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ItimChris β Itim Chris explains Tokenism
Published: 2011-06-22 01:36:03 +0000 UTC; Views: 1953; Favourites: 21; Downloads: 34
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I did this for Black History month then lost it for a while. I found it and figure today would be a good day to upload it. Its not really funny but it's meant to poke holes at the perception that Black people should be happy with any media attention and shouldn't complain even if it meant being regulated to tired stereotypes and seemly racist imagery.Mainly a statement for Blacks in anime/manga but I find it to be universal as well.
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Comments: 27
i think that black people are highly under-represented everywhere in america. i also feel, however, that they lost the sense of pride that they had in the 60's and 70's. like, the way that they held themselves as equivalent. i feel like nowadays they feel like they don't have to try anymore, but in this society that's going to eat them up and spit them out. just in the same way, people need to take education more seriously. it's highly depressing when i, who doesn't even acknowledge any holidays/events/ect (in the spirit of year-round equality and unbiasedness against religions), knows way more about black history than black kids at my school. and like, all of the classes i'm in are full of white kids, but when i go to the repeat and college-readiness classes, they're full of black kids who are pressuring each other to not do better. it's really upsetting :C equality is a two way street...
i mean, you shouldn't have to work so hard for equality, but since white people aren't really letting you have an option, you gotta do the best you can... :/
but eh. just bitchin' sorry.
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First off, I saw some of your pictures and you got amazing eyes among other things. Secondly thanks for the input I agree with a lot of what you said. Two books that will really help anyone white or black to understanding what exactly is happening in the African-American community are
Tom Burrell's Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority [link]
and
Dr. Joy Degruy Leary's Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing
[link]
If you don't have the time or patience to read a book. Two movies you could watch that talk about what your talking about are.
Little Rock Central High: 50 Years Later (Talks about the famous{or should be} 9 black student that integrated the schools and what they faced to learn there and the current generation. Whats really touching is one of the nine gives a lecture to those children and it's just powerful)
another explains why there are so many black males in jail and the economic motives that drive the phenomenon. All explained by white people so you can't really say it's Afrocentric nonsense either, not that you would.
It's called American Drug War: The Last White Hope
as with all educational videos its free to watch online.
[link] (here a link)
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ah, thank you C:
reading is where it's AT!!! i'll see if i can get back to you after i read them.
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Hmm... my favorite black charictors in the media are Youroichi, February... and anotherone... I can't remember her name...
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You didn't hear Yoruichi is south east Asian lol I didn't think I would like February at first but then I was surprised.
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Hmmm.... coulda fooled me, dark shin, dark hair, and dark eyes... Oh, and I remembered my third favorite black girl now... Bumblebee...
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lol this is too true.this is going in my faves for sure.
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Thanks I thought I lost the funny in mist of making my point.
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Not really. I also thought your comments were funny. I always figured Yoruichi Shihoin was black because she was a black cat. And honestly Kaname TΕsen would be a D-Bag no matter his color! Lol. However your point is still valid. One of the best things I saw at FanimeCon this year was a black woman in Yoruichi cosplay. She constantly had a crowd around her as apposed to the white girls. It was cool.
Honestly I never have race in anime and manga much thought. The art was just art to me. But you made me think about.
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Actually one of the best Rinoa's (FFVIII)I've ever seen wasn't 'white' or Asain, but damn she made it work! Anyways, I tend not to give much thought to race in manga in anime as well. As I see it, if you wanna see it, then do it.
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The problem with your logic is that everything fictional is some what grounded in reality and representation matters to a large deal of people. I can admit a lot of anime/manga characters are raceless by default but if your arguing that racial depictions is subject to peoples desire see them then I think your willfully being delusional. It's like arguing that the band of uneducated, pimp-hat-wearing crows in Dumbo and the dumb jive talking monkeys that wanted to be human so badly in the Jungle Book aren't racist and demeaning of Black people but rather just crows and monkeys with interesting characteristics. I know it sucks to take off the Rose color glasses and examining media from a social/political perspective but cartoons are made by men and sometimes their bias or misunderstanding of certain races leads to issues that need to be addressed and corrected.
It's about the evolution of a art form and I for one would like to see a day when all characters are just great and free of stereotypical tropes but much like America, Anime and Manga is far from Post-Racial and maybe more Black artists and writers would help to change that.
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Nah not so much as rose colored glasses, but to say, at the very least, anime have been using non-white characters, a good long while before the bigger American studios did. Anime bears it's share of guilt with exclusion and sexism like it's American counterpart.
I'm all for the evolution of the art form. But like I said before if we wanna see it, then, we have to do it. At least on this side of the Pacific. It's gonna be baby steps and all, but with brothers like LeSean in the game, there is hope more of us will add to the impact. The last thing I wanna see is the same crap that DC and Marvel did back in the day when they were trying to write urban characters by way of of non-urban writers...pretty schlocky at best. I think at the same time, and is just me, I've never been able to get into the uber-afrocentric "It's us against whitey" deals either. That can be just as messed up as a lot of the 'black' sitcoms & blacksploitation movies of the 70's. Gimme something along the lines of the show 'A Different World.' At least there was a range of characters to run with. I guess I prefer to have characters who just happen to be 'black'. The rest can take care of itself. Remember once upon a time non-'black' americans HATED hip-hop. OF course we all know who's been buying the bulk of it for years. The same can be done with the manga scene.
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I vividly recall the Luke Cage era of comics.
Louis Lane even magically turned herself black
just to realize at the end of the comic that,
"Hey we're not so different after all" in a
cringe worthy scene of good intentions bad
representation that we laugh at now that we
are in a much better place of racial
understanding in this country then we was then.
However Afrocentric comics in my option has it's place.
I have loved many comics that would be viewed
as Afrocentric to non black readers but they
tend to be unable to "disband disbelief" long
enough to actually enjoy the story.
I use Superman and Icon to illustrate this.
Superman is a alien that comes from a alien world
of humaniods that we would perceive to be White
while Icon is a humanoid alien we would instantly
perceive as completely foreign so he had to adapt
his image to the first sentient life form that made
contact with him which happened to be a slave women
in the American South.
Now in the mainstream of Comic Fandoms which do you
think readers are unable to suspend disbelief long
enough for the comic to become uber-successful?
Like America, Japan is gradually becoming better at
it's representation but it's still easily 50 years
behind the West but things are changing and lots of
these new anime and mangas are getting better at having
cool characters that just so happen to be black but
I'm not about to just cringe till then when I can
do something even if it's as small to the bigger picture
as making more people at the very least aware of
what good black characters are and your right.
There needs to be a better understanding of Blackness
in general and that starts with education sadly you
get called Afrocentric if you try to make a characters
that's not only a Black but educational to Black youth
and anyone else who cares to view them
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For me the afrocentric comics were just were too heavy handed in the, "We're black and they hate us for it!", or "We know the white man IS the super villian." Nothing wrong knowing who you are. But when the theme get super simplified and the execution gets super-amped, it becomes something of a turn off to me. If the characters just happen to be who they are, coolness....let's take it from there. And also realize, the biggest enemy to any community can also be in the community itself. Alan Keyes, Herman Cain, are proof that broken minded Uncle Ruckus 'black' men are threat to EVERYONE. Great example with the Superman/Icon. That can be done on at least two other levels as well. Vampires or even immortals of 'Highlander' fame. As someone asked me, were I turned into a vampire would I want to survive. Yes as there plenty of corrupt politicians, judicial and law enforcement to feed of, and better still control. Imagine a super group who operate like the JLA, but also funded by an uber wealthy person behind the scenes who fights the same fight politically, socially and financially. It may sound kind of campy, but with the proper execution could be awe inspiring beyond awesome itself.
Although I totally agree with your last statement there other ways around it. Your comic 'We Decide' is actually a good starting point.
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This is very true. I wish there were more dark-skinned characters in manga, too.
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Lol you can't tell me there isn't a racial issue in manga/anime the mainstream Otaku community don't even want to admit Yoruichi is black. Unlike Tosen a character of the same skintone and series who happens to be evil is black with no debate and if you bring up the Yoruichi topic... people would rather tell you she's raceless or the world's darkest Asian or a really dark skinned Indian(who would hate being depicted as such any other time) then to admit she's black or even Blasian.
That for me is all the reason that I need to believe the mostly white American manga fandom is bias against the idea of Strong cool black character that doesn't have O lips or a offensively ghetto way of talking.
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Granted, that not entirely true. Nadia, and the 'Secret of Blue Water'. Before that you had Cladia Grant of 'Macross' who's bf was a blonde haired, and blue German. About 20 (plus) years later Dizney finally 'caught up' and released 'Atlantis', and 'The Frog and the Princess' there's always something that can be done about it though. 
Btw, you left Urd from 'Ah, My Goddess' outta the mix.
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Nadia was from Atlantis and was designed as a fantasy cross between African and Europeans as evident in her father's White characteristics. Japanese animators seems to depict Biracial people in visibly pleasing way while people that are "Just Black" get drawn differently to say the least. I think one of the best examples of that is in the acclaimed anime "Freedom" where the main characters love interest is a Floridian mix black/white origin and very attractive but the mains character's close friend hooks up with her all black "aunt" and she is depicted as less then traditionally pretty.
Cladia Grant is a rare example of a black character done right but is still in the minority of black characters that's just normal people without stereotypical actions/features. I say Yoruichi is another along with the Black girl in the Darker than Black series.
American media has gone leaps and bounds in the terms of representing people of color respectably but frankly 'The Princess and the Frog' didn't impressed me as much as it could of. There are several iffy points to the film that made it less then it could be and echoes Disney historical dislike of Black people. I especially don't like the Latino/White prince, he's a charming character but there is little depth to him. He's a formerly rich pretty boy that Tiana actually has to polish up before he becomes a decent human being. Is it even fair to call this guy a prince? and why couldn't he be Afro-Latino or African-American? are there really no upper class brothers in the Disney universe?
I would show this movie to my daughter out of a lack for better Disney animated options but I would rather let her watch Disney's Ruby Bridges.
And as for the American otaku crowd, yes most of the characters aren't white but there are tons of racial white characters that are great characters regardless of origin which is what I would like to see for black characters in Anime/manga.
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I didn't bother with watching 'The Princess and the Frog', mainly for the fact that I knew were gonna punk out on it. The last Dizney animated movie I saw with brown people was 'Lilo & Stitch' (loved it btw)
As far as getting the anime studios to get it right, someone would actually have to enroll a lot of writers and producers into an American history class. I think once they have a much better idea as to who African American REALLY are, what we've been though (and still go through), the fact we STILL can rise to the situation, and how diverse we can be, that's when we could see things get much better. I'd also through in a no-holds-barred q&a forum as well. The more informed they are, the better. The way I see it, this is needed because people tend to only go by what they're shown, and we don't control what images or the false messages they send, at all.
Btw, I like the fact you know of the examples I used!
Pardon anytime grammatical errors or typos, it's late, lol!
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