Karen Gonzales

Web Review

June 19, 2006

Breaking the Color Code:  African American Assimilation

I found this article by Carrie Arnett very interesting.  I have heard remarks from my students, both Black and Latino, about “light” skin color and have always found it troubling.  I sometimes hear students teasing or – sometimes seriously- making remarks about those with darker toned skin. 

I do agree with her assessment that the dominant culture does judge people for lighter and darker skin color and judges people with darker skin tones negatively.  That skin bleaching alienates people from both races doubly sad.

In our readings skin color was brought up several times.  In the story “Children of the Sea”, the protagonist worried that being in the sun for so long had made his skin too dark, and that he would not pass for Cuban – which was more advantageous for rescue than being Dominican. In “Silent Dancing” the father was more readily accepted by the dominant culture than his darker skinned wife and children.  The girls in “Barbie-que” also discussed the bond hair and light skin of their Barbies.

Mexican Women Writers

I was happy to see the sample research papers with new Mexican Women Writers.  I very much enjoy Sandra Cisneros and would like to read Maria Luisa Puga as well.  The Mexican women writers I have read have a sense of humor, a sense of the ironic and inform me about the culture of my husband’s family.