“Why should people of color have to be humiliated…?”
JC
Yesterday, Renu reported on the pulling of “Welcome to the Neighbohood.” Today the National Fair Housing Alliance issued a press release to commend ABC for pulling the show that was about to air. Here is an exerpt:
Housing discrimination is a serious problem in the United States–in fact, an estimated 3.7 million instances of housing discrimination still occur each year and go unreported because people of color think no one will help them. Studies have shown that Blacks are becoming less likely to seek housing in suburban communities because of discrimination. This show would only reinforce that belief. Residential segregation between whites and people of color fosters the kind of bigotry reflected in the show. Why should people of color have to be humiliated and degraded in order for whites to learn not to be bigoted and intolerant? Surely there are better ways to teach white America the benefits of multicultural and multiracial living.
Promoting integration and eliminating housing discrimination is the Congressional intent of the federal Fair Housing Act. Violating someone’s fair housing rights on national television is not the way to foster good race relations and promote neighborhood integration.
It is great when television wants to air a show with provocative views, but it is important to do so in a responsible way and within the law. ABC did the right thing by pulling “Welcome to the Neighborhood” off the air.
HOW in the world did this one slip by?…the show was FULLY produced and ready to air. Did no one think that there was something wrong with this idea?!? And what were the families thinking??? I would love to hear the backstory on this one…
Renu wrote:
I think the fact that the minority families had to compete for the social acceptance of their white neighbors is what turned my stomach the most. I didn’t see this show going down the road of exploring tolerance, rather, showing a bunch of gentrists trying to pick the lesser of the evils presented to them (hmmm, is a pagan or gay family worse than a family of colour? whatever should we do??). Blech. Shame on ABC.
Posted 01 Jul 2005 at 9:47 am ¶
April wrote:
Reality is reality, and no one can change that. I think it would be good to show white America the truth, whether or not it is offensive or not. I agree to some degree that showing how whites decide of “the lesser of two evils” per se, but it is true… why not air it?
Posted 02 Jul 2005 at 7:06 pm ¶
lyonside wrote:
>I agree to some degree that showing how whites decide of “the lesser of two evils” per se, but it is true… why not air it?
But it’s not true, IMO. People buy homes and THEN the neighbors may have a problem. But usually, it seems that the neighbors are responding to real or perceived social or socioeconomic problems, rather than the new neighbors themselves. This kind of show will not highlight the REAL causes of urban blight, decay of the older suburbs, new suburban sprawl, rural and urban economic depression, failing public schools, and the double jeopardy of rising property taxes and falling housing values. This kind of show would, however, blame the newbies.
ABC likely didn’t air it when either they ran it by testing groups in big markets (I’ve been to a few where you rate both the actual show pilot and rate the commercials at the breaks), or they showed it by major advertisers, who didn’t want their product associated with the show.
Posted 05 Jul 2005 at 9:43 am ¶
Sabrina wrote:
Personally, I think the so-called “reality” shows are stupid….even stuff like the Bachelor and Bachelorette, a group of folks competing for the dubious love of a person? How humiliating is that?
then to take the whole concept and apply it to race and lifestyle issues? What a slap in the face!
In the end, there is only one color the Networks are interested in….DOLLAR GREEN. The true reason they pulled this show? It probably didn’t rake in the advertising revenues needed! The networks don’t really care about the ‘truth’ they care about ratings and revenues, plain and simple.
Posted 07 Jul 2005 at 9:27 am ¶
bobmarley wrote:
many whites dislike other race they just want to be politicaly correct about it and don’t say anything they are even rasict to themselves in some ways they glorify blonde hair and blues just like the nazis they belive thats these indivuals are the superior to everyone thats fcked up
Posted 02 Aug 2005 at 6:01 pm ¶
Props wrote:
Well, a lot of factors intersect here and it’s faulty to reduce it simply to race.
For example, in a middle/upper-class Houston suburb where many Katrina evacuees were relocated to - fights have broken out between them and the locals because the evacuees were causing a lot of trouble and the locals were telling on them. Last I heard, the evacuees were suspected of burning a house down in retaliation…
Anyways, people invest their entire life’s hard work and savings into their homes and so I can understand why they would become extra-picky in protecting its value and safety. When you become a property owner, you start to understand this POV… Which is why even rich Black folks move out of their poor Black hoods and into (often non-Black) wealthy ones - when they get the chance.
Posted 19 Dec 2005 at 12:46 pm ¶