HERE YOU GO AGAIN 
Raise Your Hand If You Believe It’s Race-Based

Let’s talk. It’s 2013 and we could be back in 1992, when the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) denied that race was a factor in the beating of Rodney King – a brutal event that was caught on tape. Last weekend, the LAPD too quickly dismissed race as a factor when it shut down a party of black University of Southern California students.

After neighbors complained about noise, the investigating officers felt it necessary to call in the riot squad, and 71 officers arrived in riot gear with a helicopter hovering above.  They arrested several students and handcuffed and detained others, even though there were no weapons at the party and no violence was reported. It was a noise complaint.

Now ask yourself this: would the LAPD have handled a noise complaint at the white students’ party across the street in such an aggressive way? I don’t think so, and neither did the more than 1,200 black, brown and white students who showed up at a meeting with the LAPD following a student protest of this incident. After refusing to be silenced by the LAPD’s pronouncement that it had investigated the incident and did not believe

Congratulations to the students of USC for speaking out against racial profiling and facing the Black Shadow!

it was race-based, nearly every black, brown and white hand in the audience shot up when the police chief asked, “Who believes this incident is based on race?”
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For more details about the story, go to http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/05/09/182175917/L-A-s-Police-Department-Faces-Allegations-Of-Racism.

The year 2013 may not look much differently from 1992 for the LAPD. However, the shared belief by black, brown and white members of the audience that race was indeed a significant factor was strikingly different. In fact, a white USC student who was partying across the street that same night was courageous and honest enough to tell the audience that her house of white partygoers had been treated with respect by the LAPD and she was outraged that her black neighbors had been treated differently. To her, I say, “Thank you for being an ally.”

Race does matter. Black and brown citizens are often criminalized simply because of their skin color. This is the Black Shadow in action: the belief that dark is inferior, suspect, dangerous. We saw that when distinguished author and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., was apprehended going into his own house. The police could not imagine that this black man belonged in the upscale neighborhood where he resided, and they viewed him as a criminal. When the truth came out that he’d merely been having trouble with his keys, the police were embarrassed and eventually apologized for the misunderstanding.

Racial profiling is not an isolated incident. Across the United States, black parents fear for their children’s safety when it comes to the police — particularly their sons.  Trayvon Martin was killed at the tender age of 17 because he looked suspicious to a white man – because he was wearing black skin and a hoodie. President Obama was criticized by some for saying that Trayvon could have been his son, but we know it’s true: Trayvon could have been any parent’s black or brown son.

When officers tried to explain how the USC incident escalated by saying they felt “threatened” by a group of black college students, they failed to face the Black Shadow. What I want to say to LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, a white man, is that the Black Shadow is riding along with his officers in the backs of their cruisers.  They need to have the courage and awareness to face the fact that their fear of black men and their racial profiling is a symptom of that same old lie from slavery that says blacks are inferior, dangerous and less than fully human.

I do take heart from all those students, faculty and staff at USC – people of all colors – who raised their hands and answered the LAPD with a strong message that their treatment of black students was absolutely wrong and is not to be tolerated. The Black Shadow loses its power over all of us when we expose it and face it and see it for what it really is.

Black Shadow Watch objects to this Clorox commercial

RACIAL STEREOTYPING IN ADVERTISING 
What You Can Do 

Most of us assume racial neutrality in advertising but you know what they say about assuming.  Messages of black inferiority blast (have you noticed that commercials are louder than regular programming) into our homes as innocent product marketing. Take the Clorox commercial featuring an African American mother and her toddler son. The toddler is obviously being potty trained. He happily informs his mother that he went to the potty. She, like any mother, seems excited until she looks into the empty toilet and asks, “Where.” She then turns around skeptically and discovers that he has gone (defecated) in the bathtub.  Not to worry—Clorox—is there to clean and whiten away the mess. But who will clean up the mess—racial stereotyping—left behind by Clorox? In the broader American social context, race is a divisive and differentiating force in defining life’s opportunities. Black children therefore can ill afford to internalize negative racial stereotypes. The racial backstory to the commercial is that the myth of black inferiority is played out.  The African American toddler is able to go into the bathroom but then is not smart enough to know the difference between the bathtub and the toilet.

African Americans in general and African American males in particular are still characterized as unintelligent and lazy.  According to a 2004 poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, more than two-thirds of all Americans overall reject the idea that we should make every effort to improve the condition of blacks, especially if it means giving them preferential treatment. Hence African Americans must assert efforts to promote fair treatment toward improving our own conditions. We have to be willing to call advertisers out. We have not overcome. 

In a society that likes to pretend that racism does not really exist and that we don’t have the motivation or willpower to pull ourselves up, legitimate racial concerns are thwarted and African Americans are expected to be immune. African Americans are told to, “Get over it. Stop playing the race card.” We should keep talking about race until race doesn’t count. Racial stereotyping in advertising may reflect subconscious or unintentional bias. Regardless, we must at least give it our attention even if it does not command national attention.  So here’s what you can do.  You can write a letter letting the advertiser know that it is denigrating to African Americans and unacceptable.  It’s what I did.

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Don Knauss, Chairman and CEO,Clorox,Clorox Corporate Headquarters,1221 Broadway,Oakland, California 94612

 Dear Chairman Knauss:

 I have been purchasing Clorox for over 40 years. As an African American and couple and family therapist, I am particularly distressed by a Clorox television ad in the Philadelphia area. I am well acquainted with the persistent myth of black inferiority and white superiority that robs many African American children and youth of their full potential before it has been developed. Your ad featuring an African American mother with a toddler son whom apparently defecates in the bathtub as opposed to the toilet is degrading to African Americans. Rationalizing that the African American toddler is just a toddler ignores our nation’s history of racial stratification and discrimination. By implication, it confirms racial stereotyping of African Americans as intellectually inferior. Though I don’t assume intentional racism, racial bias is definitely an unintended consequence of your ad.  I appeal to your moral concern and commitment to remove this offensive ad with haste.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation.

Sincerely,

Marlene F. Watson, Ph.D., LMFT

THE 411 ON CHILDREN’S SONGS 
Get Your Black Hands Off of Me 

Do you know what your children are singing? After being interviewed about my book Facing the Black Shadow by Dr. Richard Cooper on Philadelphia’s 900/AM WURD, www.900AMWURD.com, I decided to go online to see if children were still playing the “ET” handclapping game. This is one of the stories in the book that Dr. Cooper referenced in the interview and I was curious to know how things might have changed.

Anique, age six.

My beloved 23-year-old niece played this game when she was in first grade. It shocked me to hear little Anique clapping her hands and singing the line, “Get your black hands off of me!”  particularly since an earlier line said, “He had an ugly face,” which clearly referred to a black person. I was stunned that the same messages of blacks as ugly and inferior in my childhood were still being transmitted in children’s songs.

Are you ready for the 411? I found a 2011 posting online talking about the very same ET song that my niece played almost 20 years earlier! Sadly, African American children are still playing this handclapping game. The 9-year-old African American girl in the online post didn’t think the line, “Get your black hands off of me,” was negative toward blacks. She enjoyed her heritage and thought this line spoke of a woman telling a cheating man to get his hands off of her. Despite this young girl’s stated positive feelings about her culture, she is unconsciously caught up in the black inferiority paradigm because she’s being indoctrinated into believing black men are bad.

Here’s the thing: subtle and not so subtle messages of black inferiority surround our children. It’s up to us to pay attention and position ourselves to counter these negative messages. To do that, we must acknowledge the 400-year-old myth of black inferiority that comes directly from slavery—what I call the black shadow. Only then can we hear, see, and challenge messages of black inferiority that rob some of our children of their full potential before it can be developed.

Yes, many men go soft or lose erection in the nick of time, it is highly frustrating for both you and your partner to work through the sexual issues. reference cheap cialis Teen driver ed provided by driving schools ensures that teens learn to cialis 5mg discount drive properly and become safe and responsible drivers. Kamagra is a popular name in this category which helps men cialis generic purchase in improvising their potency and increasing the love making libido. Another benefit of chakras or meditation in general is safe when generic levitra canada employed skillfully and appropriately. So what can you do? Talk openly with your children about race and the myth of black inferiority. Trust me—they can handle it, with your support and encouragement. If you want to know how I handled this specific situation with Anique, you’ll have to read the book. But I will tell you about another situation.

One day Anique and I were having lunch with a white friend and her daughter. For dessert, Anique ordered vanilla ice cream and Stephanie ordered chocolate ice cream. Anique turned to Stephanie and asked, “Why don’t you like vanilla? It’s white and you’re  white.” Stephanie looked puzzled and said nothing. So I said, “Anique, why don’t you like chocolate? It’s brown and you’re brown.”  Now it was Anique’s turn to look puzzled, but I could see that she was thinking about my comment.

I later followed up with Anique by openly talking to her about being black. I told Anique her comment to Stephanie suggested that Stephanie should like white things because she was white, but she didn’t seem to think she should like brown things because she was brown. I then told her that she and Stephanie could like whatever flavor of ice cream they wanted. However, it was important for her, as a little black girl, not to believe that white was better than black or brown because it might keep her from liking herself (of course, I told her how special she was and how much I loved her). White vanilla being better than brown chocolate was implied in Anique’s comments. She was barely 6 years old.

It’s scary to think our children learn at an early age that “whiteness” not “blackness” is good. But you can disrupt this thinking when you hear messages of black inferiority poisoning your child’s mind. Don’t be afraid to say, “It’s wrong to think blacks are inferior or bad,” because that’s exactly what’s being said when your child sings, “Get your black hands off of me.”

You’ll be glad you did.

Anique today

Last week, Anique said to me, “I have friends who hate being black, but that’s not a problem I have.” 

CHANGE THE NARRATIVE
Stop Using the N-Word

Welcome to Black Shadow Watch! I’m Dr. Marlene, your host. Thank you for joining in.

Black Shadow Watch is dedicated to ending the myth of black inferiority (and the corresponding myth of white superiority) that still lives on in the unconscious, and some times conscious, minds of too many African Americans. The myth of black inferiority was planted in slavery and has been watered ever since by racism. Yes, the election of President Barack Obama, a black man, did achieve what many thought to be the impossible. But it did not end racism or the myth of black inferiority. You have but to listen to negative comments about the First Family to know that racism persists. Black Shadow Watch is an individual and collective effort to talk openly and honestly about a crippling condition—the myth of black inferiority—that affects the health, safety and well being of our families and communities but frequently goes unnamed. Just as white privilege depends on whites being oblivious to it, black inferiority depends on blacks being unaware. Together we can expose the myth of black inferiority (and white superiority) as probably the biggest lie of slavery. Together we can and will make a difference. Our children’s future rests on it.
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You need to know what you’ve lost before you can repair it. My book, “Facing the Black Shadow,” is about our losses. I wrote it with deep hope and conviction. Talking real about slavery and the psychological residuals of slavery we can find a solution—a way to end the myth of black inferiority. Olivia Pope on the very popular television series, Scandal, is the go to person. Known as the “fixer” she starts with, “Let’s change the narrative.” Right now, you can begin by declaring, “I will not use the N-word.” The N-word is a carryover from slavery that, regardless of the speaker, connotes black inferiority. Be intentional—change the narrative. Don’t just talk the talk, walk the talk. Come together with friends to discuss the N-word (using the N-word is a major issue). Agree to not use it. Change the narrative one stone at a time.

I want to hear all of your stories—good, bad or indifferent. Share your experiences. I want this blog to be a living, breathing place of truthful conversation. Send me your stories or examples of the black shadow—people, places or situations where you or someone else experienced/judged being black as inferior. For example, a white colleague told me that he preferred to work with another black woman over me because she smiled and I didn’t. My black shadow could have told me, “You’re an inferior black woman because your white male colleague doesn’t want to work with you. You’re an angry black woman and defective.” Instead I talked back to my black shadow saying, “My white colleague wants me to be responsible for making him comfortable—Mammy—and I don’t accept the role he wants to assign. Nor will I allow him to pit me, one black woman, against another.” My smiling black colleague was okay and so was I. Some might say he was trying to help me in the workplace, informing me of my shortcoming. But I’ve worked to understand the subtleties of white privilege and black inferiority and trust my own gut to guide me.

Take the personal challenge of ending the myth of black inferiority. Ghandi said, “We but mirror the world.” So “Be the change you want to see in the world.”