Hey, hey all you wonderful Heroes and Travelers out there it’s Monday, and that means another Melanin Monday post!! For those of you just joining us, Melanin Monday is a special weekly post series that I started for Black History Month (I might be persuaded to continue the series, if interest is high enough), where I talk about Black and Brown skinned characters in anime, manga, video games, etc. Last week I did a Top 5 List of My Favorite Black Female Anime Characters and this week, I’m gonna do things a little differently…
As a Black nerd, it’s hard to find strong characters that look like me in the media, more times than not people of color, especially African American people are cast as criminals, villains, or worst of all hurtful stereotypes. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen my people used as the butt of someone else’s joke and quite frankly, it pisses me off! Even my beloved anime, as progressive as it is, has some rather questionable black and brown characters… So, for this week’s post, I wanted to look at the various ways anime portrays people of color, both the negative and the positive portrayals. This post wound up being longer than I originally intended, so I decided to split it into two parts! Part I focuses on the negative stereotypes and Part II which will go up on the last Monday of the Month will focus on the more positive depictions of POC in anime.
*Disclaimer: I realize that this is a touchy subject for some people, but I want to let you all know right now, that while comments are welcome, I will not tolerate any personal attacks or overtly nasty comments. If you can’t discuss this post in a respectful and civilized manner, then keep your hands off the keyboard… I promise you I will not be very forgiving of anyone that uses my comments section as such! 😀
Continue reading “Melanin Monday: I Am Not Your Stereotype- Racial Representation in Anime [Part I]”