“I’m not racist, but…”

[jimhines]

“I’m not a racist by any stretch of the imagination, but whenever people start talking about diversity, it’s a word I can’t stand … What these people don’t like is somebody forcing diversity down their throats.”  -Prescott City Councilman Steve Blair, supporting the decision to “lighten” the dark faces of a school mural.

Comments

[jjschwabach]

That's just it. It's not isolated. It's everywhere. I've had very few stories illustrated, but I've certainly *seen* plenty of "whitewashing." And it's endemic. Not just in art, but in everything. It makes me sick. I know that in November, 2008, this country saw to men "judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character" as it was perceived by the majority at that time. But the things we've seen since then, such as the items you've listed above, and some far worse incidents, show that racism, alas, is alive an well

[jimhines]

I've run into that too, the "rule" that a character is white until proven otherwise. (And sometimes even *after* being described otherwise, whether it's readers still not getting it or the publisher ignoring the description when they do the cover or whatever...)

And yes, there are much worse incidents out there. But these were the three I ran into this week, one after the other, so they're what made the angry Saturday blog post.

[jjschwabach]

Yes, the "white default."

And I, like you, do not see what is wrong with the mural.

All this week? On top of the Arizona thing, this is a very disturbing trend.

[jimhines]

I know not everyone in Arizona agrees with some of the stuff happening out there, but dang...

[kmarkhoover]

Well said.

[celestineangel]

Oh... sigh. Head, desk, you know each other intimately by now.

[jhetley]

Well, at least they didn't whitewash *your* cover . . .

"They think value on their property will go right down
"If the family next door is blue."

[jimhines]

Technically, Talia should be a little darker skinned on the princess books. But that's at least partly my fault. I asked them if they could use a photo of my daughter as a model for Talia, 'cause I thought that would be awesome. And while she has about the right look for the character, I think I forgot to specify that Talia was a little darker.

They did great with the goblins, though :-) (And now I'm trying to imagine caucasian goblins, and it's just ... not a pretty picture.)

[jhetley]

Well, Caroline (icon) is Native American and has been doing fieldwork in the Four Corners area of the desert southwest for several years . . .

Not just "a little darker".

[jimhines]

Oh, definitely. There's a big difference between "Close but not quite" (Talia) and "Wait, WTF were you smoking?" (Carloline, among many others...)

[kosarin]

Oh bleh, that's disgusting.

You very well might have seen this already, but I found a really great essay on "using the race card" recently, that I'm super excited about, because I'd been thinking these things, but here it is all nice and elegant as opposed to my rants where I just start sputtering while trying to argue against stupid... :

http://www.zcommunications.org/what-kind-of-card-is-race-by-tim-wise

[jimhines]

I haven't seen that one yet, thank you.

[corinneduyvis]

Ooh, that's an excellent article. Thanks!

[b_writes]

Oh, yay, Tim Wise! I hadn't seen that.