Jessi race in the bsc and Black history month

[greer]

^ I agree with your points. Maybe the reason why the racism in the California Diaries was handled so much better was because a)it was written later and b)because they were writing for a slightly older audience and therefore could SHOW real racism, instead of just saying, "Oh, people were mean to the Ramseys."

[luckymojo]

alula said:

I personally don't like descriptors like "cocoa-colored skin" because I feel like it borders on "exotifying the Other," to be all post-modern snotty about it. (And why is it always food?)

Ma_4_ya, have you read the California Diaries? I just read them for the first time and I thought Amalia #3 was a much more thoughtful and realistic take on racial issues than any of the Jessi books.

I feel like I'm not going to say this well, but I sometimes wonder if some of the issue with Jessi is that the discussions of race tend to be very broad and not specific, and part of that was discomfort on the part of the writers. I remember when I read "Hello, Mallory" for the first time and those girls were calling Jessi "Mobobwee," I mostly just thought it was strange, because it didn't seem to me to be the way pre-teen girls in the late 80s would be racist. It's not like I grew up in some kind of multicultural "We are the World," paradise, but even then I thought it was a weird insult because it didn't reflect what girls in that setting would actually say, because I don't think the prevailing racist stereotypes at that point were about black people as immigrants (I assumed that "Mobobwee" was the girls "joking" about what a "real" African name would be.) I would think nasty comments about "welfare queens" or something about Jessi having a stereotypical African-American name (something like "LaKisha," which the "classy" kids in my middle school would probably have considered incredibly tacky), or really, something using outright racial slurs would be more likely. Obviously I understand why the writers wouldn't use those words in BSC books, but I definitely think that unease on the part of the writers made them shy away from depicting really gritting racism, so they were stuck in this nether-world of making a big deal about it, but not really placing it in context--which is one of the reasons why Jessi gets so much flack for times when she perceives or anticipates racism when there's something else going on, because it isn't really established in a meaningful way. (For example, I don't get the feeling that anyone at her dance school really thought much about having a black Swanilda or Aurora--plenty of theatres and dance companies have been doing racially blind casting since before Jessi was born--but I can understand why she might have made that assumption when she was really getting negative vibes from being the youngest in the class and getting the leads.)

I just used a ton of unnecessary quotation marks in this post, I think.

I agree with you on how unrealistic the teasing of Jessi was but I must bring something up that bothers me.What do you mean people in your middle school think a name like laKisha is tacky?Well my name is latisha so my name is tacky as well right?I am so f***ing sick of our society!I better end this right here before I say something Ill regret.

[Penny Lane]

It drives me crazy how Jessi is described as dark-skinned, but then is portrayed on some of the covers as lighter skinned.

[luckymojo]

cpennylane said:

It drives me crazy how Jessi is described as dark-skinned, but then is portrayed on some of the covers as lighter skinned.

Yes,thank you!Thats stupid!I starting to believe they dont like the color of dark skin.Not enough ''appeal'' to it.

[dawnomite]

alula said:

I personally don't like descriptors like "cocoa-colored skin" because I feel like it borders on "exotifying the Other," to be all post-modern snotty about it. (And why is it always food?)

Ma_4_ya, have you read the California Diaries? I just read them for the first time and I thought Amalia #3 was a much more thoughtful and realistic take on racial issues than any of the Jessi books.

I feel like I'm not going to say this well, but I sometimes wonder if some of the issue with Jessi is that the discussions of race tend to be very broad and not specific, and part of that was discomfort on the part of the writers. I remember when I read "Hello, Mallory" for the first time and those girls were calling Jessi "Mobobwee," I mostly just thought it was strange, because it didn't seem to me to be the way pre-teen girls in the late 80s would be racist. It's not like I grew up in some kind of multicultural "We are the World," paradise, but even then I thought it was a weird insult because it didn't reflect what girls in that setting would actually say, because I don't think the prevailing racist stereotypes at that point were about black people as immigrants (I assumed that "Mobobwee" was the girls "joking" about what a "real" African name would be.) I would think nasty comments about "welfare queens" or something about Jessi having a stereotypical African-American name (something like "LaKisha," which the "classy" kids in my middle school would probably have considered incredibly tacky), or really, something using outright racial slurs would be more likely. Obviously I understand why the writers wouldn't use those words in BSC books, but I definitely think that unease on the part of the writers made them shy away from depicting really gritting racism, so they were stuck in this nether-world of making a big deal about it, but not really placing it in context--which is one of the reasons why Jessi gets so much flack for times when she perceives or anticipates racism when there's something else going on, because it isn't really established in a meaningful way. (For example, I don't get the feeling that anyone at her dance school really thought much about having a black Swanilda or Aurora--plenty of theatres and dance companies have been doing racially blind casting since before Jessi was born--but I can understand why she might have made that assumption when she was really getting negative vibes from being the youngest in the class and getting the leads.)

I just used a ton of unnecessary quotation marks in this post, I think.

What a well written, well thought out post. Good food for thought.

[alula]

^Thank you.

MA_4_ya, I'm really sorry if that part of my post offended you or hurt your feelings. I used that example because I remember having an argument with someone in high school, about whether reacism was still a problem in the U.S. (well, duh!) studies that showed employers are less likely to interview people whose resumes have names that "sound" African-American. He said, basically, that if black people would just give their kids "normal" names, that wouldn't be an issue, and I was so appalled that I still remember it 10+ years later. And because Stoneybrook seems to be a lot like my town, I sort of transferred that there.

Again, I'm really sorry if what I said upset you.

[dawnomite]

luckymojo said:

alula said:

I personally don't like descriptors like "cocoa-colored skin" because I feel like it borders on "exotifying the Other," to be all post-modern snotty about it. (And why is it always food?)

Ma_4_ya, have you read the California Diaries? I just read them for the first time and I thought Amalia #3 was a much more thoughtful and realistic take on racial issues than any of the Jessi books.

I feel like I'm not going to say this well, but I sometimes wonder if some of the issue with Jessi is that the discussions of race tend to be very broad and not specific, and part of that was discomfort on the part of the writers. I remember when I read "Hello, Mallory" for the first time and those girls were calling Jessi "Mobobwee," I mostly just thought it was strange, because it didn't seem to me to be the way pre-teen girls in the late 80s would be racist. It's not like I grew up in some kind of multicultural "We are the World," paradise, but even then I thought it was a weird insult because it didn't reflect what girls in that setting would actually say, because I don't think the prevailing racist stereotypes at that point were about black people as immigrants (I assumed that "Mobobwee" was the girls "joking" about what a "real" African name would be.) I would think nasty comments about "welfare queens" or something about Jessi having a stereotypical African-American name (something like "LaKisha," which the "classy" kids in my middle school would probably have considered incredibly tacky), or really, something using outright racial slurs would be more likely. Obviously I understand why the writers wouldn't use those words in BSC books, but I definitely think that unease on the part of the writers made them shy away from depicting really gritting racism, so they were stuck in this nether-world of making a big deal about it, but not really placing it in context--which is one of the reasons why Jessi gets so much flack for times when she perceives or anticipates racism when there's something else going on, because it isn't really established in a meaningful way. (For example, I don't get the feeling that anyone at her dance school really thought much about having a black Swanilda or Aurora--plenty of theatres and dance companies have been doing racially blind casting since before Jessi was born--but I can understand why she might have made that assumption when she was really getting negative vibes from being the youngest in the class and getting the leads.)

I just used a ton of unnecessary quotation marks in this post, I think.

I agree with you on how unrealistic the teasing of Jessi was but I must bring something up that bothers me.What do you mean people in your middle school think a name like laKisha is tacky?Well my name is latisha so my name is tacky as well right?I am so f***ing sick of our society!I better end this right here before I say something Ill regret.

I think Latisha is a pretty name. I had a frined in high school who was named Leticia (spelled like that, but pronounced the same) and I always thought it was so beautiful (and fitting for her, she was a very pretty girl). anyway, not that this in ANY way excuses name-snobbery, but because Latisha has a long history and has been around for ages in different forms or different spellings, I don't think it would be subjected to the same criticism LaKisha would, since the latter is, as far as a know, a "newer, trendier" name that has only been around (or at least well known) since the latter part of the 20th century. If I'm worng on this though, pleas let me know

[luckymojo]

^Thats ok alula,i wasnt talking about you when i said those things.
Dawnomite,I like the name Latisha as well!^_^

[m0drnmoonlight]

I know the original author of this post, was looking for examples of awkward stuff about how Jessi's race was handled, and there was one in Kristy and the Mother's Day Surprise that really made me raise my eyebrows. I didn't read it as a kid, I only read it a couple of months when I found it at the library near where I work, so I don't know if this is just my perspective as a 22-year-old or what, but it still surprised me.

Ok, so you all know the premise - the BSC is hosting a special Mother's Day outing for their charges, taking the kids to the carnival and then back to Claudia's for arts and crafts so the moms have the day to relax. Stacey's in NY for this book, and comes back to Stoneybrook for the weekend to help out, and I'm pretty sure it's the first time since moving that she's been back in Stoneybrook.

Anyway, she goes up to Jessi at a BSC meeting and says "Oh! And you must be Jessi!" and introduces herself. And while she does this, Kristy mentally shakes her head at Stacey and thinks (I'm paraphrasing, because I don't have the book) "Did Stacey just assume that was Jessi because she's black? How rude is she? We don't care that she's black!" Um, Stacey didn't say anything about Jessi's appearance, it wasn't like she said "Oh you're the black chick, you must be Jessi!"; and considering she's the only girl there who Stacey hadn't met yet, I didn't see anything wrong with how Stacey introduced herself.

[supprazz]

^ omg that was in the book? Well I'm not surprised cause I really didn't like that book as a whole anyways. Well Stacey could have said it cause she already knew Mallory, but not Jessi.

[booboobrewer]

Here's the exact scene:

Stacey turned to Jessi. “I guess you’re Jessi Ramsey,” she said.

This comment was a little unnecessary. For one thing, Stacey knows that Jessi is black. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but that’s the truth, and anyway I’m always blunt. Besides, who else would Jessi be? We don’t bring guests to meetings.

Uh, it's Kristy's narrated comments that come across as unnecessary. And awkward. Stacey's comment was harmless, unless there was something more in her tone, and it doesn't appear that there is.

[alula]

Yeah, I always thought that was a weird comment on Kristy's part. I would consider that a normal thing to say to anyone under thoe circumstances (meeting one single new person in a group where you know everyone else.)

[zoar3]

Was Stacey supposed to play dumb and pretend she had no clue who Jessi was? I haven't read this one in ages but ITA alula that there was no reason why Stacey should not have said what she did. As for Kristy, very odd.

As for Jessi's skin color, to me, like others on here, it was the undertones..almost daring us (the reader) to make a big deal out of her being Black, that bothered me. Unless the ghosties ever wrote a second scene besides the one where the neighbor lady (don't remember her name) clearly is racist by demanding her daughter come back home that instant from trying to befriend Becca and create bubbles, that potrayed people being racist to Jessis or the Ramsey family or even any of them feeling uneasy like they were being discounted or otherwise not treated right because of their darker skin, after introducing Jessi, was there really a need to say in every book that "Jessi is black. Mallory is white?" Sort of eerie if that makes sense.

[m0drnmoonlight]

Jun 2, 2009 13:58:14 GMT -5 booboobrewer said:

Here's the exact scene:

Stacey turned to Jessi. “I guess you’re Jessi Ramsey,” she said.

This comment was a little unnecessary. For one thing, Stacey knows that Jessi is black. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but that’s the truth, and anyway I’m always blunt. Besides, who else would Jessi be? We don’t bring guests to meetings.

Uh, it's Kristy's narrated comments that come across as unnecessary. And awkward. Stacey's comment was harmless, unless there was something more in her tone, and it doesn't appear that there is.

Thanks for posting it! Oh wow, it's even more weird than I remembered! "Stacey knows that Jessi's black." I don't think that has anything to do with it, Kristy, since she's the only one in the BSC who Stacey doesn't know, so of course she'd single her out to say hi.

As for Jessi's skin color, to me, like others on here, it was the undertones..almost daring us (the reader) to make a big deal out of her being Black, that bothered me. Unless the ghosties ever wrote a second scene besides the one where the neighbor lady (don't remember her name) clearly is racist by demanding her daughter come back home that instant from trying to befriend Becca and create bubbles, that potrayed people being racist to Jessis or the Ramsey family or even any of them feeling uneasy like they were being discounted or otherwise not treated right because of their darker skin, after introducing Jessi, was there really a need to say in every book that "Jessi is black. Mallory is white?" Sort of eerie if that makes sense.

As for other scenes, in BSC in the USA, when they stop at Jessi's grandparents house, Jessi's looking at the African statues on her grandma's piano and has a flashback to bringing home a girl from school who laughed at the same statues in Jessi's house and teased her about it. Then Jessi said when her parents came to get her, her dad asked Jessi if any more of "YOU people" were moving to Stoneybrook. She's thinking about all of this because she's afraid Mallory might be racist, as she's very quiet and timid around her relatives.

I think the "Jessi's black, Mallory's white" thing was just a way of describing them, much like they say Claudia's Japanese-American, while Stacey is blonde-haired and blue-eyed. It's when it turned into "We'll just come out and say this - Jessi's black. But we don't care, honest! We love her no matter what color she is!" that it became unecessary, for the reasons you talked about. Unless that was what you were going for heh.

[zoar3]

Modrnmoonlight, I hear what your saying and agree.