That’s you though. You’re welcome to not feel anything when you float by white animatronics, not feel inspired, and move on. But this isn’t about how this effects white people. I as a black woman experience color, race, and representation in an entirely different way. The lack of healthy and diverse representation of the black community has been a cycle that continued for centuries, especially here in America, and has just now started to shift a bit. There’s a reason why black people went nuts and spent money on brand new outfits just to see Black Panther at the theater. Finally we were seeing ourselves on the big screen not as slaves and savages/“thugs,” but as a powerful and intelligent group of black people.
It’s not “just a fun ride at an amusement park” for us minorities who rarely see ourselves in progressive and healthy/different in entertainment. You have the privilege (yes, privilege) of not having to worry about NOT seeing your race represented in diverse and plentiful ways. Growing up as a black child in the early 90s with no proper representation anywhere I looked, including Disneyland, as well as attending school with mostly white children obliterated my self esteem. I HATED being black and wished I was white. I hated my kinky hair, my physical features, and especially hated that I was descended from slaves. I struggled from elementary all the way through high school. It wasn’t until I took an African American studies course taught by a proud black woman as a freshman in college (something I never saw in school) when I finally started to shed that toxic negativity. It took years of learning about black history in college and learning to self love to undo years of pain and self-hatred.
Thank God society is taking representation more seriously nowadays and doing a better job of trying to be more inclusive. I never had a Princess Tiana at Disneyland as a child. She will most likely be the only black princess Disney creates, so I hope they continue to place her in the parks in as many mediums as possible to and hopefully spare some little black girls of the self-loathing I experienced. I love seeing the faces of young black children light up when they see her in the parks. That was something I desperately needed as a kid. Minority children NEED to see representations of themselves outside of their homes, including at theme parks such as Disneyland. I wrote a short paper on this topic for a writing competition by Disney years ago and was rewarded for it. I’m happy to know they are making changes.
What’s telling is
@Dr. Hans Reinhardt and I are the only black regulars here (I believe) and very few of you, you included TP, have made an attempt to ask us questions to gain our perspective on this topic which concerns black representation (the ones screaming WHO CARES and AFRICANS USED SPEARS IN THE JUNGLE). And that’s because you guys and gals don’t care. You don’t care to be educated on this topic, you don’t care to understand how we as black people might mentally and emotionally respond to things like this. You simply don’t care because you enjoy it and want to continue to be able to enjoy the ride without having to be forced into questioning the ride, all while mocking efforts for inclusivity and healthy representation. Let’s keep it real.
Continue enjoying Lincoln.
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