Still a Problem the Struggle with Racism and Multicultural Relationships
In Lise Funderburg’s The Changing Face of America, she tackles the still growing problem of racism and cross race relationships in America. She mentions the controversial Cheerios commercial in her post to demonstrate how racism, mixed relationships, and multicultural races still pose a problem in the world we live in today, especially in certain states where cross race relationships are frowned upon. This is demonstrated because Cheerios presents a topic that is relevant in stopping racism when showing a mixed relationship. By making this commercial with a cross race relationship, Cheerios has made a statement to the public that it’s time to end this era of racism in America.
On the other hand, uniquely Lise Funderburg’s story and the Cheerios commercial corresponds with my life in a way that I would have not thought, with cross race relationships playing a huge role in my family when growing up. Growing up in Texas a state where a lot of the population believes that “race still matters in this country, despite claims that the election of Barack Obama heralded a post-racial world” (Funderburg Paragraph 8), it was hard being in a family where I had a dad that was African American and a mom that was too, but she didn’t look as if she was. My mom looked as if she was Hispanic because of her light complexion. People would always ask me if I was mixed because of this, and it only got worse. After they divorced, he remarried a Hispanic woman. My family and I family got a lot of disapproving looks from people and comments that proved that even in 2015 this country is not comfortable with mixed relationships and mixed children. This Cheerios commercial proves this because soon after this commercial was aired many people made comments that where unacceptable. It felt as if this wasn’t the year 2014, it felt as if we had went back in time and made no progress in stopping racism in America. That is to say that I believe that this commercial was made to test America, to see if we as a country have made any progress in accepting different races being together.
Cheerios set out to prove a point that this “presumably more accepting world” (Funderburg Paragraph 6) isn’t really accepting anything. Lise Funderburg states in paragraph 2 that “Out in the world, the more curious (or less polite) among us might approach, asking, “Where are you from?” or “What are you?” We look and wonder because what we see—and our curiosity—speaks volumes about our country’s past, its present, and the promise and peril of its future”(Funderburg Paragraph 2). This statement is an example of what this Cheerios commercial is all about. This commercial shows an African American man and Caucasian women in a relationship a problem that use to be and still is a huge controversial topic in America today. It also shows Gracie a child who is mixed and will most likely get asked these exact same questions at one point in her life. This commercial exposes what people really think and the true identity of the people who live in America.
Given that this commercial aired during one of the most watched events in the world, the super bowl and it came at a time where we have an African American president, it’s a step towards progress. It influences things such as the Census to allow people to check of more than one box for race. Although “The U.S. Census Bureau has collected detailed data on multiracial people only since 2000, when it first allowed respondents to check off more than one race, and 6.8 million people chose to do so. Ten years later that number jumped by 32 percent, making it one of the fastest growing categories” (Funderburg Paragraph 3). This shows on a national level, how much progress we are making in accepting multicultural people and relationships.
Moreover, the census and this commercial correspond to help influence multicultural people to hopefully fill out the Census, a lot of people let it go un noticed but, “It’s a step toward fixing a categorization system that, paradoxically, is both erroneous (since geneticists have demonstrated that race is biologically not a reality) and essential (since living with race and racism is). The tracking of race is used both to enforce antidiscrimination laws” (Funderburg Paragraph 3). This can help more people accept multicultural races and hopefully change America slowly but surely.
The controversial cheerios commercial sparked an incredible debate on racism, multicultural races, and mixed race relationships, it also showed that Americans have not made as much progress as we think we have when it comes to ending the era of racism. There are still multiple states that have race issues and many places where cross race relationships are frowned upon. But did it open the eyes of the American people or will it simply go unnoticed once again and continue to be a growing problem in this country?
writing to share my voice 