Most kids can obviously be very
impressionable as they grow up and learn from people around them how they
should behave and what their perceptions should be. They are not born with
assumptions about different groups of people or have even a sense of physical differences
in people being something to take notice of, as should be the case. Outside
influences and social systems teach children as they grow that these differences
define a “type” of person and automatically instils stereotypes due to their
appearance – disregarding the person as an individual by grouping them into a
category or looking down at them as if they are inferior.
When I was of intermediate age I attended a boy’s party from my year, and I felt really excited to be invited to a party that consisted of a group of boys and girls I admired and considered to be the “cool group” at our school. At one point of the day, we sat around and ate snacks at the table and talked. I remember one of the boys telling jokes, some of which were racist. After this boy started sharing these jokes that were involving racial stereotypes, some of the others joined in and went back and forth seeing who had the best ones. I remember feeling uncomfortable about the jokes and especially as some of them involved stereotyping Maori and others were about people of colour, but did not say anything even though I knew the jokes were not right and that I shouldn’t be made to feel that way. In fact, I may have laughed along with the group even though I didn’t find any of their jokes funny at all, I probably just wanted to fit in or get along with them. I might also mention that most of the group were actually white. Looking back, I wonder where they had learned those jokes from at a young age as they seemed to know so many, and how and when they had decided, whether it was on their own or by influence of others, that racist humour was something that they found funny.
I recall that we talked in lectures about using cultural shorthand as a way to understand the world. I feel like this can be applied to the way in which children try to make sense of the world they're growing up in, because if they're surrounded by a world that normalises racist ideologies then it becomes a regular part of interaction for them in everyday life. Kids can be taught certain stereotypes that can change their behaviour towards particular "groups" of people and change their social attitudes about where people of different cultures and ethnicities stand in society, possibly effecting the way they end up as a person and having negative effects on people around them. Because of how normalised these stereotypes are and how much the media plays into the idea of grouping people, the ideologies just become common sense - it is a very powerful system to Stuart Hall. With these influences from media being so heavy in children's lives, they get a wrongful idea of how they should treat others and categorise them, and take the myth of race and power differentiation to look at others as inferior or superior simply because of how they appear and where they are from. They may not necessarily understand what they're being told about race or actually even believe in it, but still choose to use them because they think it's normal or cool to do so which is a sad thought.
When I was of intermediate age I attended a boy’s party from my year, and I felt really excited to be invited to a party that consisted of a group of boys and girls I admired and considered to be the “cool group” at our school. At one point of the day, we sat around and ate snacks at the table and talked. I remember one of the boys telling jokes, some of which were racist. After this boy started sharing these jokes that were involving racial stereotypes, some of the others joined in and went back and forth seeing who had the best ones. I remember feeling uncomfortable about the jokes and especially as some of them involved stereotyping Maori and others were about people of colour, but did not say anything even though I knew the jokes were not right and that I shouldn’t be made to feel that way. In fact, I may have laughed along with the group even though I didn’t find any of their jokes funny at all, I probably just wanted to fit in or get along with them. I might also mention that most of the group were actually white. Looking back, I wonder where they had learned those jokes from at a young age as they seemed to know so many, and how and when they had decided, whether it was on their own or by influence of others, that racist humour was something that they found funny.
I recall that we talked in lectures about using cultural shorthand as a way to understand the world. I feel like this can be applied to the way in which children try to make sense of the world they're growing up in, because if they're surrounded by a world that normalises racist ideologies then it becomes a regular part of interaction for them in everyday life. Kids can be taught certain stereotypes that can change their behaviour towards particular "groups" of people and change their social attitudes about where people of different cultures and ethnicities stand in society, possibly effecting the way they end up as a person and having negative effects on people around them. Because of how normalised these stereotypes are and how much the media plays into the idea of grouping people, the ideologies just become common sense - it is a very powerful system to Stuart Hall. With these influences from media being so heavy in children's lives, they get a wrongful idea of how they should treat others and categorise them, and take the myth of race and power differentiation to look at others as inferior or superior simply because of how they appear and where they are from. They may not necessarily understand what they're being told about race or actually even believe in it, but still choose to use them because they think it's normal or cool to do so which is a sad thought.
So there is this popular te reo Maori song which teaches us the words of the colours from English to Maori. If you can think of that popular song "you are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, ...". The popularity of that song is associated with the popularity in New Zealand of the song i am trying to talk about. There was this garage party in Christchurch, south Island. And my maori mate was teaching me a song that was what he says a joke. I thought ok cool (Drunk) so the original song goes "Ma is White, Whero is red, Kakariki green, pango is black, mango is too, A.E.I.O.U" but the version he taught me was "Ma is white, whero is white, kakariki white, white, white etc etc.." so this song, where i thought it was funny but never taking into account the historical context of the suffering at the hands of racists. This song was sung by me and my maori mate throughout the night as we would cling our bottles of beers in toast, not only embarrassing the people at the party but ourselves as well. If it had been someone elses garage party and not our mates then we would definitely have deserved whatever was dished out to us in terms of a severe ass kicking.
ReplyDeleteIt's so important to talk about children in topics like this since it does start and end with them! I have no doubt that if we are taught certain things about people while we are young that our mindset will change so much! As a young Arab girl growing up in a predominantly European primary school, I must say I faced a lot of comments here and there relating to my ethnicity. I remember that it never really got to me for some reason, but I always had in the back of my mind the thought that another child my age may be facing this and might be much more impacted by it than I am. Most of the comments I faced were definitely washed with 'it's a joke' or a laugh at the end to lighten up the topic. One particular instance I can remember is when 'Achmed the Dead Terrorist' puppet came about. This was around 2007 so I was about 10 or 11 years old. The image of an Arab being a terrorist had already been around unfortunately for a while by that time, but this brought it to a whole new level by making a joke around it. The stereotype was pretty scary to me as a child considering it related to violence and harming others, which is definitely not what I am concerned with. I'm not going to necessarily state the things that were said since there is probably too many to recall, but I'm so glad your post is about kids within this topic since images and conversations surrounding certain topics can change the way they think for the rest of their lives. I'm hoping some of the kids at my school have changed their mindset slightly since that period but I know it doesn't help when serious topics and stereotypes are being reinforced through humour and so-called comedy.
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