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| Scene with actor Jean Paulo Campos (right) who playes Cirilo |
Brazilian journalist and activist Daniela Gomes of Afroatitudes recently wrote an interesting piece on race, interracial relationships and about what she defines as "Cirilo’s Syndrome". Cirilo is a character in the new remake of the television soap “Carrossel”, a drama about the daily life in a elementary school.
Blogger Gomes worries about the negative impact. She feels that the humiliation of a little black boy in a Prime Time TV show without any kind of reaction from him how on to combat racism, does not help fighting racism in Brazil.
The TV series is a remake of the Mexican television soap opera “Carrossel” which was first shown in 1991. Earlier versions where very popular in Mexico, Brazil and Korea.
Cirilo’s Syndrome
By Daniela Gomes
There are few days the SBT (a Brazilian TV Channel) started to show a new version of the mexican soap opera Carrossel, that was a success when I was a kid and had as one of its main attraction the passion of a black little boy for a white little girl and her despise because of his social situation and his race.
In the original story Cirilo suffer with all kinds of humiliation while he desperately tries to get Maria Joaquina attention and she answer in an aggressive way including violence making the boy suffer bullying.
I became really sad when I read an article where the writer (who is married with the owner of the TV channel) of the new version of the soap opera, said that she would keep all the racism’ scenes, because she would like to be faithful to the original version and because she believed it would help to show a real problem in Brazil.
At the same moment I wondered how to show a little black boy humiliation on TV in the prime Time without show any kind of reaction from him can help to combat racism? I became sadder when I saw that my little nephew and niece were watching the soap opera, but because I couldn’t do anything to make my protests about this listenable, I started to wonder about the subject.
I thought about the time when I watch the first version of the soap opera and how I suffered with the injustice committed by the girl and with Cirilo’s suffering. I thought about how happy we felt when Cirilo won a motorized car, black like him, in a lottery and had a race with a boy considered handsome in the history, who was rich and had a motorized car white like him. (In the story Maria Joaquina was in love with the white boy and insisted in to show to Cirilo how she and the other boy were equal and superior to Cirilo). It was as if we were had won with him.
I thought about all the boys that received the nickname Cirilo on their schools during that time. And I started to wonder if it didn’t help to develop on the boys of my generation (nowadays men who has 30 years old approximately), the Cirilo’ Syndrome.
What I call here Cirilo’ Syndrome, is the necessity that some men have in accept be treated in an inferior way when this kind of treatment comes from a white woman.
I never will judge personal relationships, because I don’t control people’s heart, but I have seen many black men being humiliated and accept this humiliation resigned only because they wish have a white woman on their sides.
I ask to myself if the behavior showed on this “innocent” soap opera, couldn’t help to create the resigned mind of many black men, who accept be called monkey by their girlfriends as if it was a lovely nickname.
I wonder if in our society where the myth of the racial democracy keeps doing its well successful brain wash, where the black main problem is he/she own identity bad formed, or lack of identity, wouldn’t be a disservice to create another generation of victims of this syndrome that only can create low self-esteem.
Unfortunatelly I don’t have answers now, only questions, but I really would love if the black movement could start to protest to ask for this lady who is adapting the soap opera to Brazilian reality, to create an end that would have any kind of reflection and would show the horror of the racism in our society.
Carrusel (1989) Ending
Thank you very much for share a lil bit of my work, I hope your readers can like it and visit my blog to let their opinion. Let us keep in our struggle.Peace!
ReplyDeleteDaniela, you're welcome!
DeleteThis is a big problem not just in Brazil but all over the world, black men think getting with a white woman is some kind of step up and will go through all kinds of racism just to be with her. It's a very sad situation especially if they have children. I'm fed up of constantly being told that in Latin America there is no racism yet in these countries black people are still at the bottom and seem to know nothing of their history.
ReplyDeleteI think in Europe the white woman issue is really a first generation thing. You and I both know that having a white women in Europe won't uplift your status, but it most certainly will if you live in Africa, the Caribbean, or South America. I don't know how is in the US.
DeleteI think Danielle described a really tough racial issue. On the one hand you can shake your head to the black men who accept the racial abuse, on the other hand if you have no answer to the daily images who tell what colour is right and what colour is wrong, you're not going to make it. And I think most in these men fall in that category. And yes, I’ve witnessed their low self esteem.
But I also remember a story of black girl who literally wanted to wash off her black skin. The sad part was, that it weren't white people who made her feel worthless, but black people. Or the African-American woman in Italy, who was married to an Italian, and wanted a completely white child. She became pregnant with a ovule of an Italian women. She said she was so discriminated that she didn’t want her child to be exposed to what she had been trough.
I don’t think I am saying anything new, but respect should start within the black community. Then the rest will follow.
Erik here things have started be a mass thing in the 90's when singer of romantic samba and soccer players who are idols started to date white women. The problem isn't the relationship, the problem is that most of black men in Brazil don't wanna date black women.I think with the time you will see this happen more frequently in Europe, because some friends have been telling me that the same is happen in the US
DeleteI confirm that the same is happening in Belgium!
DeleteIn The Netherlands I see a turning point. On the streets you see more and more young black couples walking together. You see the same trend with other minority groups.
DeleteA old friend of mine, who only dated blond, blue eyed, white girls in the past is now married to a black woman. Famous Dutch soccer player Clarence Seedorf use to date white girls, but is now married to a brown Brazilian woman. They have four kids together.
But this is the Netherlands of course, I know it’s different in the UK.
Sounds like the early 1920s film made by the Klu Klux Klan about Black men desiring white women to the point of stupidity and violence is being reinterpreted 21st century style.
ReplyDeleteBrazil loves to boast of it's interracial dynamic but we all know whose living in the ghettos. This needs to be shared on facebook and twitter immediately. Its a pity you dont facilitate that.
It is really glad to know more about the similarities in the racial struggle, this article and others about the racial situation in Brazil can be read on my blog afroatitudes.blogspot.com.br
ReplyDeleteI hope we can be united against racism in the whole Diaspora.
Thank you Erik and thank you all
I remember someone said, "We lost each other at sea, we found each other again on the net." So I am glad I found your blog.
DeleteI would agree with that I love hearing about black people all over the world and I'm always looking for Africa in people's faces it's something I can't explain. I remember reading an amazing book by Abdias do Nascimento which really opened my eyes to the racism in Brazil. It's a dream of mine to go there and teach the children in the Favellas, even the name I post under was a Brazilian hero
DeleteChico-Rei, please feel free to ask for my help any time you wanna know more about the racial issue in my country.
DeleteDaniela Gomes, thank you for alerting readers here about this Brazilian television series. What you describe as "the Cirilo Syndrome" shows the tremendous influence the media can have on how people think about themselves and think about & behave toward other folks.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how non-Black people in Brazil would feel if their children were characterized as Cirilo is in that series?
You wrote that the writer of this newly version of this soap opera indicated that "she would keep all the racism’ scenes, because she would like to be faithful to the original version and because she believed it would help to show a real problem in Brazil."
If that series' writer really wants to show "a real problem in Brazil" does she recognize that she is adding to that problem? Also, what supplemental materials and television interviews, etc are being done by this soap opera and/or this writer which would focus attention on the difficulties that dark skin Brazilian children face?
That writer's comment points out the danger of valuing nostalgia over racial sensitivity/racial competence. A fondness for racist nostalgia can be found throughout the world, including the USA (in folk songs (such as "There Was An Old Man From China"/The Little Baldheaded Chinese") and in certain children's books from the past such as "Little Black Sambo" and the Tintin series, although these books haven't received as much public support in the USA as they may have received in other nations. I suppose children's toys such as golliwogs also fit in this category but thankfully, that toy isn't well known in the USA where I live.
And while there are also examples of racist (or at least racialized children's playground rhymes with "racialized" in this context meaning rhymes that mention race) in the USA, the experience in the USA starting with the 1950s to date with the opposition to the "Eenie Meenie Minie Mo" choosing rhyme which resulted in the almost total replacement of the n-word in that rhyme for some non-pejorative word, shows that nostalgia does not have to triumph over the golden rule of "respecting others as you would want to be respected". When I was growing up in the 1950s, I didn't know that rhyme had ever included the n-word (that rhymes with "trigger"). And while that word did continue to be used in some versions of that rhyme in other parts of the USA, today their are two generations of children who aren't aware that that n word was ever part of that rhyme. That shows what can be done when enough people realize that what they are doing is wrong.
I'm curious,Daniela Gomes, are there any protest against this Mexican Carroseel soap opera in Mexico, and/or in Brazil?
Btw, I favored your site http://afroatitudes.blogspot.com/. Thanks for including English translation on that site. Unfortunately, I only speak/read Rnglish :o(
Also, with regard to the Cirilo Syndrome as described in this post as non- White men being in relationships with White woman who publicly humiliate and mistreat them, I don't think that is a group characteristic of White women/non-White men relationships in the USA. Sure, it may be a characteristic of individual interracial relationships, but I don't think it's ever been a description of interracial relationships as a group in the USA.
DeleteI DO think that the belief that White woman confer status is still a factor in some interracial relationships in the USA. But, we're talking only about certain White women - those who meet the mainstream meaning "White"] "standard" for beauty but those women who meet those narrow standards for beauty still have to be intelligent enough not to be embarrasing to their non-White partners who do have status - whether that status is in the street or the board room.
Azizi Powell: If you download Google Chrome and its translator, you can read that blog in English.
ReplyDeleteThat fool Omar Sy is that "nostalgic racism" that I was talking about. He is Buckwheat 2012. American has its problems, but we're far ahead of Europe.
Thanks for your suggestion. I'm sorry that I wasn't clear. English translations of the Portuguese articles/comments appear to be routinely given on that afroattitude blog.
DeleteAlso, I wish to amend a word in the third from the last paragraph of my first comment on this page. I should have written that "This shows what can be done when enough people realize that what they are doing is hurtful".
Ms. Azizi Powell, unfortunatelly there isn't a discussion about this issue in the soap opera in Brazil, only we as part of the black movement are talking about it. They published some articles in the newspapers before the novel start, but more as a publicity than to protest. If you pay attention on Media in Brazil it is totally white, we can count on our hands how many black actors, actresses, anchors we have on tv here, even if we are 51%of the population. Our culture is full of these demonstrations of racism that you mentioned, kids songs, stories, fairy tales and others, about books, recently we had a discussion here about a famous writer named Monteiro Lobato who was confessed racist and a fan of American KKK and wrote some books for kids with racist content, but nobody accept to remove it from schools saying that he was important for our cultural history. This is Brazil the land of the "friendly" racism. And thank you very much to be following my posts.
DeleteThe Mexican soap opera, "Carrusel de las Americas", was one of the most "successful" programs out of Mexico and distributed on television throughout Latin America. I watched it on the Univision network in the United States.
ReplyDeleteThe little black boy was treated UNMERCIFULLY by the little white blonde Mexican girl who he had a massive crush on. I remember one episode in which everyone in the class was invited to her birthday party EXCEPT Martin, the Black student. In one episode, on a class trip to the beach, Martin tried to commit suicide because of Lucrecia's (the white girl) racist hatred toward him.
Today, the actor who played that racially-abused character on "Carrusel," Martin, is enjoying enormous fame. He is non other than the internationally-famous Afro-Mexican singer/actor Kalimba. He is one of the most beloved and acclaimed performers in Mexican Pop music in recent times. (Born in Mexico of an Afro-Cuban father, Mexican mother).
Hi John thank you for share it, Carrussel de las Americas is another version of this novel, produced some years later the first Carrussel, the Brazilian version is a copy of the first version produced in 1989. Unfortunatelly the history is the same.
DeleteOla Daniela! Thanks for informing us about this!! The difference between Mexico and Brazil is that the Mexicans LOVED "Carrusel de las Americas," in spite of the horrors that little Martin had to go through. Whereas in your progressive Brazil the wonderful Brazilian people see something wrong with this novela.
DeleteThanks again for sharing your information about Brazil at this blog and at Afroatitudes! Obrigada!
By the way, I speak and read Spanish fluently but can't speak your beautiful Portuguese language. That's why I've been afraid to go to Brazil. :-(
John, People in Brazil loved the novel two, both of them, I'm an activist so my eyes are open 24h per day to see the racism. Unfortunatelly my people didn't see how bad it is yet, including my own family, who are letting our kids watching this terrible thing.
DeleteAbout to come to Brazil, don't be afraid, our people can receive very well, specially if is a touristic city like Rio or Salvador. Please add me on fb and I'll give you more information.
@ "Afro-Europe": I want to let you know that, your quote above, "We lost each other at sea, we found each other (again) on the net", is one of the most profound statements regarding the African Diaspora I have ever read! Thanks for sharing that "Afro Pearl of Wisdom" with us! You can be sure I'll be passing this saying along.
ReplyDeleteYes John, I agree. I only wish I remembered who said it.
DeleteThe original series was named "Jacinta Pichimahuida" and was created by Abel Santacruz for the Argentinean TV in 1946!!
ReplyDeletehttp://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacinta_Pichimahuida_(personaje)
http://jacintapichimahuida.obolog.com/alumno-cirilo-tamayo-pase-al-frente-109508
Hi Alicia, thanks for sharing.
DeleteThe problem isn't the relationship, the problem is that most of black men in Brazil don't wanna date black women.I think with the time you will see this happen more frequently in Europe, because some friends have been telling me that the same is happen in the US.
ReplyDelete-Daniela Gomes
Hopefully, other Americans readers of this blog will also respond, but lt me say that it's DEFINITELY NOT TRUE that most Black men in the USA don't want to date or marry Black women. What IS TRUE is that interracial dating/marriage in the USA is increasing and most of the Black/non-Black interracial couples still are Black females/non-Black males.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interracial_marriage_in_the_United_States:
"4.6% of married Black American women and 10.8% of married Black American men had a non-Black spouse. 8.5% of married Black men and 3.9% of married Black women had a White spouse. 0.2% of married Black women were married to Asian American men, representing the least prevalent marital combination." Note: "Hispanic marriages with non-Hispanics are not registered as interracial if both partners are of the same race (i.e. a Black Hispanic marrying a non-Hispanic Black partner)"
For those interested in reading a round table discussion about interracial dating in the USA, visit http://drhiphop85.com/2011/08/26/from-racialicious-interracial-dating-black-panel-part-12/ From Racialicious: Interracial Dating (Black Panel) Part 1/2 08/26/2011
If you're not yet aware of Racialicious.com, this is the description the blog's moderators gives for it: "Racialicious is a blog about the intersection of race and pop culture".
It just so happens that a current post on that Racialicious blog is about Brazilian surfers and racism in the world surfing community: " http://www.racialicious.com/2012/06/12/exclusive-smashing-the-brazilian-stereotype/
OOPS!
DeleteI need to correct my mistake. In the USA, most of the Black/non-Black interracial couples continue to be Black males and White females. However, there are more Black females and non-Black male relationships are on the increase - though all interracial relationships are only a small number of relationships.
I apologize for that big mistake.
Also, Daniela Gomes thanks also for your clarifying response.
Azizi, I noticed that too. Interracial couples are definitely more common in Europe, especially with Africans.
ReplyDeleteAnd Daniela Gomez: Those so called white people in Brazil should come here. Americans don't consider them white and they will be treated just like other South Americans. They will get a dose of their own racism.
Azizi, maybe I wasn't clear on my comment, some of my friends are complaining about this increseament, I didn't wanna say that it is a majority in the US.
ReplyDeleteTruth 2011, I know about this situation, but here they still consider themselves as white.
Daniela, I'm talking about the people that call themselves Portuguese. Portuguese and Spanish people from Europe aren't considered white in America because they're dark haired and dark skinned.
ReplyDeleteWhite in America is northern European ancestry.
The ones that have African ancestry and it's clear that they have African blood will never be considered white in America.
So we have two situations, because including our "white" people here most of them have african blood, what in America would put them in the black category, here cause of the color of their skin they are white, I have another post on my blog where I explain more about this, and if we talk about people with portuguese, spanish or italian blood, so we don't have white people here ahahha
DeleteIN response to the so-called Cirilo’ Syndrome as regards the Brazilian TV remake of the Mexican novela called "Carrossel" in Portuguese, I find it as a Caucasian female to be as offensively anti-white as well as sexist, as we as a race, especially when of the fair sex, are often wrongfully labeled prejudice for having a pro-white dating preference. Here you have the racist stereotype in the characterization of Maria Joaquina of the rich, beautiful white girl who snubs nonwhites for being lower class and desiring her. But why is it wrong for us to prefer the culture and society of our own people when it is perfectly acceptable for nonwhites to do just that? Why also is it the fault of us whites who are stereotyped as standing at the top of the socioeconomic hierarchy when nonwhites seek to whiten up, so to speak, by wanting to intermarry with us to attain what they perceive to be our status in life? Why again is it wrong for me, for instance, as a white woman of Iberian descent in the US, to encourage the preservationist practice of endogamy among my children? An act that gives nonwhites an inferiority complex on account of how it seems to upset them so. For example, a Latin American, who was a mulatto of Puerto Rican extraction, had the nerve to criticize me once when I respectfully discouraged my son from accepting her advances to date her, on the grounds that I was a "racist" for doing so as well as a hypocrite, as I like herself was "Latina." And by Latina she implied, oddly enough, that I was in some way nonwhite or even mixed like she was, or at least expected to hold my white heritage in contempt, as if to ridiculously deny the fact that Latin Americans are related to us white Europeans by blood, language and culture. What you actually have here, ladies and gentlemen, is an obvious racial double standard born of anti-whitism that no one is willing to recognize let alone remedy in the media or everyday life. Would that we could finally be respected instead of being held in contempt for having the right to do as we please when it comes to maintaining our white identity.
ReplyDelete- Maria Santhiago, Pennsylvania, US.
"It's better to die on your feet than to walk crawling on your knees." - La Pasionaria
why don't you do one better and encourage your children to marry their cousins? that way you can really keep it in the "race"!!!!
DeleteMaria Santhiago, the reason why I don't take these comments seriously is because someone named “ Maria” posted a totally off-topic hate-filled rant against black women in another posting. And since the commentator said she was white women, there is a risk that you are the same person. You haven’t denied it or confirmed it.
DeleteAnd as Daniela wrote, her article is NOT about white women. So what kind of answer are looking for when you wrote: “Why also is it the fault of us whites who are stereotyped as standing at the top of the socioeconomic hierarchy when nonwhites seek to whiten up, so to speak, by wanting to intermarry with us to attain what they perceive to be our status in life?”
Again, no one is blaming white women. That’s NOT what this story is about and that is NOT what we are debating about on this blog. So that’s why I wrote that your comment was useless.
Interesting motto you’ve got by the way. Reminds of the motto of Italian fascist Mussolini: “Better to live a day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.”
I haven't seen any of the Carousel tv series that are discussed here, but my understanding from reading about these tv series, the concern is that the girl (and apparently also the other children featured who are all also White) ostraziced the Black boy, and treated him very harshly because of his race. One blogger here referred to "the horrors that little Martin had to go through. And another blogger shared that in one episode the Black boy tried to commit suicide because of how he was treated by the girl and others. From what I'm reading here about those series, the experiences of the Black boy who likes the White girl are dramatized for laughs or chuckles and not for serious dramatic content and any consideration that treating someone that way because of their race/ethnicity is wrong.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Maria Santhiago, Pennsylvania, US., I find it very curious that you use the word "mulatto" to describe anyone. The word "mulatto" has been retired from use by people in the USA since at least the 1960s. Like homosexuality, racial mixture is a topic that most "UnitedStaters" don't like to talk about publicly. If we do, we'd use the terms "mixed", or "biracial" or "multiracial", or "of mixed racial ancestry", or "Black/White" ancestry (if that is the racial mixture that the people or individual referred to has.) Also, I believe that the term "mulatto" is also rarely used in private conversations at least among the people (of which ever race or races) who I know in Pennsylvania).
For the record, I grew up near Eastern Pennsylvania and have lived in Western Pennsylvania for 43 years. Western Pennsylvania is a part of the USA which (like the Southern region of the USA) is known for its racism. As an African American woman, I've definitely experienced racism here, I've never heard anyone use the word "mulatto" and I've never seen it in print in this area's newspapers.
This is not to say that you don't live in Pennsylvania. But if you do, I believe that you are certainly among a minority of people who still use the outdated referent "mulatto". And, hopefully, if you do live in Pennsylvania, or anywhere else in the USA, you are or will soon be among a minority of people who believe that race and ethnicity must or should be a factor in who you or your children should marry.
Azizi, you're right, he/she is not from Pennsylvania. It's just some white American who puts all his energy in writing these useless comments. He or she forgot to add the zip code and address to make fake id, “Maria Santhiago, Pennsylvania, US”, complete. Most of these comment are written in the posting of biracial children in the Ukraine, but he/she found this one to download the hate which is piling up everyday in his or her heart.
DeleteIt’s only because you and Anonymous responded, or else I would have deleted this nonsense.
YOUR disrespectful reply to my submission is not only indicative of your anti-whitism but also your ignorance, as you not only wrongfully accuse me of racism, but use the word nonsensically. At no point in time did I even insinuate that being Caucasian made me superior or that I hate nonwhites, views that would justify your claim. Yet I, on the other hand, can rightfully respond by saying that you're either a racially apologetic white liberal sick with the Passover Syndrome, or are simply an anti-white racist not of my persuasion. In any case I will also say that you eagerness to delete and thus censor my comment is testament to your being closed-minded and supportive only of one-sided arguments. Of course in your prejudiced mind we whites suffer no form of racism albeit in live in counties that were founded and supposedly run by whites. How tragic.
Delete- Maria Santhiago, Pennsylvania, US
(La_Pasionaria@aol.com)
Born in Spain with roots also among the Basques, I’ve lived in PA for most of my life in Philadelphia and have family in Pittsburgh who we affectionately refer to as Yinzers on account of their distinctive vernacular. Also, my nonapologetic use of the word mulatto was simply to identify the woman I referred to in my story as being biracial of both Caucasoid and Negroid descent. It must be understood that the word mulatto, or more properly in this case mulatta, like that of negra (i.e. black woman), blanca (i.e. white woman) and mestiza (i.e. woman of mixed European and Native ancestory), is quite commonly used in Latin America to indentify a person of mixed racial background and has no negative connotation to it.
Delete- Maria Santhiago, Pennsylvania, US
(La_Pasionaria@aol.com)
Azizi
DeleteThe plight of Cirilo is not portrayed for chuckles. I think both you (who didn't watch the series) and Daniela are getting the soap opera's intent wrong.
Cirilo's arc in the soap opera shows how white society can treat badly a person just for the color of their skin, leading to internalizing racism and to great suffering. Cirilo's story isn't funny or comedic, but highly dramatic. A kid attempting suicide cannot be anything besides dramatic. Maria Joaquina (the white girl Cirilo loves) is shown (not only in this but in other aspects as well) as being a very arrogant and mean person, so she's considered to be the villain of the series. Cirilo's friends (and he has a lot of friends in the soap opera who don't treat him badly and aren't racist to him) ask him why he cares so much for Maria Joaquina if she treats him so badly. I think the show does a great service showing the problems there are in the Western Hemisphere regarding race and priviledge.
I believe that the USA's definitions of race/ethnicity are quite confusing. I also believe those definitions - including the definition of who is White and who is Black are racist.
ReplyDeleteExhibit A is the social [but no longer legal] definitions of who is Black, for instance the the "one drop of Black blood" rule.
I believe, for example, that if a person has one birth parent who is Black and one birth parent who is White, that person should be able to claim and that claim be accepted that he or she is a member of the Black race and/or a member of the White race and/or a member of both races.
With regard to Hispanic and Latino/a, the USA's Census use of those terms and the social definitions [meaning how people generally categorize themselves and others] of who is Hispanic or Latino are confusing and may differ. For example, I think most UnitedStaters who aren't Hispanic/Latino, especially those of us who don't live in states or cities that have a significant number of Hispanic/Latino people think that people in Spain are White, and that people in Latin America (South America) are Latino/Hispanic, that is to say are non-White. To be clear, that is not what I think, but what I believe that most people in the United States think, judging from my direct & indirect experiences.
However, according to the US Census, people in Spain and other Spanish speaking people in South America, and their descendants are "Hispanic". In contrast, people in Spanish speaking nations as well as people from Portuguese speaking Brazil are "Latino/a", but people from the European nation of Spain aren't.
Also, most Americans (people from the USA) don't consider people who are Latino/as to be "White" or "Black", but some in between race who people who are referred to as "Brown". But the USA definition of that "Latino/a" clearly indicates that Latino/a people can be of any race. Furthermore, Latino/a people have physical features including skin color that is the same as some White Americans, or some Black Americans, mixed or otherwise.
Here's a link to the Wikipedia page on "Latino":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic_and_Latino_Americans
-snip-
With regard to the term "mulatto", I repeat what I have previously written here. The term "mulatto" has rarely been used by most people in the USA and by the mainstream media, textbooks etc] since at least the 1960s. It's not that the term "mulatto" was considered necessarily pejorative (insulting) although historically the term "mulatto" certainly had negative connotations as did other referents for people who had some Black African descent. But I believe the term mulatto was dropped in the USA and replaced by terms such as "mixed", "multiracial", and "biracial" because "mulatto" reminded people of the 17th, 18th, and 19th century Black slavery. It should also be noted that in the USA, other pre 20th century percentage terms for people of some African descent such as "octaroon" and "quadroon" were dropped some time before the term "mulatto" was considered to be too old fashioned and socially inappropriate.
Azizi,
DeleteI thank you for the historical clarifications. I found your progressive stance towards race quite refreshing a thought, in fact (I did read your blog article earlier).
So, on this latest of subjects, I would like to inquire your perspective: do you not find it in the least suspect that in the US, just around the time that anti-miscengenation laws were repealed, the White power-structure decided to obscure knowledge about the particularities of métissage on alledged grounds of civility?
"Mixed-race", "multiracial" and "biracial" might have the veneer of respectability, but these terms quickly lose their attraction when one realises that nothing is revealed about the ethnic heritages in the mix. It leaves little "pride", to belong to a race option "Other"; whereas self-identifying as "Black" does have the incentive of relatable role models, culture and history. I would have said "White" too, if only both sides in the White-dominated society wouldn't shame people for it.
As for Latino people:
my understanding is that these are predominantly Natives of the Americas, that were assimilated into the conquistadors' culture? Doesn't this make for the interesting question, whether one can claim Whiteness, solely on the basis of cultural belonging?
FOR the request that I stop using the term mulatto as merely an identifier to designate a person of mixed Afro-Caucasian background, this I refuse to do both for cultural and personal reasons. One of which is as a protest to racist blacks in the US who casually use such anti-white racial slurs in their everyday speech as white boy/girl, to deprive us Caucasians of our racial maturation; cracker; and the dreaded H-bomb, as we call it, i.e. honky, a word that has as much force as the so-called N-word, i.e, nigger.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for the terms Latins/Hispanics, they refer to a multiracial ethnic group composed of, first, we Europeans, i.e., Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italians, who also constitutes much of its linguistic and cultural binding elements; Native Americans, who constitute the base on which it is built in Latin America; and also Negroes of west and south African extraction, who are most apparent in the Caribbean and Brazilian countries.
- Maria Santhiago, Pennsylvania, US
(La_Pasionaria@aol.com)
Poor white girl, so you have nothing else to do in your life than coming on an afro website to expose your views ?
Deletelol That's too funny how haters like you need to interact with Blacks to give a sense to their miserable lives :)
Get a life cause nobody cares about your delirium
The same goes for Bazompora! These characters will never be satisfied until the forum is no longer AFRO-EUROPE, but EUROPE ACCORDING TO THEIR DESIRES. Erik (Afro-Europe) they've "targeted" your blog!
Delete???
DeleteDear anonymous coward,
I challenge you to present clear charges towards my intentions - something more substantial than: "He's up to no good, believe me!"
Furthermore, I urge you too refrain from referring to me as part of "they", unless you can provide evidence of my being 'in league' with any 'targetting'.
- Bazompora
HERE I see that I am not only censored but am also again the victim of anti-whitism by being branded with the racial slur of "white girl." And my encountering your blog was purely accidental, containing as it does the continental designation of "Europe," or which I am a native. Yet rather than a celebration of both peoples in line with its name, I immediately found here a strong undercurrent of anti-white hatred and bias, which is most evident in the shameful denial by those mixed individuals of their whiteness, and also by the negative stance taken against my pro-white views which in no way can be construed as being prejudiced against nonwhites. My suggestion, therefore, ladies and gentlemen, is that instead of the original contraction you employ for the naming of this blog, you instead apply one that better expresses its true intent. Perhaps that of Afro-Anti-Whitism would be suitable. I think certainly so.
Delete- Maria Santhiago, Pennsylvania, US
(La_Pasionaria@aol.com)
Maria Santhiago, this is the last time I will respond to your comments. As many people have mentioned before, this article and this discussion is not about white people or anti-whitism. But in spite of all the responses from different countries you still feel that is case here. So in that case I think there is nothing to add anymore to this discussion.
DeleteYou were not censored, but I gave you enough room to make your point. So thank you for your comments and I consider this discussion about anti-whitism now closed.
"I immediately found here a strong undercurrent of anti-white hatred and bias, which is most evident in the shameful denial by those mixed individuals of their whiteness, and also by the negative stance taken against my pro-white views which in no way can be construed as being prejudiced against nonwhites."
DeletePlease note that if this blog post was holding Carrossel and Cirilo in high esteem, she wouldn't be here with us right now. It was only due to the program's odious nature (specifically Cirilo's treatment at the hands of the blonde white girl) being outed and elaborated on did this woman feel the need to defend "whiteness." Perhaps she sees a bit of herself in that girl.
The need for white commentators to reflexively defend the concept of being "white" is something I've noticed on many other afro-centric blogs, especially those that are plagued with defensive white American or European commentators.
"Anti-whitism" is just a method of silencing discussion on afro-centric blogs, since it reorients focus from discussing dire problems to patiently explaining why the author/poster and the subject matter at hand is not "anti-white" or racist.
Black is true strength and beauty
ReplyDeleteCirilo's Syndrome is Stockholm's Syndrome, and it operates in the context of the global "system" of racism/white supremacy. This matrix dominates all major people activity, including: economics, education, entertainment, labor, law, religion, politics, sex and war. In this novella, the victim of an abusive "system" seeks to avoid his pain and suffering by becoming like his oppressor and wishing to merge with him/her. But the dominant culture that Cirilo seeks to love and "join" can't afford to love him back without losing its Power, especially when its members are a numerical and genetically recessive minority of the world's population. Cirilo is losing out on much more than this little girl's attention. He is so "possessed" that he will not develop himself and explore all the possibilities available to actualize himself. His consciousness will remain locked and stunted...and that's the goal of his adversaries--for Cirilo ("non-whites") to remain a confused servant and a concrete thinker to people who classify themselves as "white" for the sake of "white" gang Power.
ReplyDeleteVictims of racism are mistreated and exploited on the basis of their color with foreknowledge that they don't know how to stop the abuse. They also don't really get that their abuse is impersonal and designed to benefit the abuser's dominant group. The victim is facing a "system" of cooperative code in thought, speech and action. The victim is facing "a way of life," not individuals; therefore, he has to understand the "system," what it is, and how it works, if circumstances are to change toward Justice.
The "system"of racism/white supremacy is a serious problem that can't be wished away. It has to be solved, but with Love and brutal self honesty. The power to create, maintain and perpetuate a subject classes' tastes, desires, values and appetites is what really matters, not whether a few victims are allowed in the door of acceptance for the sake of public relations. The constant dynamic that must be studied in this interaction is how "white" must be over "black" symbolically and in life relations. This has been the operational basis of a very functional power dynamic for 500 years in the Americas. Therefore, controlling the levers and strings of self-hatred in victims, subjects and servants of the "system" of racism/white supremacy allows the matrix to survive and flourish, while appearing not to be racist. The soap opera, the writer and the TV station are not to blame directly. They are all in harmony with the "system" that ultimately controls people's time and energy. Often times, "possessed" people do not perceive, much less understand why they think, speak or behave in the manner that they do. There's a "chip" in their brain that needs to be deactivated.
I highly recommend getting Dr. Francis Cress Welsing's book, "The Isis Papers" and Neely Fuller's book, "The United Independent Compensatory Code System Concept." Both books offer exceptional insight and suggestions regards solving the problem of racism, which is a global disease.
The BEST novela I ever saw that addressed and finally over came this issue, was "Da Cor Do Pecado" (The Color of Sin) with Tais Araujo and Reynaldo Gianecchini. To this day it is the most successful Brazilian novela, because the main characters Preta and Paco over came ALL obstacles thrown at them, and their love triumphanted in the end (it became so popular more episodes were even added). Also, the villain turned out to be not some one of color, which was very rare from what I'd heard and read.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping and praying for an updated sequel to this novela, such as Brazil's first mixed race billionaire, which I'm sure would cause ripples throughout Novela Land.