Summary
This article is about a parade known to those that live in Philadelphia, which occurs on New Years' Eve. It is called the Mummers Parade and it holds a "carnival-esque event" about European traditions. But during this joyous time, there was also a great controversy and then it gained a lot of criticism. The musical skit that was performed on this day started people that looked like stereotypical Native Americans and Indians. The Native Americans represented US citizens, while the Indians play roles of people of other countries from all over the globe that were "stealing" jobs from the Americans. Blackface was then banned from the events even though people try to use the "tradition" excuse to explain the skit.
Reflections
This is a horrible presentation on behalf of both the people in the skit and those who came up with this idea. It really does make me feel not only uneasy but also gullible. I thought that Americans were not driven completely away from racism but extremely past this way of thinking. Being in Newark, I see a lot of diversity so I know that racism is much more evident in those places than cities like this. It's just ridiculous that people still have this disturbing mindset in the year of 2013, even though it seems like an eon away from segregation. Another thing that just makes me think a lot is that people have the mentality that Caucasians have the right to a good job and that immigrants are "stealing" even though they haven't earned it. With all the immigrants and people from different races now in the country, people still have the nerve to say or portray these kinds of things.
This article really surprised me and made me realize that we have come along way as Americans but we still have a long way to go. Most people hold on to hate, and violence instead of loving one another and living in peace >
ReplyDeleteI don understand how us, as Americans, can act so crule and try to bring others down by making fun of them. This does nothing to help our society, aren't we trying to make people live in peace together, not make others look stupid? This is a question I always ask my self, why do people try to make it difficult to live with each other in a non discriminating community? And this is a question we should all ask ourselves, because with out paying attention to the wrong that's being done, nothing will change.
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