Skin Color: Hispanic

I logged into Myspace right now and was notified of an "AMBER Alert" in my area (end of post). I clicked on it only to find the worst possible description ever: the young four year old girl and her kidnapper have the skin color "Hispanic."

Okay, this is just off. A "Hispanic" skin tone does not exist. Anyone can be Hispanic, and you might not even know it.



Asian Latino and former astronaut Franklin Chang Diaz, Afro Latina singer/actress Cristina Milan (Flores), and white Latino James Roday (Rodriguez) from the USA series Psych, are but a few examples.

Well, since Latinos/Hispanics have every possible skin tone under the sun, maybe they should start replacing the skin tone description of "Hispanic" with "George Lopez." Just as offensive, but it would get more to the point, I would say.

In all seriousness though, I hope this girl is found:

ATTENTION: There is an AMBER Alert in your area.
Please CLICK HERE to find out more information.

Missing From: Thousand Palms, CA
Missing Date: 2/23/2009 12:00 AM

Contact: Riverside County Sheriff's Department
760-836-3218

Circumstances: On February 23, 2009, at 0930 hours, Monica Ruby Morales was abducted from Thousand Palms, Riverside County, California.


Missing Child
Name: Monica Ruby Morales
Hair Color: Brown Eye Color: Brown
Skin Color: Hispanic Age: 4YO
Gender: Female
Description: Short hair, wearing a yellow shirt with white print on the front, blue pants, yellow sandals

Suspect
Name: Unknown Unknown
Hair Color: Brown
Skin Color: Hispanic Age: 30YO
Height: 5FT5 Weight: 150LBS
Gender: Female
Description: Wearing a white shirt and jeans

Vehicle Information
Model: Van
Color: Green
Vehicle: Full sized

Getting in Trouble: Regulating the Self

I'm at Carlo's house right now and I was browsing a book he was reading called Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinty. [1]

In it I found this illuminating quote that Carlo had highlighted:

Adult descriptions of infractions on the referrals often invoked their reading of the tone of the exchange as expressed through children's body language...girl received after-school detention for a "sassy mouth, standing with attitude, walking away when I called her in the 6th grade line at lunch." The same girl got two days of in-house detention for "disruption in class. disrespectual [sic] and defiant when spoken to. Mouthy and had an attitude." A white girl was sent to cool off in the Punishing Room after charged with "defiance; flapping & pointing; slamming drawers, called Sharon a bitch."

What is most significant for us here is that reading of "defiant attitude" are often deciphered through a racialized key...

Notes

1. Ann Arnett Ferguson, Bad Boys: Public School in the Making of Black Masculinity (Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2004),67-68.

Language & Inequality

One of the things that I really hate is when people say, "That's gay." I've been seeing a lot of people online (men in particular) saying that quite often lately. Hardly can I ever enjoy a video of the Lakers getting schooled big time or my favorite group on America's Best Dance Crew tearing up the dance floor without people saying stuff like, "OMG! Tehy r FAGS," or "they're so GAY!" This isn't something I haven't encountered before of course, but I've been seeing a lot of this nonsense these days (some of it from folks who claim to be working towards racial justice) and I've had it.

Oftentimes when I confront those folks about the issue, they respond, "I don't mean 'gay' as in ACTUAL gays. I use 'gay' to describe something that sucks." And that's exactly the point! They're using gay as synonym for "shitty." That's like saying, "I hate this shirt. It's weak and stupid. It's so ASIAN."

I also hate it when people say things like, "Be a MAN," or "Don't be a pussy," in other words, "Don't be some spineless, weak coward, LIKE HOW WOMEN ARE!" I dare them to say that to the important women in their lives to see how much they'd appreciate that (assuming that those women haven't internalized that self-hatred).

One might rebut, "But Carlo, you're taking this too seriously! They're JUST WORDS LOL!" Yeah. No I'm not. Words aren't "just words." Language is impacted with cultural values. I'm sure if people used you as an example to describe how much something sucks you'd be pretty upset.

In her discussion of how language is used to maintain systems of inequality, Tracy E. Ore writes the following:

Language is ideological, reflecting the values that are important in our culture... The power of words lies in the fact that the members of a culture share their meanings and valuations... In maintaining cultural values, roles, norms, and ideologies, language maintains inequality.

Sometimes shedding light on how this type of language demeans gays and women gets through to people and makes them try to break the habit. Other times pointing out how they're being homophobic/sexist doesn't get through because they're admittedly homophobic/sexist. When that's the case, it depends case by case how one wants to go about addressing that.

But to those of you who claim to be advancing the movement for racial justice but continue to use this kinda language and perpetuate this kinda thinking -- cut that ignorant, biggoted shit out.