[swcg]

Thank you for the information regarding Roma; I was totally ignorant as well.

I'm of Algonquin heritage, Mi'kmaq tribe in Eastern Canada.

First Nations, Aboriginal, Native, Native Indian, Indian; it's all the same to me knowing that I'm Mi'kmaw. I personally find none of those terms offensive, but perhaps that's because I grew up in a cultural setting that didn't attach a negative stigma of any sort to those 'titles', if you will. Being a conglamerate of nationalities probably does not allow me the same experience as status First Nation Canadians though...

Agreeing that Disney's interpretation of Pocahontas is somewhat disturbing. But if they'd portrayed the premise of her life properly, I'm not so sure it would have been a story fit for young children.

I can see the production's good intentions and I'm sure it won the hearts of many young girls who are now atleast familiar that such a woman existed. If nothing else, maybe this opens up a good opportunity for parents to elaborate on history from there.

That said, the unattainable 38-22-36 image that she arrives in could stand some modification! lol.

I'm liking Kllee4's suggestion;

Why don't we see powerful, successful women of color come out with their own versions of their dolls, such as Oprah, Condoleeza Rice, Cathy Hughes, Maya Angelou, among others. Little girls should see women of different sizes, complexions, career paths, etc. They could have accessories that include a board room table and chairs, or a television studio or news anchors desk with them being able to dress them in beautiful busines suits or gowns.

So, who's gonna propose this to HARPO?

[ahimsa]

I just found this post and had to throw in my two cents. I love the discussion regarding the appropriate terms. I learned more about roma culture as well, though I did know that "gypsy" is inappropriate.

I am CC and my kids are AA. I use both Black and African American. I noticed that when I'm refering to a single person, I will often say "Black" where as when I am referring to a group, I will say "African Americans". Not sure why. My kids know both terms. They proudly tell people that they are African American. My son's AA teacher found it adorable that a three year old was saying this! My kids struggle with the word black. They see themselves as brown, from a pure color standpoint. However, they do refer to me as white. I help up a piece of white paper to show that my "color" is not truely white, more of a peach or pink, but that many people call me "white" and them "black". This confuses them. They'll get it when they're older.

As far as a black princess, I understand the original point. My daughter has so many friends at school that love all things "Disney Princesses". I see that she wants to like them too, but I, quite honestly, badmouth the whole Disney Princess phenomenon as being "boo boo". I have less issue with her liking Jasmine, because although she is a stereotype, she shows that an Arab woman can be as beautiful, if not more so, than white women. I did get her the Brandy version of Cinderella for Christmas. She so wants to be part of the princess phenomenon so bad. I like the Brandy movie because of every family is multiracial, like ours. I also love that the most beautiful "princess" of the movie is an AA woman with very dark skin and natural hair. She's gorgeous and her looks fly in the face of the traditional super white, flowing hair princesses.

Just wanted to add my two cents! Good strand!

[bjolly]

I find it interesting how my daughter, who is 10 and AA, perceives race and color. She prefers to refer to herself as "dark" rather than black or AA. She calls anyone who is biracial, hispanic, middle eastern, etc as "light skinned," except people from India, who she knows are Indian. She's had several friends and teachers who were Indian so I guess she's more familiar with that as an ethnic group. Anyone who is Asian looking is "Chinese." (We're working on correcting that one.)

she refers to CC people as white however has decided that my partner and I are "light skinned." This is interesting to me because while my partner is an olive skinned Italian American and is sometimes mistaken for being Hispanic, I am the whitest white girl you ever saw.