Chinese Idol Controversy

Can a Mixed Race Contestant Become a Chinese Idol?

By SIMON ELEGANT AND CHENGCHENG JIANG

In many ways, Lou Jing is a typical young Shanghainese woman. Pretty and confident, she speaks Mandarin heavily accented with the lilting tones of the Shanghai dialect and browses the malls of this huge city for the latest fashions.

But there is one thing that distinguishes this 20-year-old from her peers, something that has made her the unwitting focus of an intense public debate about what exactly it means to be Chinese: the color of her skin. Born to a Chinese mother and an African-American father whom she has never met, the theater student rocketed into the public consciousness last month when she took part in an American Idol-esque TV show, "Go! Oriental Angel." (See pictures of modern Shanghai.)

The marketing gurus for the series could hardly have dreamed of a better promotional gimmick when they started to investigate the backgrounds of the dozens of pop star wannabes to root out the competitors' mushy stories of triumph over adversity that are a well-worn staple of the genre. Here was a tale guaranteed to attract eyeballs - a girl of mixed race brought up by a single Chinese mother struggling to gain acceptance in a deeply conservative, some would say racist, society.

The strategy worked - perhaps too well. In August, Lou's appearance on the show not only boosted viewer numbers, but sparked an intense nationwide debate about the essential meaning of being "Chinese." Over the last month on Internet chat rooms, where modern China's sensitive issues are thrashed out by netizens long before they reach the heavily censored mainstream media, Lou's ethnicity has been the subject of a relentless barrage of criticism, some of it crudely racist. They think she should not have been allowed to compete on a Chinese show, or at least not to be selected to represent Shanghai in the national competition. She doesn't have fair skin, which is one of the most important factors for Chinese beauty. What's more, her mother and her biological father were never married. Morally, this kind of behavior shouldn't be publicized, so she shouldn't have been put on TV as a young "idol."

These kinds of posts on the most popular chat rooms have attracted thousands of comments. A few have been supportive of Lou, but the rest range from expressions of fear and ignorance to outright racism. One of the most popular posts about Lou Jing on the KDS Life forum asks in mock-seriousness: "Is it possible that she is Obama's daughter?" Another poster said: "I can't believe she's so shameless that she would go on TV." Most of the critics are agreed on one point - that this black woman cannot be regarded as a "real" Chinese.

As recently as the 1970s, foreigners were largely barred from living in China, let alone marrying a local. China does not easily accept mixed race children as "true-blooded" Chinese: As soon as a child is born, Chinese parents are required to register with the authorities as to which of the 56 government-approved ethnic groups their child belongs; there are no mixed-race categories. For her part, Lou feels she is very much Chinese. "When I meet somebody for the first time, they'd often ask me how I can speak Chinese so well, and I tell them 'Because I'm a Chinese, of course I can speak my mother-tongue well.'" Lou says defiantly. "I don't like to be treated differently."

As China undergoes an astonishing demographic shift and more foreigners make their homes in the Middle Kingdom, Lou is by no means the only one being treated differently.

Recent decades have seen a surge in the number of mixed-race couples. According to the data offered by Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, from 1994 to 2008, each year, there are about 3,000 more mixed race marriages in Shanghai. But as the children of that first generation of mixed-race marriages now come of age, their moves to gain acceptance in society - like Lou's participation in the TV show - have exposed a deep-running vein of xenophobia in Chinese society. Last year, Ding Hui, a young man of African-Chinese ethnicity, caused a stir when he was called up to the national volleyball team, prompting much soul-searching about whether this athlete should be allowed to represent China alongside other 'pure-blooded' Chinese competitors.

Eventually, Ding Hui did go on to play in the national team.

"As China continues to open up, this kind of phenomenon will become ever more prevalent," says David Zweig, a professor of Humanities & Social Sciences at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. "This is part of the process of internationalization, but we can only hope that Chinese people, including netizens and the people whose views tend towards extremism, can come to accept that there are many mixed-race people both in China and worldwide."

As for Lou, she found the whole experience more than a little disturbing. She did well in the show, ranking in the top 30 contestants before she was eliminated. Now she's back to her normal life as a college junior - with a little new insight into her home. "Through this competition, it's really scary to find out how the color of my skin can cause such a big controversy."

It's just another controversy involving Black women from racially biased media and society in general. Can Black women be just people instead of making our race an issue?

Racist White Man beat a Black Woman in front of her kid at cracker barrel restaurant

this one fell under the radar but didn't fall to far from RACISTWORLD

ATLANTA - The beating of a black female Army reservist outside a Georgia restaurant is being investigated as a possible hate crime, federal authorities said Wednesday.
Tashawnea Hill was kicked and punched by a white man Sept. 9 as he screamed racial slurs outside a Cracker Barrell in Morrow, about 15 miles southeast of Atlanta, police said. Troy D. West, 47, became enraged when Hill told him to be careful after he nearly hit her 7-year-old daughter while opening the restaurant's door, police said.
FBI spokesman Stephen Emmett said the Justice Department's civil rights division has initiated a probe into the incident.
Hill, who was taken to the hospital after the incident, said Wednesday that she is still in shock.
"I haven't been able to sleep since then," she said in a telephone interview on the way to the doctor's office. "My major concern is that my daughter is OK. Mommy will heal up. Mommy will get better, but she's the future."
West was charged with battery, disorderly conduct and cruelty to children, and is currently out on on $5,000 bond. A hearing has been set for Sept. 24 in Clayton County.
West, of Poulan, hasn't returned several calls seeking comment, and it wasn't clear if he had an attorney.
West told Morrow police he became upset because Hill spit on him after accusing him of trying to hit her daughter, according to the police report. But several witnesses said they never saw Hill spit on West.
His mother said in a brief phone interview Tuesday that her son would never hurt a mother, especially in front of a child.
"This just doesn't sound right," said Johnny West from her Poulan home.

Black Woman savagely beaten by a white male in front of her child.

Mitrice Richardson is missing!

Authorities are searching for 24-year-old Mitrice Richardson, who disappeared shortly after being released by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. Some are now blaming the police for her dissapearance. Learn more by using the link below:

http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/missingblackwomen.html

Dad Blames Race for White Son's Beating - AOL Black Voices

Dad Blames Race for White Son's Beating - AOL Black Voices: "NEW YORK (CNN) -- Brian Milligan Sr. believes his son's race triggered a brutal attack on the streets of Buffalo, New York.

CNN
Armed with a chunk of concrete, several assailants beat Brian Milligan Jr. on the back of the head on August 18, leaving a 3-inch gash. They kicked him in the face, breaking his jaw.

Bloodied and bruised, the 18-year-old managed to walk five blocks to his grandmother's house before being rushed to the hospital.

Milligan's father believes several African-Americans beat his son, who is white, because he is dating an African-American woman. He wants police to treat the beating as a hate crime. He also has criticized what he calls a deafening silence from the community, police and the national media.

'If this was a black guy who was beaten by a group of white guys for dating a white girl, people would be up in arms,' he said. 'There's a double standard.'"

Glenn Beck's scary negro militants turn out to be really, really scary dancers | Crooks and Liars

Crooks and Liars

It really must take a special level of Teh Stoopids to be Glenn Beck.

You all may remember this video from a couple of weeks ago, back when Beck was just warming up on his favorite subject -- the Threat of Evil Negroes Like Van Jones. (Presumably, the basis of this threat has something to do with black people being Sons of Ham or something like that.)

Well, Matt Osborne at HuffPo did some digging around to determine the nature of the second group of Scary Negroes featured in Beck's rant. And it turns out that they are very, very scary members of a black dance troupe:

Dated October 9th, 2008, here's a YouTube description from Christiv3:

A typical step show on college campuses throughout the country. The young kids from the "Obama Junior Fraternity" are emulating a historically black fraternity that is found on college campuses throughout the nation. Their teacher was probably a member.

Young men in this fraternity DO go on to become teachers, doctors, lawyers, architects and engineers. Not a bad way to achieve these goals..

These kids want to go to college so they can be like the men in this video who are in college and are pursueing their dreams.

Other members of this fraternity include Bill Cosby, Jesse Jackson, Langston Hughes, Count Basie and Michael Jordan.

Cosby, Basie, and Jordan? Commies, all of 'em.

The kids in Beck's video are students at the Urban Community Leadership Academy in Kansas City, Missouri. How did I learn this? Why, from going to the original "Negro army" YouTube video post ...

Suspect Arrested in Milwaukee Killings

Suspect Arrested in Milwaukee Killings
By DINESH RAMDE, AP

MILWAUKEE (Sept. 7) -- A Milwaukee newspaper reported Monday that local police had arrested a suspect in connection with the killings of seven women, including six suspected prostitutes, over a 21-year period that started in 1986.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the suspect, a 49-year-old Milwaukee man, was arrested Saturday and booked on a temporary felony warrant.
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Milwaukee Police Dept. via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / AP
This combination photo shows five of the seven murder victims who have been killed over a 21-year period in Milwaukee.

Police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz would not confirm an arrest Monday, telling The Associated Press only that police were talking with a "person of interest" in connection with a number of cold-case homicides.

The police department scheduled a news conference for Monday evening.

Police Chief Edward Flynn and Milwaukee County district attorney John Chisholm announced a new investigation four months ago after DNA evidence linked the women's deaths to one person. Police said then that they never stopped investigating the cases, but scored a major breakthrough when DNA technology suggested the same person killed six of the women and had sex with the seventh.

The victims were six black women between the ages of 19 and 41 and a white 16-year-old runaway. Their bodies were found within a 3-square-mile area of Milwaukee's north side between 1986 and 2007.

The investigation produced breaks in other cases. Detectives resubmitted more than 20 other DNA samples taken from prostitutes in unsolved homicide cases to the state crime laboratory to check for possible links to the killer. That work led to progress in at least 10 unrelated killings, authorities said.

Two people were charged in a pair cases from 1990 and charges were being considered against a third suspect, Chisholm said late last month.

Five other suspects have been identified in other cold cases, four of whom are currently serving life terms or extended terms, Flynn said. Police were continuing to gather more evidence in those cases, he said.

Why Michelle Obama's Hair Matters

Check out this great article by Time Magazine writer, Jenee Desmond Harris. The article is titled "Why Michelle Obama's Hair Matters"It discusses the debate going on in the African American Community between "natural" styles and processed or relaxed styles and which is more "black"

Read the article here:http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/blacknewsblackviews.html

Breaking News: An Arrest Is Made For The Rocky Mount Serial Murder

Thanks, Mr. Cook.

Finally, but why so long? The media and society didn't care about the lives of the women until it's too late.