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Beyond 'In the Heights,' colorism persists, rarely addressed

14 Comments
By ASTRID GALVAN

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It happened again with “In the Heights,” a big-budget film based on the musical created by Lin-Manuel Miranda, which was called out this week for its dearth of dark-skinned, Black Latinos in leading roles.

No, this is not a joke. Not in our Dem-fueled woke movement.

What next, movie with caucasians whose hair is not blonde enough? Movies with Japanese actors who do not bow deep enough?

For those who do not know, Lin-Manuel created "Hamilton"--about the founding fathers of the US--in which many of the actors were black.

What the heck does he have to apologize for?

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Bill Maher said of Miranda’s critics: “This is why people hate Democrats; It’s cringey… I mean he’s a Latino making a Latino movie with a Latino cast. Not good enough. Nothing is ever good enough for these people. They’re like children. We don’t raise our children right and it’s reflected in the media. No one ever tells their children, ‘Shut the f* up. Sit down. Listen to your elders. Stop b**ing.’”

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Yeah, Bill should sit down, shut up, and listen.

I don't get it, this isn't advice you follow, so from what position do you feel you have the right to tell him to do so? Do you not think that arguments should be evaluated on their merits, rather than the person delivering the argument? Or do you feel the argument is irrelevant if you don't like the speaker?

1 ( +3 / -2 )

girl_in_tokyoToday  09:09 am JST

Heh. I'd like to say the same thing to Maher. :)

Complaining about people pointing out racism. 

Yeah, Bill should sit down, shut up, and listen.

You read this article, and Maher's comment, and conclude Lin-Manuel is pointing to himself as being racist because of the "dearth of dark-skinned, Black Latinos in leading roles" in his film?

And you do know he is Hispanic.

Wow! I met someone Woke!!! Awesome.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Do you not think that arguments should be evaluated on their merits, rather than the person delivering the argument? Or do you feel the argument is irrelevant if you don't like the speaker?

To expand on this: if I were to give you a joint opinion from several doctors, all experts in vaccination, with decades of experience, who said that vaccines are good, and are not dangerous, and then presented you with a doctor specialising in dietary and gut diseases, who said that "actually, these vaccines are bad, even though my evidence is falsified, but I can promise you that this vaccine, whose patent I own, you should buy this one instead", who would you believe?

Do you want to go with the vast majority of doctors who are still qualified? Or the quack who was banned from practising medicine because he was a liar?

If you went with the quack, congratulations: you have the same views as Bill Maher.

I don't like being like this to you, Stranger. But there are some areas where your tendencies to ignore evidence to instead give credence to "both sides should come together" can be frustrating to read.

I'm also currently experiencing some quite significant personal issues, so please forgive me for any impatience I appear to be displaying.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

"It's like you can never do right it seems," Moreno said. "This is the man who literally has brought Latino-ness and Puerto Rican-ness to America. 

Rita Moreno is Puerto Rican.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Colorism is common throughout the world and throughout history. You should hear what the Vietnamese have been saying about their dark neighbors, the Cambodians, over the last few centuries.

The concept is almost universal. The US in the 21st century is one of the most progressive societies when it comes to "colorism."

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I don't get it, this isn't advice you follow, so from what position do you feel you have the right to tell him to do so?

I can't speak for GiT, but I can say for myself: Bill Maher is an absolute moron.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

No one ever tells their children, ‘Shut the f* up. Sit down. Listen to your elders. Stop b**ing.’”

There's plenty of that lippy crap in American families. And parental ego.

AnonymousJune 23  02:41 pm JST

The solution is obvious.

Assign every resident of the US a number based on the shading of their skin. Employment could then be assigned proportionally assuring equity. To compensate for past inequities, those with the darkest shades are given priority and so down the spectrum.

How many shades? 100s. Fine tune it so there’ll be no complaints.

Unhappy with this system? Then create the same scale based on the length of one’s second toe relative to the big toe. (Ha, ha, ha! You’ve never seen my feet.)

Anthropologsts classify human beings in three major racial groups and each one has its subdivisions, often based in ethnicity, shade of skin and/or location. Race is more than skin color, it also is designated by shape of face features and hair folicle shapes and other factors.

There's been so much 'mixing together' all along. i don't think there's anyone in America that's 100% 'one race'. I'm not.

JeffLeeJune 23  08:24 am JST

Colorism is common throughout the world and throughout history. You should hear what the Vietnamese have been saying about their dark neighbors, the Cambodians, over the last few centuries.

And Japanese look quite different than Filipinos and Chinese too. Chinese are very diverse in skin tone, height and other factors. Over a billion people. People in the Indian subcontinent very greatly in skin tone. Black Africans vary greatly as well. In Europe the Greeks look different from the Irish.

Life's too short to be quibbling over factors like that.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

*No one ever tells their children, ‘Shut the f* up. Sit down. Listen to your elders. Stop b**ing.’”*

There's plenty of that lippy crap in American families. And parental ego.

AnonymousJune 23  02:41 pm JST

The solution is obvious.

Assign every resident of the US a number based on the shading of their skin. Employment could then be assigned proportionally assuring equity. To compensate for past inequities, those with the darkest shades are given priority and so down the spectrum.

How many shades? 100s. Fine tune it so there’ll be no complaints.

Unhappy with this system? Then create the same scale based on the length of one’s second toe relative to the big toe. (Ha, ha, ha! You’ve never seen my feet.)

Anthropologsts classify human beings in three major racial groups and each one has its subdivisions, often based in ethnicity, shade of skin and/or location. Race is more than skin color, it also is designated by shape of face features and hair folicle shapes and other factors.

There's been so much 'mixing together' all along. i don't think there's anyone in America that's 100% 'one race'. I'm not.

JeffLeeJune 23  08:24 am JST

Colorism is common throughout the world and throughout history. You should hear what the Vietnamese have been saying about their dark neighbors, the Cambodians, over the last few centuries.

And Japanese look quite different than Filipinos and Chinese too. Chinese are very diverse in skin tone, height and other factors. Over a billion people. People in the Indian subcontinent very greatly in skin tone. Black Africans vary greatly as well. In Europe the Greeks look different from the Irish.

Life's too short to be quibbling over factors like that. It's just a bunch of pettiness and it's trivial and superficial.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Colorism — or discrimination against darker-skinned people within their same ethnic group — lurks deep among pretty much all communities with varying levels of melanin.

Does this mean black people are discriminating against other blacks who have darker skin?

girl_in_tokyoJune 23  09:09 am JST

Complaining about people pointing out racism. 

Did you read the article? There was no racism.

girl_in_tokyoJune 23  09:09 am JST

Yeah, Bill should sit down, shut up, and listen.

Yeah Bill--shut up, Stop your vocal support for Bernie Sanders, Hillary and other Dems.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Commodore PerryToday 08:49 am JST

Bill Maher said of Miranda’s critics: “This is why people hate Democrats; It’s cringey… I mean he’s a Latino making a Latino movie with a Latino cast. Not good enough. Nothing is ever good enough for these people. They’re like children. We don’t raise our children right and it’s reflected in the media. No one ever tells their children, ‘*Shut the f up. Sit down. Listen to your elders. Stop bing.’”

Heh. I'd like to say the same thing to Maher. :)

Complaining about people pointing out racism.

Yeah, Bill should sit down, shut up, and listen.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

The solution is obvious.

Assign every resident of the US a number based on the shading of their skin. Employment could then be assigned proportionally assuring equity. To compensate for past inequities, those with the darkest shades are given priority and so down the spectrum.

How many shades? 100s. Fine tune it so there’ll be no complaints.

Unhappy with this system? Then create the same scale based on the length of one’s second toe relative to the big toe. (Ha, ha, ha! You’ve never seen my feet.)

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

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