Chinese Britons have put up with racism for too long
Many people are shocked to hear the extent of prejudice against the Chinese – is it so surprising when stereotypes still flourish?
reddit this
Comments (598)
Elizabeth Chan
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 January 2011
Going to drama school in London was a revelation; I was told I couldn't perform in a scene from a play because it had been written for white people. The scene was two girls sitting on a park bench talking about boys, and the year was 2006. Worse was when it came from my contemporaries; one (white, liberal, highly educated) helpfully suggested I did a monologue from The Good Soul of Szechuan instead, and another rushed up after one performance to tell me how delighted her parents had been that I'd spoken perfect English (I'm from Bradford).
Blackface in Berlin play just 'tradition'
Published: 6 Jan 12 17:58 CET
ブラックフェイス
A popular Berlin theatre troupe has denied accusations that its adaptation of a Tony Award-winning play featuring a white man in blackface is racist, saying it's "tradition" for whites to play blacks in German theatre.
The Local's English-language movie listings for Germany (11 Jan 12)
Pressure on Wulff now from own party (11 Jan 12)
'Bondage Fairies' launch global USB treasure hunt (11 Jan 12)
“Many older black actors come from the music industry, and that wasn’t a fit for the play as it isn’t a musical,” Thomas Schendel, the director of "I'm Not Rappaport" told The Local. “When we couldn’t find an elderly black actor who fit the role and could speak with a perfect German accent, we opted for blackface make-up.”
But the decision to cast 76-year-old Joachim Bliese as the feisty character “Midge,” – an African-American who discusses racism and growing old with an elderly Jewish friend – has prompted a firestorm of criticism from those who have likened the play at the Schlosspark Theater to a minstrel show.
Tahir Della, a spokesman for the Initiative for Black Germans (ISD), which represents the black community in Germany, called Schendel’s explanation “idiotic.”
“There are more than enough black actors in Germany, especially in Berlin. Schendel is making excuses,” he told The Local.
And visitors to the theatre’s official Facebook page have flooded it with angry comments, calling the decision “racist” and “ignorant.”
Blackface or "blacking up" – painting a light-skinned person’s skin to appear black – was once commonplace. But in recent decades it has become associated with racist American theatre from the 19th and early 20th centuries that aimed to mock African-Americans.
Germans have come under particular criticism in recent years for being insensitive about the much-maligned tradition. Last year, for instance, a popular comedian sparked outrage when he posed as Barack Obama on a Berlin billboard while wearing blackface.
But theatre officials said they were shocked by the vitriol online, pointing out there had been a previous production of "I'm not Rappaport” at a different Berlin theatre with a white actor playing the part of Midge.
"(It) wasn’t met with a reaction like the one we’re facing now,” a Schlosspark Theater spokesman told The Local.
Schendel said he found the negative response to the play “saddening.” In an open letter on Facebook, he invited the play’s critics to attend its premiere on Saturday – nobody responded.
“In Germany blackface is part of a theatre tradition that was never intended to be racist,” Schendel told The Local. “I tried to make a play about racism and ended up being called a racist,” he lamented.
The play, said Schendel, will go on as scheduled.
ブラックフェイス
Indonesian man seriously hurt in racial attack in Berlin
Berlin, Jan 9, IRNA -- A 23 year-old Indonesian man suffered life-threatening injuries in a xenophobic attack in Berlin over the weekend, according to media reports.
The unidentified victim was viciously assaulted by a group of men in the
pre-dawn hours of Saturday morning in Berlin's trendy Prenzlauer Berg district.
The assailants tried to provoke the victim by hurling racial slurs at him and
proceeded to beat up the victim as he was lying on the ground.
They kicked his head and nearly broke his neck in the racial attack.
The assailants managed to escape the scene of crime.
The victim was scheduled to undergo a surgery during the day.
Germany has time and again witnessed brutal racist and xenophobic attacks in
recent years as the center-right government of Chancellor Angela Merkel has
tried to downplay the seriousness of the problem.
Most of the racial assaults are committed by mostly young unemployed neo-Nazis
who live in what used to be formerly communist East Germany.
The German government has been under fire for not really cracking down on far-right violence which is aiming at mostly foreigners and leftist activists.
ドイツ
Alleged neo-Nazi attack in B.C. caught on video
Warning: violent content
CBC News Posted: Jan 5, 2012 5:25 PM PT Last Updated: Jan 6, 2012 4:05
CBC News has released a video showing a black Vancouver man being beaten by an alleged white supremacist who has since been charged in connection with a string of apparently racially motivated attacks.
A CBC News videographer happened upon an apparent road-rage incident while on duty on Vancouver’s West Side in December 2008.
The videographer, who has asked not be be named and has been subpoenaed to testify at an upcoming trial in connection with the assault, said he saw a Caucasian man beating Papi Ngoqo on a city street.
The faces of the two men are difficult to see because the incident took place at night and is brightly backlit by the glare of headlights.
But Ngoqo, believed to be of South African descent, is later clearly seen shaken and bleeding from the mouth as bystanders try to lend him aid.
The Crown accuses Shawn Donald Finlay MacDonald of a racially motivated assault.
When announcing the charges in December, police said they believe MacDonald, 39, and other men charged in separate attacks are members of a white supremacist group called Blood and Honour
カナダ
Ethnic discrimination rife among employers: study
Published: 10 Jan 2012 05:43 GMT+1
Job seekers with Norwegian names stand a much better chance of securing employment than applicants with more unfamiliar names, a new report has shown.
Shame of the human safaris: Tourists pay for jungle drive which treats primitive tribe like zoo animals
Jarawa tribe first made contact with the outside world in the late 1990s
Now hundreds of visitors go to remote Andaman Islands to gawp at natives
They toss scraps of food to half-naked tribespeople and order them to dance
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 6:56 PM on 9th January 2012
観光
武田邦彦vs池田信夫 原発問題
NYTimeskrugman Paul Krugman
mozumozumozuがリツイート
Japan, Reconsidered nyti.ms/yodD0n
19分前
仙台地検：検事「可視化」中断を誘導 「話しにくいか」と
仙台地検の検事が昨年１１月、男性容疑者を取り調べ中、「話しにくいのではないか」などと持ちかけ、録音・録画（可視化）を中断していたことが１０日、弁護人への取材で分かった。可視化の試みは大阪地検特捜部の証拠改ざん隠蔽（いんぺい）事件を受けた検察改革の一環。弁護人は「今回のような運用が続くと、全面可視化が骨抜きにされかねない」と訴えている。
弁護人が問題があったと指摘したのは、仙台地検特別刑事部が有印公文書偽造・同行使容疑で逮捕した仙台市の弁護士事務所職員の男性（５４）＝既に起訴＝に対する取り調べでの検事の対応。
弁護人によると、この男性は当初、取り調べの録音・録画に同意したが、検事は数日後、「話しづらくないか」との趣旨の話をし、録音・録画の中止を打診した。これを受け、男性も取りやめを望んだため、起訴直前まで録音・録画は中断されたという。
弁護人は「男性も録音・録画されている中では話しづらい部分があったようだ」と説明したが、「水を向けたのは検事で、男性が中止を求めたわけではない」と指摘した。
これについて仙台地検の田辺泰弘次席検事は「捜査にかかわることなのでコメントできない」としている。
最高検は昨春、取り調べの可視化についての通達を出し、地検特捜部・特別刑事部が逮捕した容疑者に対しては「容疑者が拒否した場合を除いて原則として試行する」とした。【高橋宗男】
毎日新聞 2012年1月10日
