CVK
(Thanks to Brittney and David for this one!) The Best Week Ever blog has been cracking us up so much. First they showed us Barbara Walters entranced by black womens hair, and now she’s calling black children “creatures.” Good thing Mo’nique called her on her bullshit.
Ok, was planning to embed this one too but clearly the blog template we’re using is not conducive for that. So you’ll have to click here to watch the video .
i agree with the trackback. however, Carmen, I’ve gotta say I don’t really see any racist undertones in Walters asking how she was doing with “those two little creatures.”
I think that’s just a thing people do with kids. Substitute “bundles of joy” or “little scamps” or “little hellions” (as the case may be) and you’ve got the same thing. Now, while Mo’Nique objected to her use of the word on her children, I’m not sure even she thought it was a racist comment.
Barbara Walters needs to check herself because her white privilege and unconscious racism is showing. Thanks Monique for calling her out of her racism that’s buried beneath the surface of so-called polite society.
I didn’t find what Barbara Walters said particularly offensive racially; she seems to be the type that would refer to all children as such. Mo’Nique was right in checking her though because no one should refer to one’s children as creatures.
However, on a more general note, it seems that since Star left, there have been a string of black hosts who seem to act as temporary proxies for Star. This allows the rest of the women to act in ways they would have never acted with the actual Star present because (1) Star was permanent and (2) Star had some power [at least before her wedding] and (3) Star would not have put up with it.
Thus, what seems to be recent behavior is probably an overflow of stuff built up over the years and allowed to come out because of the temporary nature of the hosts. A sort of weird version of “everything you wanted to know about black women but were scared to ask.” It illustrates the level of which non-whites are still seen as strange and worthy of being on display.
I agree with dcase that all the black guest hosts are proxies for the way Barb wanted to treat star–especially the “you will come and go but we’re permanent” comment. But I disagree slightly about the use of the term creature. Using the term creature mat not have been racial in the sense that she feels that all black kids are creatures–but I think Barb’s use of the term shows a lack of respect given to the black guest hosts (evidenced by calling the kids of a woman who she doesn’t really know and is not really friends with, creatures; pulling another’s hair, asking another if she’s wearing a weave, etc.) Calling a woman’s kids creatures is just rude, unless you know the parent would not be offended. Barb should be savy enough to know that. I think its racial to the extent that she probably would not refer to Gwenyth poltrow’s kids as creatures–because she knows that could be considered rude to Gwenyth.
Does anybody remember the episode of “Black. White.” where the black mom got mad at the white mom for calling the visiting black poetry students “beautiful creatures” and the white mom didn’t understand why?
I’ll always remember when my Filipina American girlfriend (now wife) was doing anthropology research in college and found an old book that was a guide to the colonial Philippines for visiting (white) Americans, which included the warning not to call Filipino children “little brown monkeys” because their parents might not like it–the tone conveying that the authors didn’t know why they might not like that.
Language has always been used as an historical tool of institutional racism in the reinforcement of the dehumanization and subhumanization of non-white peoples. It is, as a commenter noted above, part and parcel of white privilege that a white person can use terms of animal-related terms of endearment for white children without a second thought but for people of color such animalization carries with it an entire history of dehumanization. That Barbara Walters or anyone else is unaware of it, or “didn’t mean it that way,” is not an excuse but rather part of the problem of white privilege and the myth that words are just words. Words (and naming) are, and always have been, power.
Daddy in a strange land:
I figured someone would bring up comparisons to that Black.White episode soon enough. I see this differently, for some reason. The woman on B.W was sort-of expressing her fascination with this “little black creature”… not cool.
However, I can say I’ve heard little kids being described as “wonderful little creatures” a million times over. Now, I agree with dcase that it’s probably not a wise thing to do with a person you’re not friendly with. But isn’t that the whole premise behind the bullshit happy-talk on these shows– to pretend you’ve been best friends for years? (haven’t seen The View, but I’m assuming it’s somewhat similar.)
Now, I don’t think the faux-familliarity should extend to pulling someone’s hair or asking if she’s wearing a wig/weave, but if someone called my (future) kid that “little creature,” I don’t think I’d assume it was a slight because I’m black. I think it’s a common enough expression in Anglo-American culture to assume not.
Still, I’m glad Mo’Nique (with all her disturbing failings on the racial representation front) broke through the bullshit and expressed her distaste for the word.
And the whole “Star-by-proxy” thing? I definitely agree.
I consider the use of the word “creature” as an insult to a human child. To me it is no better than calling a child a “kid”. A kid is a baby goat to me, always has been, always will be.
As to the word creature, I only use it in referencing animals, i.e., “Aren’t you a cute little creature (cat, dog, rat, etc.)?” I do not use it to describe an adult or child.
Okay, let me get this straight:
“Black women do not shave their legs;
“Black women do not shave their underarms.
I guess I must not be Black.
Ann:
with your account of what black women do and don’t, you’ve just hit on the point I was trying to make about mo’nique’s “disturbing failings on the racial representation front.”
Barbara Walters has interviewed nappy head men from all over the world.
The middle east and so forth. Her ignorance to Black Hair is just a BS way of looking at us all her life and not seeing us.
Star and Maredith were the only people on that show with an IQ.
BABA WAWA has never impressed me as a spokesperson or journalist.
And the indignity of replacing Meredith with Rosie only shows that America and CBS is not ready for a Black Woman with Brains.
I along with all my friends will never watch the View again.
I’ve been known to call the children of my friends and family little monsters, munchkins, and even rugrats. However, those are the children of friends and family, not strangers. There’s a certain level of familiarity that has to be earned through time and friendship.
I think everyone can put her foot in her mouth at times. I have. But, there is a certain attitude that comes from white privilege that some white Americans feel entitled to make comments about people of color that show a sense of moral superiority or just plain superiority that is obnoxious and condescending. In some ways, it reflects a paternalistic view that people of color are like children and should be grateful for the advice or perspective of their superior. I had a female colleague who always pulled this crap. Whereas some people yellow, brown, red, white or red might make a concerned comment, my colleague did so with a smugness that revealed her motivations. (My manager, who is white, used to roll his eyes at her.)
my dad (who is black) called us “beautiful creatures” while we were growing up. it’s a legitimate term of endearment. unfortunately, mo’nique didn’t get it, and took lighthearted offense. hopefully barbara learned that one person’s term of endearment is another person’s veiled insult.
that said, watching that clip made my soul die a little bit. i can’t believe people actually waste their attention that inane crap.
i’ve also been called a creature once or twice while growing up, and i’m black…never took offence coz the ones calling me that meant it as a compliment, and they were darker than i am…
i think Daddy in a strange land has a point; baby monkeys are dark(black), as are the children refered to as that(blacks, filipinos, etc). white kids are basically pink, even red, just like piglets. call a white kid a piglet and (if they’re not fat) they’ll think you love them to death.
anyway, just like ben said, its all inane stuff. no one bothers
i forgot to add, Daddy in a strange land….i totally connect with your name; i’m even thinking of taking it up, unless you’ve signed copyright of course…you see, that is exactly what i am, a daddy in a strange land
Chuka, “daddy in a strange land” is the name I blog under on both my solo dadblog of the same name and on the Rice Daddies group blog, so I’d appreciate it, and it’d eliminate confusion, if you didn’t write under that handle, but thanks!
I am happy that Monique set BW straight in a respectable non getto manner.BW is known for getting down to the bottom of a good story and asking the questions that everybody wants to know but are not bold enough to ask, but that does not give he the right to try to make a fool of black guest. I think that all black white hispanic asian and etc should take that extra step to let a person know in a polite manner when they have offended or embarrassed. BW should be ashamed of herself.I thing all blak celebrities should refuse to go on the show until she makes a public apology to america.
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real men are not » Blog Archive » Dear The View, I hope your show gets cancelled on 28 Jul 2006 at 8:04 am
[…] The View is one of those shows for me that if it’s on and nothing else spectacular is, i’ll watch it. For the most part, I thought it was interesting to see an interview style with more than 3 people throwing out questions. I thought it was some sorta bullshit though that they made themselves out to be this ever diverse cast but eh, what can you do with Hollywood. Anyways, one by one i’ve grown to dislike the women that make up the view. At first, it was Meredith with her comments that Howard Stern was a pioneering rebel and whatnot. Then it was Lisa Ling for saying she didn’t call herself a feminist or something because she didn’t like the negative associations. Then Elizabeth from Survivor says she “agrees with Ann Coulter” about the 9-11 widows. Joy Behar or whatever her name is, she was consistently one of the worst with her tired comic routine and lame jokes. I honestly thought Barb was the only sane person left on the show. She was, of course, the person who slammed Ling when she made that idiotic comment. However, after reading about how B not only asked to touch a black woman’s hair then got into this mildly heated exchange with Mo’Nique (who I think is supremely underappreciated) I realize that Barbs has gone off the edge after sensing the collapse of her show. I DO NOT know how you make a comment to a guest host saying basically, “well, your ass is temporary. We’ve got JOBS here.” Now, I know Mo’Nique isn’t perfect by any stretch but I think a lot of what she does engages in a lot of feminist issues without people realizing it. I think what happened during The View episode gets read as an “angry black woman with ‘tude bein all sassy again” when in reality she’s not putting up with the bullshit those three try to heap on her and standing her ground. […]