“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.
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My jaw pretty much hit the desk when I read that and I had to wonder if it would take them burning crosses and barring the children from entering "white" schools before she was willing to admit that something was very very wrong.
At "least" she admitted the councilman was an asshole. I'm still wondering what they're putting in her coffee out there.
As to cover whitewashing.. it's not just the obvious PoC they seem incapable of depicting: Jerzy in FLESH AND FIRE is supposed to be Caucasoid, yes, but from what would have been the Caucasus, which indicated a certain facial type and skin color. Instead, what I originally got could have been a scion of any Western European/Celtic family. *facepalm* I shudder to think what would have happened if Ao (Eurasian) and Malech (MidEastern) had been on the cover as well...
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I think there are just some people who are going to cling to the idea that racism is all fixed now, and anyone who mentions the word is just trying to stir up trouble.
One of the arguments I saw in a discussion of Prince of Persia apparently goes that we're all post-racial now, which means white people are free to play nonwhite characters. (But God forbid a black actor audition for Spider-man...)
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You know, it was a terrible movie, and hideously offensive on other fronts, but I went to see it anyway. And Will Smith was a big part of why. (Also, I wanted to see who Kevin Kline would kiss this time.)
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I still don't understand how Will Smith + Kevin Kline could result in a bad movie. This makes no sense to me!
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Neither Will Smith nor Kevin Kline was bad. (Sadly, THEY did not kiss.)
The script, on the other hand, was amazingly awful.
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The original Jim West (Robert Conrad) reportedly supported casting Chow Yun Fat in the role.
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Actually, that's what they USED to do. 1944. Dragon Seed. Katharine Hepburn plays a Chinese woman. They put tape on her eyes to make her look more "Asian." http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1800968192/tt0036777
If I remember correctly, at that time they didn't want to hire Asians to play leading roles. So the white people played them.
~ Jenn
http://asinglebell.lorsini.com
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