Daniel’s Blog

written by Liz Dwyer, Anti-Racist Parent columnist

My seven year-old son is very tall for his age. He’s been in the 90th percentile for height his whole life. He’s also African-American. It seems like in our country, Black + Tall + Male = having to constantly hear, “You better put him in basketball! He could be the next Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan.”

Yes, if you’re a tall, African-American boy, you are destined to be a basketball player.

Never mind that he’d rather spend his time at a science center, and never mind that if you ask him what sport he really wants to play, he’ll tell you football because his grandpa works at Notre Dame.

Even though he could have begun playing in our local sports leagues when he was five, I was reluctant to register him because I didn’t want to feed into the stereotype that the only thing of value in an African-American boy is athletic ability. But, when he turned six he begged to play soccer. I felt a little like I was putting my own baggage about sports and black males onto him, so I signed him up.

No one assumed that he knew how to play at all, and the coaches emphasized that the goal was exposure to the sport. However, I noticed that the performance expectations seemed to be much higher for the Latino boys on his team than it was for him. One Latina mother explained to me that it was because soccer is so much more popular in Latin America. She claimed that Latino fathers give their children soccer balls before they can walk. Clearly, this seemed like questionable stereotyping to me, but I found the sentiment echoed quite frequently by other parents.

When the soccer season came to a close, it only seemed natural to move my son on to the next sport, basketball. He was assigned to a team and it quickly became clear that he was the tallest kid on it. He was also the only black child in the entire division. I can’t begin to tell you how excited his coach was. “Come on over here! You’re going to be our rock star.”

I was immediately irritated. I found myself sitting in the bleachers, watching the first practice and thinking, “That coach only said my son’s a rock star because he thinks that since my boy’s black, he knows how to play.” The truth of the matter was that up till then, my son had only played basketball a couple of times. My husband never played competitive sports so it doesn’t come natural to him to toss a basketball or football around every day. I was a cheerleader, not a basketball player, and quite frankly, his learning to read above grade level has been our top priority, not sports.

The very first game of the season, my son scored three baskets and led his team to victory. Afterwards, the coach gushed about my son, saying, “He’s really got some natural talent there.”

I wanted to ask, “What do you mean ‘natural talent’?” but before I knew it, the coach was talking to another parent.

Even though it feels like black folks are always treated like they’re naturals at sports, dancing, singing, joke-telling and hip-hop, I again asked myself if I was reading too much into such a comment. Was this coach just being complimentary or did he assume that blackness = basketball like everybody else?

As the weeks passed, it became clear that my son was not the best shooter on the team. Making three baskets in the first game was a bit of beginner’s luck. But, one of his Latino teammates managed to hit 80% of his baskets. Instead, because of his height, my son became the king of rebounds. Needless to say, they won every game and my son genuinely enjoyed playing on the team.

This year we were out of town and so we missed soccer registration, but back at the beginning of August, the guy working in the recreation center office made sure to mention that basketball registration would be happening in November.

Again, I found myself wondering, am I only being told this because the guy behind the desk figures a black kid will like basketball more, or does he genuinely not want my son to miss out?

It made me realize that this is one of the most insidious things about racism: It takes a psychological toll on you since you constantly have to turn this stuff over in your head. The vigilance it requires to be sure my son is not being treated in a prejudicial manner gets exhausting. I don’t like having to wonder whether something I’m told or the way my boy is treated is a symptom of either conscious or subconscious racism.

Come to think of it, one of the reasons I like my son’s pediatrician so much is that after checking my son’s vision, the doctor said to him that he has such perfect eyesight that he could be an airline pilot. The doctor never says, “Wow, you’re tall! You should be a ball player!” I wish no one else did either.

Liz Dwyer lives in Los Angeles with her husband of eight years, Elarryo Bolden and her two sons, ages six and three. Her great sense of adventure and desire to learn about diverse cultures took her to Guangzhou, China where she taught English to third and fourth graders, picked up some Mandarin, and managed to get into seven bike accidents. Liz taught in Compton, CA for three years and later worked for national education non-profit Teach For America. Liz has written and reflected on the world around her for the past three years at Los Angelista’s Guide to the Pursuit of Happiness. She’s currently freelance writing and working on her first novel.

Image courtesy of Balakov on Flickr
(antiracistparent)

An infinite number of mathematicians walk into a bar. The first one orders a beer. The second orders half a beer. The third, a quarter of a beer. The bartender says “You’re all idiots”, and pours two beers.

An 81-year-old Chinese man has married a 58 year-old woman he met online, proving that love conquers all… well at least age.

Wu Jieqin, a retired art professor who has spent time in an aged-care home, married Jiang Xiaohui, 23 years younger, in a very special ceremony.

“The Internet doesn’t belong to the young alone. There are no rules against old people seeking love online,” said the professor, who has been using the internet since 1998.

The bride’s parents, aged 85 and 86, were not too happy about their daughter’s choice for a husband at first because they felt he was too old. However, she won them over in the end.

“His voice is very youthful. Not like an 80-year-old and he is very romantic,” said Jiang of her new husband.

The couple met last year after the lonely divorced professor placed an ad on a Chinese website.

He knew he wanted a woman who was younger and was very picky. Over 50 women responded positively to his ad, which a student helped him write, and some were as far away as the US, Australia and the Ukraine!

Wu met several of the women, but nothing clicked until he set sight on his new bride.

Ain’t love grand!

Kudos to the happy couple.

(weirdasianews)

I’m thousands of words behind in NaNoWriMo, but I can’t concentrate because DUUUUDES! Obama won and hope fills the air even though all of this Pacific Northwest rain is knocking it down and running it down the street and into the gigantic storm drain on the curb in front of our house.

I will hold the Tuesday night moment close to my heart for a very long time.

I should be packing for my trip to daughter’s home in Appleton. I should be cleaning the bedroom: dusting furniture, vacuuming, cleaning the toilet, putting clean laundry away but I am too wrapped up in news reports about who Obama will pick for his staff and why.

Do you think that Sarah Palin really didn’t know that Africa was a continent? An impromptu prayer: Thank you God for protecting us from Sarah Palin. A lot of Your faithful think she was an answer to their prayers, and maybe she is a good and faithful follower of Yours (but if she is, why did she buy all of those expensive clothes? Doesn’t she know that scripture about the little sparrows?) I can clearly see that You knew she needed to serve you quietly in Alaska. Thank you again and again. I mean it. Make sure she stays real quiet okay? We need Your help because some of us don’t think we could take even one more day of that voice.

It won’t stop raining and two more storms are on their way. I don’t think we’ll know when one storm ends and another begins. I’m going to light a fire soon. This kind of night after a long and wet day calls for fire – and coffee. With any luck there’s Kahlua in the house.

Want to: change the sheets, dust the furniture, put the mess away. Put things in drawers, scrub the toilet. Clean the bathroom countertop and the floor. Vacuum. I often list things I want to do and then, feeling satisfied, never do them.

Do you think Joe Lieberman’s days are numbered? Didn’t he recently say he fears for the country if the Democrats got 60 seats in the Senate? Why, yes he did. He certainly did.

Important Goal: By November 15, Etsy will be up and running (and don’t you think it’s about time?). I won’t make cute little zippered bags, I promise. Loads of zippered bags on Etsy. No jewelry either. No doll clothes. Nothing involving tags. No magnets. Well there it is, at least I’ve clarified what won’t be there. No monster dolls either. Not one single zombie or anything made of felted stuff. Nothing knitted, nor anything with googly eyes.

But what will I do? Oh….stuff. Beautiful, happy, sunshine-filled stuff. A wise person told me that if I love it and it speaks to my soul, then it’s worth offering, so I’ll offer and it doesn’t sell, I’ll give it away. I’ll have Twitter polls and winner will win from the spoils.

Time to dust.

(babushkablue)

Chinese President Hu Jintao, shortly after Barack Obama was declared president-elect, sent a message Wednesday (5 Nov) to congratulate Obama on his election victory.

“China and the United States share broad common interests and important responsibilities on a wide range of major issues concerning the well-being of humanity.

“Developing long-term, healthy and stable Sino-US relations serves the fundamental interests of both countries and peoples, and is of great significance to peace, stability and development in the world,” Hu said in a message.

Hu said the Chinese government and he himself have always valued China-US relations.

“In the new historic era, I look forward to working with you to continuously strengthen dialogue and exchanges between our two countries and enhance mutual trust and cooperation on the basis of the three Sino-US Joint Communiques, with a view to taking our relationship to a new high and bringing greater benefits to people of our two countries and the rest of the world.”

Premier Wen Jiabao, in his congratulatory message to Obama, said “a sound China-US relationship meets the common aspirations of our two peoples and the need to maintain peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large”.

Wen expressed belief that with joint efforts, the China-US relationship would make new progress.

Vice-President Xi Jinping congratulated Joe Biden on his election as US vice-president.

Following are quotes from other world leaders on Obama’s victory:

Dmitry Medvedev, Russian President

“Russia hopes Barack Obama’s administration will take steps to improve badly-damaged bilateral ties and make a choice in favor of full-fledged relations with Russia.”

Nicolas Sarkozy, French president

“With the world in turmoil and doubt, the American people, faithful to the values that have always defined America’s identity, have expressed with force their faith in progress and the future. At a time when we must face huge challenges together, your election has raised enormous hope in France, in Europe and beyond.”

Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister

“Barack Obama ran an inspirational campaign, energising politics with his progressive values and his vision for the future. I know Barack Obama and we share many values. We both have determination to show that government can act to help people fairly through these difficult times facing the global economy.”

Jose Manuel Barroso, European Commission President

“We need to change the current crisis into a new opportunity. We need a new deal for a new world. I sincerely hope that with the leadership of President Obama, the United States of America will join forces with Europe to drive this new deal. For the benefit of our societies, for the benefit of the world.”

Manmohan Singh, Indian Prime Minister

“Your extraordinary journey to the White House will inspire people not only in your country but also around the world.”

Taro Aso, Japanese Prime Minister

“The Japan-US alliance is key to Japanese diplomacy and it is the foundation for peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region. With President-elect Obama, I will strengthen the Japan-US alliance further and work toward resolving global issues such as the world economy, terror and the environment.”

Kgalema Motlanthe, South African President

“Africa, which today stands proud of your achievements, can only but look forward to a fruitful working relationship with you both at bilateral and multilateral levels in our endeavor to create a better world for all who live in it.”

Kevin Rudd, Australian Prime Minister

“Senator Obama’s message of hope is not just for America’s future, it is also a message of hope for the world as well.”

Mwai Kibaki, Kenyan President

“We the Kenyan people are immensely proud of your Kenyan roots. Your victory is not only an inspiration to millions of people all over the world, but it has special resonance with us here in Kenya.” (China Daily/ ANN)

MySinchew 2008.11.06

This was announced by the recently formed UN Presidential Exchange Program (PEP). Kenya was a natural choice for McCain since Barak Obama’s father came from Kenya. It was also judged to be the best country to show off McCain’s skills in cleaning up corruption and reducing taxes to zero (wealthy Kenyans already pay little tax and the poor are too poor to pay). His military skills can come handy on a continent racked by constant wars.

The UN PEP office also announced that Sarah Palin will exchange places with Vladimir Putin (a neighbor she often waves to from her porch). However, PEP later issued a correction saying that due to her poor knowledge of geography Sarah agreed to go only as far as Siberia. Siberian natives were overjoyed, saying that the moose hunting season had just begun. Mr Putin was judged to be too risky for Alaska as it contains mineral resources that the Russian oligarchs might covet. He will be sent instead to Tonga to boost the tourist potential of the flagging, and sinking, island economy.

The North Korean President Kim Jong Il will be sent to run Guantanamo Bay Jail. After a year, he will be locked in with inmates for a night of conflict resolution training.

Arnold Schwarzenegger will go to Pakistan to terminate Osama Bin Laden.

Big Al Greeenspan will be sent to China to ruin the Chinese economy.

French President Sarkozy and the German President Angela Merkel will swap places. Sarkozy was judged to be the best person to improve German cuisine and fashion while Merkel promised to tackle trade unions, slim down overblown French bureaucracy, and impose order on the inevitable student protests.

President Bush will be dispatched to Albania to help run a home for retarded children.

President Clinton will go to the South East Asia as a goodwill ambassador to clean up the sex trade there.

Hilary Clinton will be sent to Saudi Arabia to create at least one crack in the glass ceiling of male dominance there. She will be equipped with a crash helmet.

Italian President Silvio Berlusconi will be sent to India as it was judged to be the only country that would continue on its way, no matter who you sent there.

Note: There will be a video announcement on Youtube and Blip.tv at 5:00pm Tuesday (EST) – Time.

Keywords: McCain, Kenya, UN, Presidential Exchange Program, comedy

(pyotrpatrushev)

A couple in rural Cambodia has terminated their 18-year marriage with a divorce settlement that entailed sawing in two the wooden house they once shared, villagers said Friday.

The husband, 42-year-old Moeun Sarim, has taken away with him all the bits and pieces of his half a house, said his 35-year-old wife, Vat Navy.

“Very strange, but this is what my husband wanted,” she said by phone from a village about 62 miles east of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. She said they ended their marriage last month.

“He brought his relatives and used saws to cut the house in half,” she said, adding that she now owns the other half that is still standing. The house is made from wood with a tile roof and propped up on wooden pillars, a typical style for a Cambodian country home.

She said her estranged husband and his relatives, after ripping apart half of the house, carried all the debris to his parents’ house nearby.

She said the divorce was prompted by her husband’s jealousy about her alleged relationship with a policeman in the village. She denied having an extramarital affair.

“He wanted a divorce, and I said, `Let’s divorce,’” she said.

The husband could not be reached for comment.

Bou Bout, a village chief, said local officials and police were present as witnesses the day the couple split their 20-by-24 1/2 foot house into half.

“Local officials tried three times to get them to mend their differences, but the husband would not budge,” Bou Bout said by phone.

(cbsnews)

You expect to see something a little strange from time to time while traveling through Asia, but one establishment has something to really shock you.

Kayabuki, a Japanese tavern in Utsunomiya, recently employed 2 Macaques monkeys to act as waiters. Fuku is 12 years-old and Yat is a young 4 years of age and both seem to enjoy their new work.

Kaoru Otsuka, owner of the tavern, says the 2 monkeys are their household pets, but one day he noticed one of them mimicking a waiter by giving the customer a hot towel in the restaurant.

Mr. Otsuka thought it would be an interesting idea to have them actually serve the customers.

Both monkeys works 2 hours a day, serving drinks and handing customer hot towels.

They don’t seem to mind the work and are happy to do it in exchange for some Edamame (soybeans) from the customers as tip.

The monkey waiters have done such a good job and brought so much business to the restaurant, Mr. Otsuka admits they’re better than his real son at the job.

(weirdAsianNews)

The world richest continent in terms of natural ressources and the poorest according to the world bank ranking system should learn many things from Asia. Malnutrition is still a big concern, meat in the plate is a miracle. But you know what ?  If Cambodians where there, they would be eating meat every single  minute.

In Africa, if a rat comes out, all the kids waste their left energy running after it and when they catch it, it’s simply killed and thrown away. however, it’s not the same here in Asia.

In Cambodia, no rat is left to waste… especially not when inflation has increased the cost of meat almost double in the last year.

Many Cambodians already believed rat meat to be a great source of protein and a tasty little snack when gathered together drinking, but the popularity of the meat really began to increase when beef hit around $10 a pound.

At around $2.50 a pound, rat meat favorites like the garlic-flavored field rat have quickly replaced the standard beef dishes.

“Not only are our poor eating it, but there is also demand from Vietnamese living on the border with us.” said an agricultural official from Koh Thom.

Not only have the locals saved money by eating more rat meat, they have also been able to earn more money by catching rats and making them table-ready.

(weirdasianews)

Emeagwali won the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize, which has been called “supercomputing’s Nobel Prize,” for inventing a formula that allows computers to perform their fastest computations - a discovery that inspired the reinvention of supercomputers. He was extolled by then U.S. President Bill Clinton as “one of the great minds of the Information Age” and described by CNN as “a Father of the Internet;” and is the most searched-for scientist on the Internet.

Isaac Asimov, the most prolific science writer, acknowledges that mathematics, science and technology are the gift of ancient Africans to our modern world.

The first draft of a portrait that depicted Emeagwali as a supercomputer wizard driving a carriage powered by thousands of chickens (a metaphor for his 65,000 weak processors that performed the world’s fastest computation). The “Negro Emeagwali” (shown in this illustration) was rejected and replaced with a “Caucasian Emeagwali” (shown below).

A “whitened” Caucasian portrait of Emeagwali was acceptable and widely published. One illustrator argued that Emeagwali has a trace of Caucasian blood and said that he could see the “Caucasian look” in his face.

Jefferson wrote in his book “Notes on Virginia” that Africans are intellectually inferior and cannot understand mathematics.

This false portrait of Euclid as a white male reinforced Jefferson’s views that mathematics could only be comprehended by whites. Since there is no proof that Euclid ever travelled outside Africa it makes sense to assume that he is full-blooded Negro.

(www.emeagwali.com)

A while ago when Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary, I wrote a blog to explain why it was unlikely for him to pick the latter as his running mate. I used “handsome” to describe him, and one of the responses was “What? Do you consider Obama handsome?”

Sure, I think he is a good-looking guy. But soon I was drowned out in the debate as more and more people joined my challenger and questioned my aesthetic wisdom.

So, I tried to think from the perspective of an ordinary Chinese netizen, without the knowledge of Obama’s eloquence, poise or his insight on race relations. He may not be as eye-catching as Denzel Washington, but he can certainly score pretty high on the point of physical attractiveness.

Surprisingly, many disagreed with me, and their thinking process was very interesting. For example, I thought slim was good in this era of body image consciousness, but many Chinese netizens seem to have got their standards of beauty of black Americans from telecasts of NBA games. One said it took him a while to recognize “black beauty” and now that Obama does not look like a typical NBA player it is hard for him to be categorized as physically appealing.

In fact, so many respondents cited NBA as their biggest exposure that it is not a stretch to say people like Kobe Bryant have become the benchmark for China’s youths to size up black males. Where does that leave Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman and Hollywood’s efforts in shaping global perception of black Americans? Obviously, not half as effective as the ubiquitous basketball player as far as China’s vast basketball fan base is concerned, and they have not even experienced the magic of Michael Jordan.

Chinese and blacks seem to occupy two ends of the aesthetic spectrum. A lot of trends started by blacks, such as hip-hop, reached China via middlemen like white American and Korean singers, losing much of the authenticity in the process. Even then, it is somewhat jarring to see a Chinese youth, with soft-toned skins and smaller features, don the XXL-sized attire of striking colors, which compliments a black teenager so naturally.

On the other hand, martial arts flicks reach the black demographic through mainstream channels like Blockbuster rental and mass-appeal products such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It is not an exaggeration to say that the middle ground is firmly in the hands of Middle America, whose aesthetic values serve as a filter for exchange between non-white ethnicities and races. For example, unless for a function of ethnic diversity, a black would not wear an African tribal dress, nor would a Chinese put on a Tang-style costume. Most likely, they would both sport a business suit because it is the sartorial middle ground. If they do appear with their traditional garb, the outfit will be judged against the suit.

For a Chinese without constant contact with or exposure to black Americans, Obama’s look can only be extrapolated and evaluated by being imagined as a white person. It simply cannot be done. I have come upon a diary of a young Chinese journalist who did a comparison of Condoleezza Rice and Madeleine Albright, and it was condescendingly unfair. I guess the only black ladies familiar to a regular guy on a Beijing street are Whitney Houston or Halle Berry.

It has dawned on me that movie star beauty is an inaccurate barometer for a whole race. It may distort perception. The best way to get rid of misunderstanding and prejudice is to know as many people as possible of the race or ethnicity previously unknown to you. By then you’ll be able to see Obama - not as another Denzel Washington or Kobe Bryant - but as a charismatic politician that he is.

E-mail: raymondzhou@chinadaily.com.cn

(CHINADAILY)