The most unsettling connection between Black Like Me and Crash that I made were the ones I relate to the most. The way the white man sensually portrays the black bodies coupled with the way the blacks relate to the color of their skin. For me, being a biracial female these two things cause much dismay. While the times will continue to change I don't envision that the way the blacks are perceived nor the stereotypes that are tagged to each individual will ever disappear.
For the black woman, there are not many positive stereotypes. We are loud, sassy, angry, oversexualized, full of daddy issues, prudent, and bossy. Libido of blacks seems to be a fascination throughout both Crash and Black Like Me. In Crash officer John Ryan pulls over Cameron and Christine Thayer and sexually harasses Christine in front of her husband and his partner Tommy Hanson. Cameron does nothing about it in fear that he will end up dead for retaliating against a white officer. So instead he stands still and begs for his wife to stop talking and cooperate with the police. While in black like me griffin is hitchhiking the white men who pick him up without fail proceed to ask griffin about the size of his genitalia and the negro sex life. One of the men who picked up griffin is described as a respectable man yet he also goes on to tell griffin that “all white men in the region craved colored girls” and then explains to griffin that if the girls don't “put out” then they would not have any way to feed themselves or their children. The black women were being forced into this lifestyle because it was the only option they had to survive. Some whites though that they were doing the blacks a favor by having sex with their women because it would make their children lighter skinned and ultimately help purify the race. …show more content…
When I read that for the first time I was taken back. My childhood had convinced me that lighter skin was better. Through the way media and society had shown me that the white girls on tv were always more liked, popular and pretty than the less important black character I was convinced that I would only ever have children with lighter skin than me. I didn't think that my thoughts were unjust. I told my mom I would only marry a white guy when I was in 6th grade and she was shocked that I would ever have thought anything like that. All my life I had been told “you're pretty for a black girl” or “you're lucky you have such a beautiful complexion.” These compliments taught me that I should be proud that I'm not too dark because black isn't beautiful unless it's mixed. In both the Black Like Me and Crash there is a man who doesn't want to associate himself with the other blacks. It is as if he is better than the others or he feels he is being put into the wrong category. He is misunderstood because he doesn't meet the stereotypes assigned to his color. They deny the blackness in their melanin and do not want to associate with it. Today within the black community there is still this divide against themselves.
For the black woman, there are not many positive stereotypes. We are loud, sassy, angry, oversexualized, full of daddy issues, prudent, and bossy. Libido of blacks seems to be a fascination throughout both Crash and Black Like Me. In Crash officer John Ryan pulls over Cameron and Christine Thayer and sexually harasses Christine in front of her husband and his partner Tommy Hanson. Cameron does nothing about it in fear that he will end up dead for retaliating against a white officer. So instead he stands still and begs for his wife to stop talking and cooperate with the police. While in black like me griffin is hitchhiking the white men who pick him up without fail proceed to ask griffin about the size of his genitalia and the negro sex life. One of the men who picked up griffin is described as a respectable man yet he also goes on to tell griffin that “all white men in the region craved colored girls” and then explains to griffin that if the girls don't “put out” then they would not have any way to feed themselves or their children. The black women were being forced into this lifestyle because it was the only option they had to survive. Some whites though that they were doing the blacks a favor by having sex with their women because it would make their children lighter skinned and ultimately help purify the race. …show more content…
When I read that for the first time I was taken back. My childhood had convinced me that lighter skin was better. Through the way media and society had shown me that the white girls on tv were always more liked, popular and pretty than the less important black character I was convinced that I would only ever have children with lighter skin than me. I didn't think that my thoughts were unjust. I told my mom I would only marry a white guy when I was in 6th grade and she was shocked that I would ever have thought anything like that. All my life I had been told “you're pretty for a black girl” or “you're lucky you have such a beautiful complexion.” These compliments taught me that I should be proud that I'm not too dark because black isn't beautiful unless it's mixed. In both the Black Like Me and Crash there is a man who doesn't want to associate himself with the other blacks. It is as if he is better than the others or he feels he is being put into the wrong category. He is misunderstood because he doesn't meet the stereotypes assigned to his color. They deny the blackness in their melanin and do not want to associate with it. Today within the black community there is still this divide against themselves.