The Problem With Dora, Diego & Manny
Huh? Denise has got a problem with Nick Jr & Playhouse Disney shows?
Ya damn straight I do.
I've heard very often in the Black community that there are not enough of their darker skin counter parts in mainstream media. You have Tyra, Halle, and Jada. It's true and I don't doubt it at all.
Well, in the Latino community, we have a similar problem. There's the always the dark skin, dark eyes, dark hair Latinos in the media. There isn't much of the lighter skin (unless you're Christina Aguilera) or the really dark skin Latinos out there (Gina Torres).
Why the problem with the kids shows??? I've been watching these shows for a bit. My baby girl loves them. Almost everybody on these shows have tanned complexions of varying degrees, dark hair (no lighter than a dark brown) and dark eyes (brown, black, or dark variations of blue, green, or grey). Oh, wait...I did see a blond-haired, light skinned teacher on Dora. Those are few and far between. Anyways, stuff like this just perpetuates the stereotype of tanned skin, dark eyes, dark hair, have an accent AND work in construction. I don't have an accent, my sister can't tan, my oldest bro is blonde & blue-eyed, my dad is as white as they come AND none of us work in construction.. Yet we are all Latinos. We come whiter than snow and darker than pitch. We can look european, asian, middle eastern, african and ALL the different shades & combinations in between.
So, of course these shows bother me. When society is dictating that that is how all Latinos look and sound, I'm gonna stand up and say, "HELL NO!" I know better. It's that part of the population that doesn't know and I want them to.
Let's not get started on the food. I'll leave that for another blog. :0)