Still Stereotyping

After speaking in class about how we construct racism, I started to think about it, and notice it more and more. As long as we continue to think of and believe in the stereotypes we hear and see, racism will sadly always be around us. As we discussed this more, I remembered something that I saw in the show Dance Moms. Dance Moms is a show on Lifetime about these young girls that take a dance class, and the drama between the crazy teacher and the crazy moms. I do not watch this show, and I do not recommend watching it, but however, I did see an episode once, when my sister was watching it. After seeing this episode, I never wanted to watch this show again. The reason I bring up Dance Moms is because in this particular episode, there was a controversy between one of the little girl's mom and the dance teacher. This little girl, named Nia is the only African American girl in the class. Because of this, the dance teacher wanted her to do a dance in which she wore an afro, jungle themed clothing, and played a character named Laquifa-a stereotypical sassy African American. The mother of Nia was outraged that she had her daughter do a dance that portrayed such an outdated stereotype. The dance teacher said it was best for Nia because if auditions ever called for an African American character, Nia would be able to know the ethnic dances. Still, Nia's mom was extremely upset, and after seeing the clip, you probably will be too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFTgUuHSQuM&feature=related

Is it right to portray an African American this way still in 2011? Isn't this almost a modern day version of the "blackface" in Minstrel shows? We will never make progress in our world if these stereotypical characters are still portrayed in the media. Even if this would help Nia get African American acting/dancing parts later in life, I do not think it is right to single her out in such a humiliating dance, just because of her skin color.