The above picture is part of an exhibit at the “Black Doll
Show”, a yearly event in Los Angeles. It
was originally started because of a psychological study in the 1940s called “The
Doll Test”. This study, by Kenneth and
Mamie Clark, showed that children tend to assign negative qualities to black
dolls and positive attributes to white dolls.
This exhibit is a response to that study (which was cited in the famous “Brown
vs. the Board of Education” decision that ended segregation in the public
schools). The exhibit features black
superheroes (from the fictional land of Wakanda) and a doll making workshop for
children.
Old news? Martin
Luther King Jr.’s dream fulfilled? If
that were the case, the color of the doll wouldn’t matter. Have you ever seen a white child with a black
doll? Me neither. There are neo-Nazis, neo-racists, and the
plain old garden variety ones as well.
The “new” extreme right week keeps turning out politicians who continue
to advocate for white supremacy—and many of them still get elected! And, with racism, every other kind of –ism is
there also. Not only do people hate and
disparage black people, they do the same to Muslims, Jews, Hispanic and gay
people. It’s as normal in our country as saying you
like German Shepherds but not Poodles, blondes not brunettes, or you really
detest the color purple.
Like many other people, I do believe that the main reason
President Obama has been flooded with Republicans and their nay-saying is still
the color of his skin. The fact that his
entire maternal family is white means nothing.
He is African, Muslim, Socialist, etc. etc. etc. Not that it will happen in the foreseeable
future, but the worst disaster to befall the American people would obviously be
a black woman president. Or maybe a gay
black woman president.
I know there are any number of historical studies that
explain why our country is the way it is.
And a number of psychological studies as to why people are the way they
are. And sociological studies to throw
it all together. But, honestly, I still
don’t get it. Why does it matter? Really, why?
For a Vulcan, it is not logical.
It doesn’t compute. It makes no
sense the take a whole huge group of people and make broad, baseless judgments
about all of them. I’m tired of Facebook
posts telling a news story, or an anecdote and then commenting that “This is
what those people are like” or “This is what’s happening to our country”.
I can only think that our education system is failing in
many, many ways. How can anyone who goes
to school for any length of time learn absolutely nothing that matters?
Yes, I’m different.
Yes, I’m angry. Yes, I’ve deleted
everyone from Facebook who makes me angry (they would read what I write anyway—of
if they did, it would just be to find new names to call me). But I
still know they’re out there and I guess it will bug me to the end of my
days. There is so much to learn in the
world, why would you want to put your head in a box?
