an observation, but what I read into this situation is that you're making the shirt about you and your feelings. And it's not. It's about her . . . her body, her culture, her preferences, her pride.
I truly think we could all live less stressful lives if we didn't allow ourselves to be offended so easily.
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