Ring The Alarm

The race card. It is a card that all minorities hold in their deck, and a move that some choose to play. In many cases, it is justified. Whether it's institutional, ideological, aversive, or individual, there's always incidences or remarks made that are harsh reminders of the racism that continues to permeate society. Other times, it is a means for people to make accusations against the 'The Man' who is the blame for every health problem, unpaid bill, dirty diaper, and crack in the sidewalk. So I try steer from jumping to conclusions about someone's actions or certain events without having done proper research. I don't want to be that one person who's always shouting:


The race card synopsis is only a disclaimer. I had write it before beginning the true subject of my blog:

The other night out of sheer curiosity, I decided to watch the show 'Toddlers & Tiaras.'(Judging commences.) It was exactly what I thought it would be. Stage moms who paid thousands of dollars to make their daughters look like Barbie dolls for a large, plastic crown. Watching the mothers interact with their daughters was shocking, and at times, offensive. And, as with all 'shocking and offensive' things, intriguing. The show has already received much backlash ranging from the "robbing their innocence" stance to "that child's behavior is out of control!" While those concerns were valid, here's what interested me during the particular episode that I watched:



In the video, four-year old Allyson adores "Be-yon-ce" and even has a stage outfit mimicking a wedding dress the superstar wore during a stage performance. Her mother gushes that Allyson "always liked dark skin and thought that it was beautiful" and never picks out a "peach" doll, only brown dolls. While it may seem like an innocent infatuation with a pop star, we later learn that Allyson prays for Jesus to make her brown, and was heartbroken when her spray tan was not dark enough. Towards the end of the show, you see a wide-eyed Allyson gazing at a fellow African American contestant before telling her "You look so....cute."

True to my nature, I went to the Internet to see what was the response to the episode. Much of the audience thought that Allyson's behavior was "adorable." Some only criticized the mom for spray tanning her "too dark" and jokingly wished for Allyson to find a "hot black guy who she could have biracial babies with in the future." Others just didn't want to touch the subject.

Based on the responses read, I found that we are too quick to disregard the thought process of the innocent because we assume that they are too young to understand, and such things won't negatively impact their psyche. It is evident that Allyson was raised to love and appreciate different races and ethnicities, an applaudable job on behalf of her parents. How often do you see a white child playing with black dolls? However, it makes me wonder what implications it will have on Allyson's development. Is it something that's simply a phase and will pass as she gets older? Or, will it continue to manifest into something more complicated resulting in self-deprecation and/or caricaturing black people seen on tv?

Another question to ponder dear readers....I was mad however that she didn't win. Hmph.