I have another question....
Sep. 8th, 2005 09:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
Gee, this is a change from my posting habits of late, isn't it?
You all have, of course, seen the article about the seven kids left alone, right?
The first time I read this article, the following quote really stood out:
The children were clean and healthy--downright plump in the case of the infant, said Joyce Miller, a nurse who examined them. It was clear, she said, that "time had been taken with those kids."
And it stood out again now that I re-read it, for the same reason - it's just thrown in there. And every time I read it, I get the nagging feeling that it's mentioned because somebody or other was surprised by this fact.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that these children are black and poor - not only is this the description of most of the people who were trapped in buildings after the hurricane, but the names of the kids shout "black" to me. They don't have to mean that, but they're fairly typical names for black kids. This is not a prejudice, this is solid, verifiable fact - there's people who keep records on this sort of thing.
I just can't help reading that article and getting the idea that somebody, a nurse or the person writing it or somebody, was just surprised that these (probably poor) black kids would be clearly well-taken care of.
What *really* gets me about that (and I could be wrong) is that if somebody had that prejudice, it's completely opposite *my* prejudice, based on experience, about young black kids. From what I've seen in my life, black children are almost universally well cared for. They have neat, clean clothes. They have neat, clean hair - often neat, clean, well-styled hair. They are polite and well-behaved. They're happy. The only thing that might get in the way of this is having a very bad family situation, but even then... I went to school in a gifted program that might actually have been filled with gifted kids, because a lot of them lived with their aunts and uncles, or with their grandparents. If their parents didn't take care of them, then they didn't take care of them officially.
Which I guess is why the line bothers me that much. It's not bothering me because I read it as an expression of prejudice, it's bothering me because if my reading is correct, that expression is completely contrary to what I've seen with my... well, my own two eyes, as compared to G'kar's own blue eye, I suppose. And that really irks me.
Really.
(That said, when I do Ana's hair, it always looks a mess, and I feel bad, because, like I said, black children always look well-taken care of, and that includes the hair. Does *anybody* have any suggestions for doing the hair of a half-black toddler when you're not really capable of doing your own hair? It doesn't have to be fancy, it just has to be neat, off her face, and not likely to puff into a mess before her nap.)
You all have, of course, seen the article about the seven kids left alone, right?
The first time I read this article, the following quote really stood out:
The children were clean and healthy--downright plump in the case of the infant, said Joyce Miller, a nurse who examined them. It was clear, she said, that "time had been taken with those kids."
And it stood out again now that I re-read it, for the same reason - it's just thrown in there. And every time I read it, I get the nagging feeling that it's mentioned because somebody or other was surprised by this fact.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that these children are black and poor - not only is this the description of most of the people who were trapped in buildings after the hurricane, but the names of the kids shout "black" to me. They don't have to mean that, but they're fairly typical names for black kids. This is not a prejudice, this is solid, verifiable fact - there's people who keep records on this sort of thing.
I just can't help reading that article and getting the idea that somebody, a nurse or the person writing it or somebody, was just surprised that these (probably poor) black kids would be clearly well-taken care of.
What *really* gets me about that (and I could be wrong) is that if somebody had that prejudice, it's completely opposite *my* prejudice, based on experience, about young black kids. From what I've seen in my life, black children are almost universally well cared for. They have neat, clean clothes. They have neat, clean hair - often neat, clean, well-styled hair. They are polite and well-behaved. They're happy. The only thing that might get in the way of this is having a very bad family situation, but even then... I went to school in a gifted program that might actually have been filled with gifted kids, because a lot of them lived with their aunts and uncles, or with their grandparents. If their parents didn't take care of them, then they didn't take care of them officially.
Which I guess is why the line bothers me that much. It's not bothering me because I read it as an expression of prejudice, it's bothering me because if my reading is correct, that expression is completely contrary to what I've seen with my... well, my own two eyes, as compared to G'kar's own blue eye, I suppose. And that really irks me.
Really.
(That said, when I do Ana's hair, it always looks a mess, and I feel bad, because, like I said, black children always look well-taken care of, and that includes the hair. Does *anybody* have any suggestions for doing the hair of a half-black toddler when you're not really capable of doing your own hair? It doesn't have to be fancy, it just has to be neat, off her face, and not likely to puff into a mess before her nap.)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 02:01 am (UTC)As for the hair thing -- I don't have much experience with taking care of different hair textures, but my girls have dead-straight, baby-fine, billions-of-strands-per-square-cm hair that tangles as soon as you look at it. (Seriously, I mean it -- it seems to draw up in these enormous knots when I look at it from across the room.) A hairdresser said the number one tip for more manageable hair for any type was to stop using "two in one" products (shampoo and conditioner) since that puts wax on the hair and actually increases tangling. Beyond that, I hqave little advice except to say that short haircuts look really great on young girls!
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 02:03 am (UTC)She doesn't have the hair for short hair. If you cut it, it keeps being tangly and all, but now you can't even braid it to make it look neat.
It's never been cut, mind, but I remember how it was when she was little.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 02:04 am (UTC)(Mind, I don't think they were surprised because the kids were simply black - I think they were surprised because the kids were poor and black.)
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 02:46 am (UTC)Sometimes a bout of the flu can make a kid look downright malnourished.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 03:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 03:15 am (UTC)And I think that children have a higher metabolism but for all I know that could be an old wive's tale.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 03:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 02:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 05:29 pm (UTC)iawtc
no subject
Date: 2005-09-10 06:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 03:37 am (UTC)They were with their parents.
Their parents put them on a helicopter, now just guessing here, but that helicopter was flown by adults, right?
So, what did the adults responsible for them do when they took them off the helicopter? Release them into the wild unwatched?
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 03:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 07:48 am (UTC)I don't know the accuracy of this, but it sounds like a possibility.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 04:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 05:51 pm (UTC)I get like that too, so that's a fine pair we make, huh? I meant to go on AIM earlier, and didn't, and then I decided against it because it does seem rude to go "I'm on, but only for a few minutes before I must go to bed".
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 02:01 am (UTC)As for the hair thing -- I don't have much experience with taking care of different hair textures, but my girls have dead-straight, baby-fine, billions-of-strands-per-square-cm hair that tangles as soon as you look at it. (Seriously, I mean it -- it seems to draw up in these enormous knots when I look at it from across the room.) A hairdresser said the number one tip for more manageable hair for any type was to stop using "two in one" products (shampoo and conditioner) since that puts wax on the hair and actually increases tangling. Beyond that, I hqave little advice except to say that short haircuts look really great on young girls!
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 02:03 am (UTC)She doesn't have the hair for short hair. If you cut it, it keeps being tangly and all, but now you can't even braid it to make it look neat.
It's never been cut, mind, but I remember how it was when she was little.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 02:04 am (UTC)(Mind, I don't think they were surprised because the kids were simply black - I think they were surprised because the kids were poor and black.)
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 02:46 am (UTC)Sometimes a bout of the flu can make a kid look downright malnourished.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 03:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 03:15 am (UTC)And I think that children have a higher metabolism but for all I know that could be an old wive's tale.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 03:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 02:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 05:29 pm (UTC)iawtc
no subject
Date: 2005-09-10 06:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 03:37 am (UTC)They were with their parents.
Their parents put them on a helicopter, now just guessing here, but that helicopter was flown by adults, right?
So, what did the adults responsible for them do when they took them off the helicopter? Release them into the wild unwatched?
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 03:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 07:48 am (UTC)I don't know the accuracy of this, but it sounds like a possibility.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 04:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 05:51 pm (UTC)I get like that too, so that's a fine pair we make, huh? I meant to go on AIM earlier, and didn't, and then I decided against it because it does seem rude to go "I'm on, but only for a few minutes before I must go to bed".