Mixed people don’t “Survive”
JC
Okay, someone finally said it. 
In the stupidity of the new season of Survivor, we have mainly been focusing (see here, here, and here for examples) on how un-helpful it is to have the races pit against one another. We have mentioned that it also doesn’t make sense to separate into teams of black, white, Asian and Hispanic, especially as we are trying to move our conversations around race in this country toward a place of recognizing that these discrete racial categories don’t really exist (biologically)! But Carmen and I have not blatently asked — where in the hell would we go if we were in the show? Perhaps we would have to double team? Play for the Asians and the whites? 
Maybe they use me as a tricky twist and put me on the Hispanic team only to fool everyone until the end? 
Obviously, I’m kidding. And honestly, this concept has so many holes that I thought mentioning, ” hey where do the mixed people go?” wasn’t even worth it; that there were more problematic things at play here. But, this is definitely problematic too. Continuing to form things in this way (i.e. here are the four races!) prolongs the idea that races are separate and distinct; that there is no combination or overlapping…As we all know, this is not true, and identities are more complex. They are not always as simple as they are being portrayed on Survivor, where everyone is going to be relegated to their own specific team based on their distinct race.
If you’re Cuban-Greek-Romanian, Cherokee-African-Irish or Filipino-Chinese-German, where would you fit? For that matter, it’s a good thing “Survivor” has a tradition of ignoring the local population of the remote areas where its players compete.
Those mixed-up Cook Islanders just wouldn’t make any of the teams.
I’ve actually overheard people talking about how the “locals” aren’t involved at all and haven’t been in previous seasons of this show. I’m not surprised at all. May I ask, why are we still surprised by this ridiculousness? Actually, that was rhetorical. I know why we ask. It’s idealism. We hope for better and actually think that things are improving by leaps and bounds. When we see such a deviation from what is good and moving us in the right direction, we respond with disappointment. I guess that’s part of it. Let’s keep reacting. At least it means we haven’t been numbed by all of this stupidity!
gatamala wrote:
That South Park picture is killing me! They are WRONG for the Asians!! I think the black girl on the left has beads & the one in the middle is little Lil’ Kim! 2 boys have doo-rags. That show is the only show that makes off-color (pun intended) remarks that I can laugh at w/o fearing coonery.
As for which team you belong on…I think Mark Burnett would need to go get his head calipers, eye color chart and conduct some experiments before placing you on a team.
Posted 31 Aug 2006 at 8:00 am ¶
site admin wrote:
“I think Mark Burnett would need to go get his head calipers, eye color chart and conduct some experiments before placing you on a team.”
Hehe… or maybe they could also go the low-tech, old-school route. If you’ve got pink nipples, you go on the white team. Brown nipples, go on the Asian team.
–CVK
Posted 31 Aug 2006 at 8:09 am ¶
gatamala wrote:
Sooo I guess Mark could pull out an areola chart?
Posted 31 Aug 2006 at 8:43 am ¶
site admin wrote:
carmen, i hate you for mentioning nipples….
and ew, areola chart? lol. i will be refraining from answering about which team i would be on given carmen’s newly suggested criterion. 
~JC
Posted 31 Aug 2006 at 12:58 pm ¶
Ann wrote:
Pure races.
As if such a thing ever existed in the world. There has always been racial/genotype/phenotype over-lapping in all the races around the world.
And as far as mixed races go, black people in America can not even call themselves “black”.
Maybe the following category would be more appropriate in describing us:
“Sub-Saharan-English-Irish-Cherokee-Choctaw-Seminole-Scots-Chicasaw-Creek-Chinese/Black Americans”.
Yeah, that’s what a “black” person in America is.
Posted 31 Aug 2006 at 3:26 pm ¶
Lyonside wrote:
Ann: Oh that’s awesome… I can see it now - not a check-all-that-apply, but a “keep the most likely/preferred” series of boxes…
Posted 31 Aug 2006 at 3:46 pm ¶
Gandalf Mantooth wrote:
nipples . . . . uhhh
One of my editors (and a good friend) has a pretty funny comment on this whole thing. It helps to parse this if you know some US pop culture history. Or are old, as we are.
http://www.nashvillescene.com/blog/pitw/archives/00001070.shtml
Posted 31 Aug 2006 at 4:57 pm ¶
Merq wrote:
” That show is the only show that makes off-color (pun intended) remarks that I can laugh at w/o fearing coonery.”
That makes one of us. As far as I’m concerned, South Park is one of the most racist shows on TV.
Posted 31 Aug 2006 at 9:21 pm ¶
private dancer wrote:
Ann:
“And as far as mixed races go, black people in America can not even call themselves “black”.”
i guess it depends on how you think of the word “black” or of American blackness. For most people that i know who define themselves as black (myself included) this white and native american historical mixture is part of the definition of being black or black American (or being of African descent in many/most places in the Americas for that matter).
Merq:
I’d be interested in hearing you expound more on how South Park is racist. I’ve only recently ever seen episodes since they’ve been appearing on regular network tv. And while some of it makes me laugh, other portions of it give me pause, for example the oversexed character of Chef (categorization: black buck). And the other day an episode aired where they had an Asian man–complete with slits of cardboard for eyes, speaking Engrish and sitting in a Chinese restaurant (cat.: permanent foreigner?)–build a wall around the town and fight off Mongolians. It was awful.
I guess they’re supposed to be poking fun at these stereotypes…I guess. I’m not clear. I suppose my confusion falls in line with past commentary about hipsters/ironic humor and racism and whether making fun of stereotypes by embracing them some how rids them of their racist implications.
Posted 01 Sep 2006 at 10:05 am ¶
Merq wrote:
Private dancer:
I don’t believe they’re poking fun at stereotypes. Instead, they’re going the “hip, irreverent racism” route.
Posted 01 Sep 2006 at 3:34 pm ¶
Ann wrote:
Private Dancer.
“I guess it depends on how you think of the word “black” or of American blackness.”
That is what I meant, PD. When I look in a mirror, I see a “black person” knowing that also in there within is white and native blood, the same make-up that is familiar to the many “black” people of the Diaspora.
That is why I ended my comment with the following quote:
“Yeah, that’s what a “black” person in America is.”
I know that I am “black”, no matter how light-brown I am, and I am proud to be black.
Posted 01 Sep 2006 at 4:33 pm ¶
chuka wrote:
private dancer:-
black people do think of themselves as black…and on the same vein, i think “white” people should get their colours right and start describing themselves as “pink.”
the first thing i saw on this page was the south park picture…and i think its misplaced. doesnt anyone else? and i think the Cappelle show should be banned…and i’m black
Posted 02 Sep 2006 at 6:31 am ¶
justin wrote:
Hmmph, are Cook islanders mixed or is that a myth perpetuated to challenge Maori sovereignty (?) and there are some nation/state issues going on in that article as well.
If five Polynesians were on Survivor I hope they would be given five machetes, courtesy of home depot, so they can hack their Gilligan’s island, Tiki bar sets to pieces.
and I wonder what the reaction would have been If this series was set on Mururoa or Bikini Atoll inside some kind of dome where Tina Turner is queen and all the aboriginal people have become anglo-saxons…
Posted 03 Sep 2006 at 11:31 am ¶