Strollerderby : prejudice

Black Prom, White Prom for Georgia Kids

JeanneSager — Tue, 26 May 2009 17:30:00 GMT

Hooray for progress! Er, well, maybe not.

Because 55 years after Topeka vs. Board of Education called for the desegregation of public schools, there are still kids in spots around the South who attend segregated proms. White kids have their prom one night. Black kids have theirs another.

It's a story that's getting national attention thanks to actor Morgan Freeman's decision to fund an integrated prom in Mississippi, where he grew up, for one school - helping to desegregate the schools once and for all. The story is the focus of a documentary set to air on HBO in July.

But even while Freeman's alma mater, Charleston High School, has made the jump, there are still plenty of schools left that haven't. Like the Georgia high school profiled in the New York Times late last week. In a place where white kids still throw up their hands and excuse their behavior with, "It’s just a tradition.”

To that, I say, we all know how much teenagers love bucking tradition, don't we? Seriously, hasn't one of these kids watched Footloose? Corny story of a group of teens who brought back the school dance despite the TRADITION of no dancing and no carousing put forth by the town's religious elders? It's a classic of sorts. Almost a tradition.

At least it's as much a tradition as teens bucking their elders by standing up for change. That's what they call progress. And unless kids can get on board, we're screwed.

Image: NY Times

Disabled TV Star Scaring Tots?

JeanneSager — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:25:00 GMT

A British television channel has been getting flack from parents over the decision to allow a woman born without a hand to star in a kids TV show.

They say the kids are scared. I say the parents need to get over it.

Cerrie Burnell took over a segment of the popular show Bedtime Hour last month, and parents have been threatening to boycott the show. Some say their kids are afraid while others claim the TV show used a sort of reverse discrimination in its decision to hire Burnell.

The Daily Mail says Burnell was born without an arm and calls her the "one-armed presenter," but a look at the picture of her shows she was actually born without a hand - she actually has most of her arm. To be honest, even if she had NO arm, I don't see the problem.

She's a human being. And kids are going to run into someone with a disability somewhere, some day. What better place to make the introduction than in the safe environs of a much-loved television show? Here in the states, Sesame Street makes it a point to invite guests with disabilities to take part in the show, exposing kids to people in wheelchairs or with Down syndrome, folks who are blind, even other kids with disabilities. The message is clear - they have a disability . . . so what? There's no reason to treat them differently, and kids need to get that message early.

What's more - little kids might be curious about something different about another person, but being afraid of differences is a learned response. If parents react poorly - like the folks who claim their kids won't be able to sleep if they watch the show - it's no wonder their kids are scared. They're training them to think that there's something scary about the woman on TV. The same goes for the parent who says their child keeps asking about the woman's arm. They're turning to you for guidance, Mom. Provide it. Answer their questions. Be honest. Tell them that there's nothing to be afraid of, and take advantage of a smiling, happy face to put to the disability as you face the challenge of teaching your kids about acceptance and tolerance

Unless it's really the parents who are afraid?

Image: Daily Mail

They Say: Children 'Programmed' to Share

JeanneSager — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:29:00 GMT

I'm not sure what prompted the first snort of derision. The headline to yesterday's Scientific American article that read "Why Children Like to Share" or the part about how our kids are "programmed" against inequality. Bad Mommy says what?

Fortunately, reading the article confirmed I'm not the Bad Mommy I sometimes fear I am. Kids aged three to eight are still toywhores who'd rather wipe their boogers with their sleeve than share a Tonka truck. Phewww. My kid's still in the running for most normal brat of the year. And despite the Manchurian Candidate-type ring to the subhead, no one's plugging a microchip into our kids' brains and programming them to believe they need to hand over the roll of Smarties just because the other kid asked.

What the study out of the University of Zurich actually states is that our kids are becoming more likely to give up their own rewards in life in order to stand up for inequality. It reiterates what I've always figured - kids are inherently good . . . until adults screw them up.

Image: Family Violence Institute

Sixth Graders Disciplined for Hit a Jew Day

Mom Plans to Burn Book her Son's Library Book - Really

Part II: Why Parents of Boys Have It Better (And Why They Don't)

School Board Member Uses Gay Slur, Says Student Said it First

Middle Schoolers Exposed to Curse Words, Parents Shocked

Teenager Arrested For Kiddie Porn - The Pictures Were of Herself

Do You Tell Your Kids to Fight Back?

How Low Will They Go?

Sixth Graders Disciplined for Hit a Jew Day

JeanneSager — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:07:00 GMT

I'm not a big fan of corporal punishment, but there are days its tempting to hit a kid. Specifically ones who would come up with "Hit a Jew Day" to celebrate their school's spirit week.

The goal of "spirit week" was to encourage celebrations like "hug a friend day" and "high five day" at a Missouri middle school. But the sixth graders who coined "Hit a Jew Day" decided to slap one Jewish student across the face and smack two others on the arm. The incident was turned into a chance for the principal to talk about the Holocaust, multi-culturalism and acceptance of others, and the kids were suspended.

The principal did the right thing, but I wonder what else can be done. I don't honestly think corporal punishment is in order - that was a knee-jerk reaction to the horror of the headline at CNN. What's needed is tolerance and compassion, modeling of behaviors that these children apparently don't see every day. I can't believe intolerance is inate. Kids don't come up with this kind of hatred on their own (even if the means of carrying it out are their own creation). Suspension usually means days spent at home, more time spent in a household where they're being raised to think up "Hit a Jew Day." What's next? Crosses blazing on the middle school lawn? An Australian study showed we're likely to become less tolerant as we age, not more, so this isn't that much of an overreaction.

So how do you reverse it? Counseling? Maybe. Putting thse kids in the other kids' shoes? How? As I said, hitting back isn't the answer.

It's a reminder that we're responsible for modeling the right behavior for our kids. A lot of people assume they can tell an off color joke as long as they don't "really" believe it. Guess what; kids can't tell the difference. Literally and figuratively mean nothing to them. Everything you say, they hear. Everything they hear gets filed away, and when it starts piling up in there, they start forming their opinions on life based on all of that stored up information. We have to give them the "right" information if we expect the "right" decisions.

Image: FamilyCrafts

GOP Shows Obama With Fried Chicken and Watermelon

Mom Plans to Burn Book her Son's Library Book - Really

RNC Mailer Could Give Your Kids Nightmares

Barack Obama: The Force Is Strong With "That One"

Middle Schoolers Exposed to Curse Words, Parents Shocked

Palin Plays the Race Card, Badly

School Board Member Uses Gay Slur, Says Student Said it First

JeanneSager — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:18:00 GMT

He's stepping down from his post as a member of the board of education in Robbinsville, NJ, but maybe Joe Armenti would be better suited back in high school? The board has been facing pressures from an outraged public since Armenti used the word "faggot" in response to a teenager's presentation to the board on a ban on the use of offensive language.

His initial excuse? The teen said it first. Excuse me, who's the teenager here?

Joseph Armenti's exact words, according to the Times of Trenton were, ""If my son wants to call somebody a faggot he should be allowed to; it's his First Amendment right." In other words - he's protecting his son's right to be a bigot and a homophobe. What a stand-up Dad. It was a response to a presentation by a student who was advocating the school district begin a program to report using offensive language via a "suggestion box." Students who used inappropriate words would then be approached by a counselor to discuss the situation. The student presenting the idea to the board used the word "faggot" as an example of language that would fall under the program.

What's disturbing isn't that Armenti used the word. In fact, as a reporter who depends on the right to freedom of speech in this country to make a living, I wouldn't step in to tell an adult what he can or can't say - even if I don't agree with him. To paraphrase Hamlet, "words, words, words," are what you make of them. But for a school board member to promote kids' "right" to spew hate toward one another is disturbing. And that's what Armenti was doing when he chose the word "faggot" rather than "s**t" or "f**k" or any of dozens of words deemed offensive by some but not down-right prejudiced and hate-filled.

That this came from the mouth of someone at the top level in a school system makes this story that much more disturbing. If this is what they're feeling at the top, what's trickling down to the kids? When the board meets later in the month to accept his resignation, I'd suggest Armenti spend a day in a classroom, maybe follow around one of the members of the Robbinsville High School's Gay-Straight Alliance. He could see just who he's protecting his son to insult.

Image: PinkNews

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Angelina Buys Her Kid a Knife. What's Next, Maddox Jolie, Tomb Raider?

Teenager Arrested For Kiddie Porn - The Pictures Were of Herself

Dirty Diaper Thief on the Loose in Upstate New York

Don't Pay Child Support? Bid the Gun Rack Bye Bye

Five-Year-Old Catches STD From Dad's Towel?

Does Quoting Steve Martin's The Jerk Make This Politician a Racist?

JeanneSager — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:30:00 GMT

By all accounts, Paul Pugmire might be a jerk. But a racist? I'll let you be the judge.

The Salt Lake City Utah City Council candidate quoted Steve Martin's classic The Jerk on the Website reunion.com early in 2006 - not in campaign-related literature. Pugmire, who is white, began an introduction to his old classmates "I was born a poor black child in Mississippi. No wait, that it something else. Quick summary since HS . . . "

It was almost word for word how Martin began The Jerk, the '79 classic that sits on the American Film Institute's top 100 funny movies (100 Years . . . 100 Laughs). And, surprise, surprise, the person slamming Pugmire most for the comment isn't the NAACP representative in Salt Lake City but the chairman of the city's Republican party. The Republican Chair is black, yes, but he's put up a candidate against Pugmire for council. Pugmire is a Democrat.

Although dubbing a movie (or book) a classic doesn't mean it can't be racist, The Jerk (in case you've been living under a rock) is pretty harmless. It might be the guy's version of Clueless. Or maybe the 1979 version of Forrest Gump? White guy Navin Johnson was adopted by black sharecroppers in Mississippi as a child. The movie begins with him living away from his family, a homeless bum telling his story (hence the narration, "I was born a poor black child . . . "). As dumb as a box of rocks (but apparently not the ones you've been living under), he stumbles from one adventure to the next and comes out on top of the world in the end - back with his family in Mississippi and thanks to his foster father's wise investments, much wealthier. It's one of those stories that lends credence to the thought that racism isn't something our kids are born with. It's something they (unfortunately) learn as they grow up. Martin's Navin never learned a difference between black and white, and he's proud of his family.

Of course, the movie was a comedy. And an often quoted comedy at that. The NAACP is Salt Lake City readily accepted Pugmire's apology and issued statements saying his comments might have been in poor taste but were not mean-spirited. I'd tend to agree with them - especially in light of the feelings I had walking away from the Jerk (and not the ache in my ribs from laughing so hard). Republican Chair James Evans says they show Pugmire thinks poorly of African Americans. What do you think?

Source: Salt Lake Tribune

Playdate: Do You Pick Their Friends?

Government Seizes Newborn from Mentally Disabled Mom 22 Hours After Birth

Supreme Court to Father: No, You Can't Circumcise a 13-year-old

Let Them Eat Cake, But Not At School

What Exactly Is the "Disney Look"?

Kelly Mills — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:01:00 GMT

A guy in South Florida is suing Disney World for employment discrimination. The trumpet performance junior at the University of South Florida decided to take Mr. Mouse and Co. to court after he applied for a trumpet player position and was told by a supervisor that while he was totally qualified for the job, he did not have the "Disney look" and wouldn't be hired. Which has to make you wonder--what exactly is the Disney look?

Well, I can tell you what it isn't, according to the hiring guy: You can't look like a Sikh. And that's exactly what the prospective horn player is, and he has the turban and beard required by his religion. His lawyers add they have a witness who heard the supervisor tell the applicant he didn't fit the Disney image, and that it was clear the reference was to the beard and turban. One of the lawyers said, "If Disney is regarded as an iconic American company, what is an American supposed to look like?" I guess something more along the lines of Snow White.

More Outrageous Than Miley?

Dads Get Screwed For Staying At Home

Mommy? Not The Mommy -- If You Adopted, Contest Says

Amy Kuras — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:31:00 GMT

When is a mom not a mom?

When she's an adoptive or foster mom, apparently.

Let me back up a bit here. NBC and Teleflora ran a queasily saccharine "America's Favorite Mom" contest leading up to Mother's Day, which allowed people to vote for their favorite moms in a variety of categories: single mom, working mom, "chairman of everything" mom (gack—this means stay-at-home mom from what I can tell), and oh yes: "Non-Mom Mom." For adoptive, foster, and grandma-acting-as-mom moms.

Uh-huh. For those of you who adopted a kid, all this time you've been changing diapers and handling bedtimes and doctor's appointments and late-night screams for "MOMMY!" turns out according to these folks you are not actually a mom because you didn’t gestate this little person you love and care for. Because it all comes down to the genes and the uterus, apparently.

In Teleflora's defense, once the controversy hit the blogosphere they changed the category title to "adopting moms" and put a very prominent apology on the contest website.

Still. Can we say ignorant? Did no one think, before they insulted and hurt a sizable minority of mothers?

I know this is a TV and internet contest with a level of class and sophistication about what you’d expect from an event hosted by Donny and Marie Osmond, but come on. Often, people make the decision to adopt after years in infertility hell, and even when that's not the case the adoption process is fraught with stress. Adoptive parents have been through enough crap just to build families without being told, in so many words, they don’t really count as mothers.

Marie Osmond, in introducing the category, said this, according to the Wall Street Journal blog The Juggle: “We’ve created a special category for all of those who are not only moms to their own families but they brought their passion and energies to helping kids who otherwise wouldn’t experience how much a mom can mean.”
Horrifyingly? She's an adoptive mom herself.

Transgendered Teen Wins Right To Run For Prom King

Patti — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 13:27:00 GMT

Fresno High senior Cinthia Covarrubias made history when she managed to get the district to overturn a regulation that required prom royalty to adhere to gender restrictions. Covarrubias came out as transgendered her freshman year, and she wanted to run for prom king because that's what makes sense for her. So she made it happen.

Cinthia's quest for prom king status met with mixed reactions from classmates and adults. While many people were very supportive of Cinthia's goal to reverse the district's rules and earn the right to run alongside the biological males as a prom king candidate, some people just weren't quite ready to make the leap to the 21st century. One classmate called Cinthia's campaign "creepy" while a parent—someone who is presumably responsible for teaching her own children how to treat other people—wondered how Cinthia could be so insensitive as to put other people in the awkward position of having to accept her for who she is. That mother, Deana Giles, actually said the following: "The world is getting too politically correct" and "There's a time and a place to make a stand...this isn't it." Translation: People who aren't like me should just shut up. A lovely sentiment, no?

Cinthia wasn't elected prom king, but this is a huge win for GLBT teens everywhere, anyway. And also for any kid who feels marginalized.

(Author's note: After sitting around playing with pronouns for a while, I ended up following the Associated Press's lead and using "she" to refer to Cinthia. In no way is this meant to denigrate Cinthia's gender identity.)

Will "Song of the South" See the Light of Day?

Patti — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 13:26:00 GMT

The company that never lets an occasion go unmarketed let the 60th anniversary of its first live-action feature pass last year without a peep. Why didn't Disney take an opportunity to put us under its marketing spell? Because the film in question was "Song of the South", a film better known these days for its controversy than its content. The film has never been released in the US on video or DVD, and hasn't been showed in American theaters since the eighties.

(Sidebar: I'm almost positive I've seen it, but pretty certain it wasn't in the theater. Could it have been broadcast on ABC's Wonderful World of Disney, did I actually see one of its theater revivals, or could I have just seen enough clips to make myself think I've seen the whole thing? Mom, you reading this one?)

Anyway, the "SOTS" question apparently gets batted around Disney shareholder meetings and other events quite a bit, and Disney CEO Robert Iger addressed it at the most recent annual meeting. The verdict: They're trying to figure out if they can do it in a way that isn't insensitive to the concerns that people have raised about the film's treatment of blacks. Which, coming from the folks who made Pocahontas only a few short p.c. years ago, is pretty rich. And after the recent kerfluffles I've witnessed amongst parents when "Peter Pan" was recently released on DVD, it's not hard to see why Disney would be cautious--people really are having to address "What Makes the Red Man Red" with their kids, this is stuff we're really not allowing our children to say or believe to be okay anymore. Disney's got their work cut out for them in a big way if they want to release "SOTS" in a way that is relevant to where American society should be heading.

Strollerderby : prejudice

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They Say: Children 'Programmed' to Share

Sixth Graders Disciplined for Hit a Jew Day

School Board Member Uses Gay Slur, Says Student Said it First

Does Quoting Steve Martin's The Jerk Make This Politician a Racist?

What Exactly Is the "Disney Look"?

Mommy? Not The Mommy -- If You Adopted, Contest Says

Transgendered Teen Wins Right To Run For Prom King

Will "Song of the South" See the Light of Day?