fluffy
New To Stoneybrook
Posts: 180
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Post by fluffy on Nov 20, 2007 1:17:08 GMT -5
I hope there isn't already a thread on this.. What interracial relationships can we remember from the BSC? Whenever Jessi had a love interest, he always had to be black, but Claudia dated mainly white guys (and only a few Asian guys). In one of the books, probably Snowbound, there is a passing mention of Jessi's date to the winter dance being a seventh-grade guy. Since as the books enjoy reminding us, Jessi is the only black kid in the sixth grade, this makes me think that they dropped that in on purpose so we wouldn't think Jessi was going with- someone who wasn't black. They go so far with this that even the ice cream guy who Jessi thinks is cute in Sea City is black. Jeez, ghostwriters. All this makes you wonder if the obscure purple sitter mentioned in Shadow Lake would have been allowed by Ann to date outside of her color. Outside of the sitters, I can only remember Stephen, the kid whose father was Korean and his mother was white. Does anyone know some YA books that have a more relaxed attitude to interacial relationships?
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Post by fairy3lf2 on Nov 20, 2007 6:00:41 GMT -5
I read a fanfic where Dawn dated the 7th grade black guy (his name was Curtis). The story was pretty mediocore but the concept of a BSC member dating a guy who was both younger and of a different race was very refreshing.
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Post by greer on Nov 20, 2007 13:30:28 GMT -5
i think it was just a much bigger deal at the time the books were written than it is now.
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blossom114
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,504
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Post by blossom114 on Nov 20, 2007 15:02:18 GMT -5
^ I hate to say it , but growing up my mom was totally against interracial relationships, and I wasn't against it, but I was still ... shocked... when i saw people i Knew i an interracial relationship...just because of that's the way my mother was. Prob back i the 80's it was still a big deal (i'm not sure) I was pretty biased when i first started reading the books that thy were dating in their own race unless mentioned otherwise.
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lilafowler
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,163
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Post by lilafowler on Nov 20, 2007 15:40:01 GMT -5
ITA. Didn't the BSC sit for biracial kids toward the end of the series?
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Lauren
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,026
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Post by Lauren on Nov 20, 2007 16:27:56 GMT -5
^ That would be interesting. The whole interracial thing has never bothered me, but most of the people in my hometown are totally against that. A lot of people there will have nothing to do with my family because my dad's German Jewish and my mom is half Russian/half Chinese.
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Post by aln1982 on Nov 20, 2007 20:18:51 GMT -5
Does anyone know some YA books that have a more relaxed attitude to interacial relationships? The Med Center books by Diane Hoh have a few interracial relationships. They're really good books. ;D
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Post by greer on Nov 20, 2007 21:08:56 GMT -5
^ That would be interesting. The whole interracial thing has never bothered me, but most of the people in my hometown are totally against that. A lot of people there will have nothing to do with my family because my dad's German Jewish and my mom is half Russian/half Chinese. a lot of people still have these kind of prejudices i think scholastic did not want to make any obvious political statements, especially at the peak of the BSC's popularity. in graduation day they could slip in the thing about sexual orientation with no one noticing because by this point the only people still reading the bsc were hardcore fans like us
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Post by morbiddadestiny on Nov 21, 2007 1:27:33 GMT -5
^ whoa, what thing about sexual orientation? i've sadly never been able to get my hands on a copy of graduation day.
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Post by greer on Nov 21, 2007 2:25:39 GMT -5
jessi says that you shouldnt discriminate bc of sexual orientation
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lilafowler
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,163
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Post by lilafowler on Dec 4, 2007 11:47:57 GMT -5
Contradicting my post before (about interracial relationships becoming more acceptable as the books went on), Peaches and Russ showed up pretty early in the series, didn't they? I feel like Asians were never treated as a minority as much as blacks were -- didn't it take a fan to point out to AMM that Claudia would likely be on the receiving end of racism at least sometimes if Jessi was so often (hence, Keep Out, Claudia)?
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Post by bscfan81 on Dec 4, 2007 12:35:19 GMT -5
^You're right. Somehow I don't think there were a lot of Asians in Stoneybrook, although a few are mentioned (like Jeannie Kim, one of Claudia's 7th grade friends). Yet it was always pointed out that Jessi faced discrimination, yet Claudia didn't seem to experience it that often. Interesting.
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