Is white always better?

For quite some time there has always been the concept that “white is better”. This can lead back to events such as slavery of African-Americans, or the gradual whitening in Latin America. As portrayed by society, the color white represents light, purity, power, and overall good; while the color black represents darkness, evil, dirty, etc. Due to Europeans and Americans overtaking places such as Latin America, and Africa through the use of slavery – whitening has started to take place.

In today’s society – being bi-racial is something that is starting to be more and more common. “In general, interracial marriage, which accounted for less than 1 percent of all marriages in the country, accounts today for 5.4 percent. (178). The effects on bi-racial children are assumed to be negative – that they face many struggles in life because they don’t know where they belong. But whose fault is that? It seems to be that most of society as a whole has their mind-set on “white is better” and they see the world as black and white. Any grey areas in life cause disruption, anxiety, and a reason to worry mainly because it’s something different or out of the norm.  In chapter 8, in reference to Latin America, Bonilla-Silva mentions the concept of Blanqueamiento. “Blanqueamiento was and is a real economic, political, and personal process…racial mixing oriented by the goal of whitening shows the effectiveness of the logic of white supremacy” (182). Gradual whitening of a minority group has been taking place by force for years – so why is it considered to be such a big deal when it occurs by choice – and by this I am referring to interracial marriage.

During the summer of 2013, cheerios released a commercial that sparked up a lot of controversy. The commercial featured a bi-racial child with a Caucasian mother and an African-American father. Those small details caused the commercial to receive many mixed responses. There were many outrageous racist comments made towards the commercial. “Commenters on the cereal's Facebook page also said they found the commercial "disgusting" and that it made them "want to vomit." Other hateful commenters expressed shock that a black father would stay with his family.” (Huffington Post). These comments were made purely because the couple was bi-racial and it is sad to know how immature people continue to be in such a progressive society. On the other hand, there were many positive comments made thanking cheerios for making such a realistic commercial and for not being afraid to portray the type of family that is present in today’s society.

One heartwarming, and shocking video shows the maturity encompassed by younger generations. A follow-up video exposes children’s reactions to the commercial and to the negative responses made towards the video. The children stated that they viewed nothing wrong with the video, and some were in tears when they were told that previous viewers had made racist comments toward the video. This shows how as a society, mixing of races, and racism in general is still an enormous issue that contaminated the mindsets of many people, but there is still hope. Younger generations are being raised in such a mixed society that they view it as the norm, and with time, they will continue to pass on those ideals to their children and maybe one day racism won’t be as prevalent as it continues to be today.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/31/cheerios-commercial-racist-backlash_n_3363507.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/15/kids-cheerios-commercial_n_3600766.html

http://www.today.com/news/cheerios-ad-mixed-race-family-draws-racist-responses-6C10169988