Friday, February 29, 2008

Nubbins

If you don't listen to This American Life on NPR, OR if you may have missed a few in the last couple of months, you MUST HEAR "Babies Buying Babies" from January 18. It's free. Listen now. Thank me later.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

anna tells her story well, and she is very funny but it's not so shocking. white people want to buy white babies dolls the same way black families would like to have a black baby dolls for their children, I guess it just means not that many black familys are shopping at FAO.

everyone wants to be so PC these days. For the record I would not buy a black doll for my white daughter, I'd look at the whiter selection online.

Anonymous said...

I think the issue anna brings up is a reflection not on general race but on the concept of "race mixing." For example, if the world is "color blind" then the odds are good that the white girls/children MAY actually marry a black man. And if they do and have kids, their kids won't look "pure white." But to avoid even the possibility of that (which, from the article, some kids sound like they'd be ok with), Mom treats the black babydolls like kryptonite. In theory, a baby is a baby is a baby, color regardless. But in practice: not so much.

Anonymous said...

Come on....It's just a hilarious story!

Anonymous said...

It was a great story! I really liked it, and vowed to get my child a minority doll when I have a child.

Also, I met a baby that just reminded me too much of that story, so I call the little guy Nubbins. No one except my mom and I understand it.

Unknown said...

I truly enjoyed the story, but sadly this is not as shocking as one would think to the average African American. We are completely aware of the unspoken bias held by most non Black peoples. Most of the images of us are less than respectable. The few that are find themselves separated into a category reserved for your Michael Jordan's and Tiger Woods'. Safe and not quite Black. As an educated professional Black man it bothers me that we are still weighed by the actions of the least of us and demonized by the images that portray us at our worst. It is my truest belief that there will never be racial equality or tolerance until we all wake up a different color than we were when we went to sleep. I could see the direction of the story before it neared the end, the least wanted of all as usual.

Nick said...

I just listened to the podcast, googled the episode, and arrived at your blog. I did this because I have curly red hair, green eyes, a big head, and two toes on each of my feet are webbed. I kid you not.