Race, The Prince of Persia, CNN and Trevor

Soulhangout,

Thank you for your comment. I agree with you, it is shocking to see how people perceive race in the 21st Century. Particularly shocking/troubling for me is the fact that those in question in the CNN interviews were youth. Some of the clips were heartbreaking on so many levels...

I too have high hopes for the Millennials.

And, I have high hopes that if we are diligent as a community, families, parents and leaders can communicate with our children in such a way to combat the societal stereotypes that they are absorbing and modeling.

These children are so small and innocent and they are looking to us to discover the world and the way it works. Let's teach them well. Earlier in the day I posted the following tweet:

"Either the United States will destroy ignorance, or ignorance will destroy the United States."
– W.E.B. DuBois

Let's make sure we continue to work towards the former.

Thank you for reposting. A big hug to you too!
About CNN
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Race, The Prince of Persia, CNN and Trevor

Thank you Martin! Hacemos lo posible- we do what we can.

That's great that this post has inspired you to chat with your 12 year old more in depth about the different races and cultures in your family. You have such a rich diversity in th mix! I'm sure those will be a great series of conversations.

We did not have our 13 year old this week-end or we would have chatted with him about it as well (He had a friend's birthday party to go to). Hopefully we'll be able to see the videos from CNN's study and discuss with him the next time we have him.

Thanks for reading and commenting!
About CNN
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Race, The Prince of Persia, CNN and Trevor

This Memorial Day week-end our youngest asked us to go see the Prince of Persia.  He loves the Prince of Persia Legos his father bought him (He says they look just like Indiana Jones)...

It was right about at that point in the conversation (when he was explaining how the Prince of Persia looked exactly the same as Indiana Jones) when I requested that we have a conversation about race since:

#1- The Prince of Persia is Persian.  
(Though in the movie the role is played by Jake Gyllenhaal who is a descendant of the Swedish noble Gyllenhaal family on his father's side and of a Jewish New York family on his mother's side.)
#2- It seems kind of strange that Indiana Jones and the Prince of Persia are interchangeable in Lego land since the Prince of Persia is from Persia and Indiana Jones is well, not.  
#3- Earlier in the month I had seen clips of CNN's study on race and what I had seen had shocked me.





Another clip from the study, "Why do you want that skin color?" 


Parts two and three of the study's findings continued here.

I have been in Trevor's life for the last three years.  Since I have been dating his father we have:

#1- talked about Thanksgiving and what happened with the Native Americans that were here before us; 
#2- talked about immigration and the DREAM Act and taken him and his brother to detention centers and immigration marches;
#3- talked about Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Park;
#4- talked about the struggles that the Irish have gone through historically both in this country and in Great Britain.

So this week-end we talked about the Prince of Persia and CNN's video clips on race.  Trevor's response when he saw the clips?

"They don't know anything."

We asked him, "What don't they know anything about Trevor?"

His response, "They don't know anything about anything. All people are the same.  It doesn't matter what color they are on the outside."

We proceeded to have a great conversation about what this means for him in school as a young blond haired white male, as well as the child of a multi-racial family (his cousins are mixed, African-American fathers and a white mother as well as one cousin whose mother is Latina and whose father is white).  Moreover, I spoke to him about privilege and structural inequalities and  explained to him that if someday his father and I had a child that his brother or sister may look like me, much tanner than either he or his brother.  I am happy to report that little Trevor was quite engaged in the conversation, asked many questions, offered up his thoughts and overall his main concern seemed to be that we not have the child too soon, since right now he's our little baby.

I was thankful that we were able to have the talk that we did with our six year old, especially in light of the CNN study which says that children's views on race are informed by the conversations that they have/do not have with their parents.  Moreover, I was thankful that Rich has done such a phenomenal job raising the children the way that he has and I was thankful that I was there to be a part of the conversation with this brilliant little being as he continues to grow up.

For more on the importance of talking about race with children, regardless of their race, read this post from Modern Familia. 

Al and Tipper Gore - Musings from a New Bride

Thanks Doni!

I had heard that divorce after 40 years was extremely unusual. TIME even did a piece on it because of the Al and Tipper split.

Congratulations on the 23 years of marriage and 30 years of togetherness!

Good to know that being empty nesters might even bring us closer.

:-)

"Get married and fear not" - I love that.

That will be my mantra on my way to Tibet! ;-)
About Marriage
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Al and Tipper Gore - Musings from a New Bride

Hola Humanatek!

We might have to make a trip out to California sooner rather than later so that we can both enroll in that "You're always right honey" training. :-)

Thank you for the congratulations!

Looking forward to meeting you and your wife in person soon! Great Peruvian food sounds delicious!
About Marriage
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Al and Tipper Gore - Musings from a New Bride

Hey there Prerna! I can only speak for myself, but I cared about Al and Tipper's marriage because for me they were role models. In what seemed like a crazy D.C. world these two seemed to have a solid, loving, romantic marriage.

The stats on marriage and divorce are not pretty. To see role models who seem to have it together is inspiring. At least, that was the case for me.

Necessary? Perhaps not. But definitely nice to see/nice to have.
About Marriage
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Al and Tipper Gore - Musings from a New Bride

Yesterday my beloved sent me a text asking me if I had seen the news on twitter - Al and Tipper Gore were getting a divorce.

Folks mused,

"Who gets the internet?"

"Who would have thought that Bill and Hillary would last longer."

"I am so upset."

As someone who is just entering this bond called marriage for the first time in her life and as an abashed fan of the Al and Tipper romance, I too was sent reeling by the news.  

A few takeaways for me were as follows:  

1- No one ever knows what is truly going on between a couple except for the couple. 

2- Marriage is not a cake walk - even after, or perhaps especially not after 40 years.

3- Anything can happen along the journey, no matter who you are.

I don't know why Al and Tipper decided to call it quits after forty years.  

I do know that for many of us the news was particularly devastating because in this modern age where few marriages last theirs "seemed" like one that was working despite of their great political success and that gave the rest of us hope.  

Now we are left to our own devices and left to fend for our partnerships on our own.  

I still plan on getting  married overseas in a few months.  

I am doing so with eyes wide open.  I happen to be marrying a great man who is kind, generous, patient and incredibly loving but even so we still have our ups and our downs.  (We are after all human.)  I am hopeful that our marriage will last more than forty years, to the end of our lives where we both get to swing on the porch as old people holding hands; and though anything can happen along that journey, no matter who we choose to be I am hopeful that we are able to make it through, despite the odds, unscathed.  

Marriage is not a cake walk- that we both know well but I am hopeful that we are able to make it through as a couple.

As for Al and Tipper, I wish them all the best and much happiness.  Thank you for being a role model for us for so many years and thank you for having the courage to do what you both thought was best.