True Kardashian, Princess Meghan + Afro-Chinese Babies

Hello Meltingpot Readers,

I want this blog to not only be a source of entertainment and inspiration, but also a resource for all of my readers, a tool if you will, to help you stay informed. Because the mainstream media doesn’t always prioritize Meltingpot news, allow me to share three stories that piqued my interest in recent days.

1. Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex Releases Cookbook to Benefit Victims of Grenfell Tower Fire.

The fact that Meghan Markle released a charity cookbook, may not seem like a big deal, but it actually is quite a coup for Black and Brown people in London. In the summer of 2017, a horrible fire destroyed a public housing tower in London. Between 70 – 80 people died and it was later discovered that there were several building codes that weren’t up to date that made the death toll worse than it should have been. The majority of the people who died and/or were displaced by the fire were people of color which some people suggested resulted in poor treatment by the city of London for the survivors. For the rest of summer, news of the aftermath of the fire – people looking for lost loved ones, people not having adequate places to live – dominated news headlines in London. I am so impressed that Princess Meghan, in her first official royal act, decided to bring attention (and funds) to the victims of that tragic fire. Not only is she not allowing Londoners to forget the fire, she worked with a group of diverse women, representing 12 different countries, to create the recipes for the book and is giving them all the shine. In other words, Meghan is making London recognize its diverse citizens and she’s putting them front and center. To read more about the launch party for the book, check out this article from The Cut.

2. Interracial Marriage – Chinese and African – is On the Rise
So many times when people talk about interracial relationships, the default couple is Black and white. As Meltingpot readers, we know that interracial relationships are far more diverse, but still, the fact that there has been a spike of interracial relationships between Chinese men and African women, as a result of the Chinese interests in Africa, is worth noting. On the one hand, in a story in Al Jazeera, the trend is seen as positive, as it marks a new level of acceptance on the part of the Chinese who traditionally have been opposed to marrying outside of their race, particularly with Black people. But another perspective is shown in Face to Face Africa, where reports show that African women are being used for sex by migrant Chinese workers and are being left to raise their Mixed-Race, Afro-Chinese babies alone and facing ostracization from their communities. How this story will unfold is unknown, but I’m keeping a close watch to see if and how racism in both countries is affected by the romantic relationships developing and the existence of Afro-Chinese babies. I’m not so naive as to think “love conquers all,” but these new intimacies cannot be ignored.

3. The Kardashians are Making People Think About Colorism

I wrote a book about the effects of skin color differences in nuclear families and got a few people to start talking about colorism and family dynamics. Khloe Kardashian has a baby with brown skin and it seems like the whole world is now ready to deconstruct colorism. Hey, I’m not complaining if the work gets done. So, what happened was, Kardashian’s baby girl, True appeared in an Instagram post with two of her baby cousins. The other two cousins, who are also Mixed, have lighter skin than True and suddenly the whole world had to comment. And many of those comments were unkind and laced with colorist thinking. Over the course of a week, dozens of think pieces have been written about colorism and for the most part, people are ready to fight anyone who denigrates baby True because she was blessed with more melanin than her cousins. Nobody wants any fists thrown, but like I said, if a Kardashian solves our world’s colorism problem, I’ll rue the years I spent painstakingly researching my book, but I’ll be cheering alongside everybody else.

What meltingpot stories are you following, dear readers? Let me know. I’m totally listening and taking notes.

Peace!