White House. Black Market.
The other night I met a friend for dinner at PF Chang's (that's worth
another blog post in itself. No comment for now) and as I walked around
the mall area, I came across the store "White House/Black Market." In
an earlier post I wrote about the power of language and I would add also
the power of media and marketing to shape our perspectives and beliefs
about anything and everyone.
For a long while I didn't think about the name of the store. I mean it had an abundance of my favorite clothing color - Black! It made it so much easier to go to this store to find that perfect LBD (Little Black Dress) for a special occasion. Then it struck me after teaching a class about race and racism in the US and in Evangelical Churches, that the store's name is reinforcing what we believe about people. It's all so subtle yet so obvious too.
Think about it...The White House is the seat of Power, Privilege and Legitimacy in the US and around the world. A Black Market is Poverty, Cheap and Illegal.
I also think of two experiences that reinforced how even being a US American equated Whiteness and thus better and more desired. When I was in China, my students were deeply disappointed to discover that their new US American teacher was Asian. I asked them what they expected and they said they wanted an "American teacher" who looked like those they saw on US American TV shows, that is, White, Blond and Blue-Eyed.
Another was a Japanese woman who had recently gotten married and I asked her, "What's his background?" She said, "He's an American." I said, "Well, so am I then is he Asian?" She laughed in embarrassment and said "No, he's White."
All this to say that it takes a whole lot of work for any of us to counter the persistent onslaught of stereotyping that comes from media and marketing. Next time you walk into White House/Black Market, take pause.
For a long while I didn't think about the name of the store. I mean it had an abundance of my favorite clothing color - Black! It made it so much easier to go to this store to find that perfect LBD (Little Black Dress) for a special occasion. Then it struck me after teaching a class about race and racism in the US and in Evangelical Churches, that the store's name is reinforcing what we believe about people. It's all so subtle yet so obvious too.
Think about it...The White House is the seat of Power, Privilege and Legitimacy in the US and around the world. A Black Market is Poverty, Cheap and Illegal.
I also think of two experiences that reinforced how even being a US American equated Whiteness and thus better and more desired. When I was in China, my students were deeply disappointed to discover that their new US American teacher was Asian. I asked them what they expected and they said they wanted an "American teacher" who looked like those they saw on US American TV shows, that is, White, Blond and Blue-Eyed.
Another was a Japanese woman who had recently gotten married and I asked her, "What's his background?" She said, "He's an American." I said, "Well, so am I then is he Asian?" She laughed in embarrassment and said "No, he's White."
All this to say that it takes a whole lot of work for any of us to counter the persistent onslaught of stereotyping that comes from media and marketing. Next time you walk into White House/Black Market, take pause.
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