"Aliens in America"

You are reading http://livinginthehood.blogspot.com

I was looking up info on the kid who plays Raja on AiA. I can't find much, darn it. I was hoping to find HIS website, but mostly I'm finding commercial crap.

But I came across an interesting page of criticism of the show: UltraBrown http://www.ultrabrown.com/posts/stereotyping-for-fun-and-profit#comment-6388

After reading it thoroughly, including the comments, I felt compelled to add my worthless opinion, too. Here it is:

Ok, look, I'm an old, white, American lady. I grew up in Los Angeles, among just about every race on the planet. And I loved it. And I miss it.

The ridiculous xenophobia, racism, fundamentalism I've seen in the past, 7 years makes me sick. I find it so silly, pointless and wasteful.

I ALMOST didn't watch the first episode of AiA, because I thought SURE it would be Amos & Andy.

Now, I can't fine tune accents, apparal, facial hair, etc.

WHAT'S FUNNY, TO ME is how the writers TOTALLY bust middle American ignorance. "Apu, where's my slushy?" is NOT funny because it's a racist stereotype of brown people. It's FUNNY because MANY complacent Americans, who actually BELIEVE commercial media, have NO OTHER EXPOSURE to brown people!

We can't be BOTHERED to learn about people against whom we've declared war, even! Correction: illegally invaded. The military recruits in schools like the one portrayed in AiA. And kids from schools like that go on to become CIA, FBI, etc. We sent our soldiers to Afganistan with an outdated and ignorant how-to-interface-with-the-locals handbook. We didn't SPEAK THE LANGUAGES of Afganistan, Iraq, etc.!

Yeah, the kid's over-the-top, a bit. But he's portrayed as sincere, enthusiastic, GENUINELY respectful & loving, and quite nerdy. He's not stupid, angry, suspicious, arrogant. In other words, he's a regular kid, a bit on the nice side, thrown in with a school full of potential predators. AND HE DISARMS THEM! For me, this show is rather a relief.

I was BEATEN, after 9/11, by a bunch of teens on a city bus. Why? It was a rainy day. I was wearing long sleeves, floor-length skirt and a scarf, tightly wound around my hair and neck. They thought I was a terrorist.

Can we afford to damn this show right now? CAN WE WRITE, PRODUCE, DIRECT, & PORTRAY SOMETHING BETTER? I think THAT's a reasonable solution!