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Learned about Dr Taylor today, decided to research a bit. Will add this to my emphasizing the positive. Emphasis on brains along with brawn. [URL="http://www.archives.upenn.edu/people/1800s/taylorjb.html"]John Baxter Taylor (1882-1908), University of Pennsylvania University Archives[/URL]
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Coincidentally, a friend emailed me the same segment on Vanessa Williams. I love those types of shows. Washington surnames:What was also interesting is how the CC family with the same Washington surname handled housing/job discrimination and preconceived notions. I also came across a couple of Booker T Washington descendants. These bits of information really help to round out what Blacks were about.
millie58
Not my cousin; could be the other Vanessa Williams, the one in the series, Soul Food.
Looks interesting:[URL="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/black-in-latin-america/featured/preview-black-in-latin-america/172/"]Preview: Black in Latin America | Black in Latin America | PBS[/URL][url=http://www.pbs.org/wnet/black-in-latin-america/category/timelines/]Timelines | Black in Latin America | PBS[/url]
I only saw about half of it. Somebody cancelled the timer on my DVR. I'll have to catch it again. What I saw was fascinating though. He covered the difference between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The elites of each country determined their national identity. Haiti embraces their African roots and the Dominican Republic totally rejects it. The Dominicans have appropriated the the term Indio for blacks since they no longer have an indigenous population. No one is black there... Fascinating.
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Make sure you read that article on The Root about Black Canadians. I read it when my cousin first posted it on FB and the comments were pretty tame. When I went back the heavy hitters had posted by then. LOL
Once again...Interesting reading. The author was complaining about Jill Scott not knowing black canadian culture yet she talked about not having any sort of alligience to Canada because she was culturally West Indian. They did not assimilate. She was just as guilty or more so than Jill because Jill Scott was singing a song about her personal life experiences...was she supposed to change the words to make it West Indian? There's always this issue black people distancing themselves from each other in an attempt to jockey to a higher position.
The author was instigating for sure. *smh* the article made no sense from that angle, just a way to insult US Blacks.
Sleeplvr
Make sure you read that article on The Root about Black Canadians. I read it when my cousin first posted it on FB and the comments were pretty tame. When I went back the heavy hitters had posted by then. LOLOnce again...Interesting reading. The author was complaining about Jill Scott not knowing black canadian culture yet she talked about not having any sort of alligience to Canada because she was culturally West Indian. They did not assimilate. She was just as guilty or more so than Jill because Jill Scott was singing a song about her personal life experiences...was she supposed to change the words to make it West Indian? There's always this issue black people distancing themselves from each other in an attempt to jockey to a higher position.
I was able to watch the Cuba focus it was a good show. Dh came in for part of it and agreed as well. Interesting the part where the rap artist and his raps about racism in Cuba. My oldest ds was intrigued that we have a family connection to Cuba, but got bored and went upstairs. lolA few parts struck me; regardless of how one title oneself black, or not, in-between, or white, or just Cuban; two different forms of currency the value aspect. Always fall back on the economy and the % of African ancestry and/or phenotype, with the two different value forms of currency. Involvement of the more established countries in the development of Cuba. Another, the lightening or missing subjects in history. I like the fact that Dr Gates is optimistic, but its similar to many other societies, give the people a cookie or two towards 'freedom" of self identification..but keep true equality and progress to a minimum....I guess I am jaded.
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I finally caught the full show on Cuba. They actually dug up that General to determine his racial makeup? Now that was just plain crazy. Right... he couldn't have had a lot of African ancestry and rise that high in the military. The whole dual currency system is crazy too.
What about their department of immigration funding an initiative to lighten the citizens of Cuba by bringing in more whites. Not much different than this country which restricted immigration from countries that were non white.
You are right about Dr. Gates being optimistic about the situation but I was really disppointed with how things are down there. It's all lip service in essence and you can't speak out against it because the government says racism doesn't exist.
The details were very enlightening, the move from socialism to communism, and the restrictions to ensure the country does not look bad..is just a sad situation. I am making sure I catch the Brazil portion tonight. I decided to avoid describing the digging up of the dude... it was a wth? moment for me lol
Sleeplvr
I finally caught the full show on Cuba. They actually dug up that General to determine his racial makeup? Now that was just plain crazy. Right... he couldn't have had a lot of African ancestry and rise that high in the military. The whole dual currency system is crazy too. What about their department of immigration funding an initiative to lighten the citizens of Cuba by bringing in more whites. Not much different than this country which restricted immigration from countries that were non white. You are right about Dr. Gates being optimistic about the situation but I was really disppointed with how things are down there. It's all lip service in essence and you can't speak out against it because the government says racism doesn't exist.
They have clips of the various shows on The Root. The clip on Peruvians of African descent was pretty interesting. I think that country will be combined with Mexico. Not many people know about blacks in Mexico.
Dr. Gates left off a lot of countries though... I saw comments on the PBS website wanting to know why Colombia, Argentina, Belize(West Indies), Central America, Puerto-Rico, Ecuador, Panama are not mentioned?
I lived in Panama and there are many people of African descent there. We actually considered adopting from Panama since kids of African descent are least likely to be adopted.
The episode on the Dominican Republic really shed some light on the Dominican Beauty Salons and hair straightening. They are trying to stamp out any hint of African ancestry with those techniques. Kind of sad...
Maybe the series was edited to highlight those countries. I missed most of the Brazil episode, and all of the last episode. Will need to find the reruns. Brazil had the same shipping in Whites to lighten the population up, but apparently they are a bit better in the quest towards positive multi-ethnicity.
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I caught Mexico and Peru last night. There is a movement to add race to the census in Mexico. Afro-Mexican's experience discrimination and poverty at extremely high rates. They went over all the variations of mixed race and what they are called. It seemed innocent but it was actually a tool to rank people in society.
Peru was interesting. People of African descent live along the coast and experience the same type of discrimination as other blacks in Latin America. They seemed to have more of their African heritage intact. The indigenous and blacks have the hardest time in their society.
I missed the Brazil episode. I may just have to order the DVD. A few years ago they tried to launch a black tv network there because blacks are not represented on TV. There was a lot of blacklash over it because they thought it painted an unflattering picture of Brazil.
So far it seems like all of the Black in Latin America experiences are similar in certain ways. The governments try to pretend there isn't an issue with race. It's also similarities in how the people view themselves in country versus outside of Latin America. You may be black in Cuba but outside of Cuba you are Cuban.