Is it really racist to wonder what color the baby's skin might be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't think it was racist. I think Meaghan never considered herself black and was shocked, SHOCKED I SAY

yeah, that's what I thought as well.

And, whew boy, is she going to be surprised when her children have her ORIGINAL nose and not the one she paid for!

[Anonymous]

Not racist. It’s normal when parents are different shades/cultures/brown/Black. I’m S Asian and AA. Our families discuss this often about babies.

If you plan to treat the baby differently or think of them negatively based on skin color then yes it is racist at that point. It’s the action behind it that differentiates IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend whose son (Indian) married a woman of Hispanic descent.

At the baby shower, Benjamin Moore paint chips were passed out so folks could guess the baby's skin color. Everyone was happy to welcome the baby, and love him/her whatever complexion.

It seemed pretty harmless at the time, maybe 15 years ago.

That’s crazy AF!

You meant Racist AF!

As someone mentioned earlier, it isn't racism unless you are putting one skin tone above another. Like the PP example of wanting their child to be lighter to have a better life is a bit racist because it implies that lighter skin is better. It also shows a lack of willingness to work towards a society in which lighter skin isn’t seen as better, but I digress.

Here, the focus on skin tone and also likening it to paint chips seems superficial and weird.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if some confirmation bias is at play here. So many people were incredibly vested in the fairytale Princess Meghan idea (which clearly wasn’t going to work, wish I’d put some money on it). When things went wrong, they looked for reasons and where to cast blame. So I think they are definitely predisposed to believe every negative interpretation of the actions of any royals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend whose son (Indian) married a woman of Hispanic descent.

At the baby shower, Benjamin Moore paint chips were passed out so folks could guess the baby's skin color. Everyone was happy to welcome the baby, and love him/her whatever complexion.

It seemed pretty harmless at the time, maybe 15 years ago.

That’s crazy AF!

You meant Racist AF!

Plenty of you with this opinion and I've yet to see one person articulate why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend whose son (Indian) married a woman of Hispanic descent.

At the baby shower, Benjamin Moore paint chips were passed out so folks could guess the baby's skin color. Everyone was happy to welcome the baby, and love him/her whatever complexion.

It seemed pretty harmless at the time, maybe 15 years ago.

That’s crazy AF!

You meant Racist AF!

As someone mentioned earlier, it isn't racism unless you are putting one skin tone above another. Like the PP example of wanting their child to be lighter to have a better life is a bit racist because it implies that lighter skin is better. It also shows a lack of willingness to work towards a society in which lighter skin isn’t seen as better, but I digress.

Here, the focus on skin tone and also likening it to paint chips seems superficial and weird.

All baby shower games are superficial and weird.

[Anonymous]

So many commenters seem to agree that the royal family is indisputably racist and therefore any casual comment made wondering what the baby's skin might look like must have been racist. The person who said it must have hoped the baby would not have dark skin.

Chris Rock doesn't seem to agree. Any idea why he would not agree?

[Anonymous]

Meghan would have said anything to get public opinion on her side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend whose son (Indian) married a woman of Hispanic descent.

At the baby shower, Benjamin Moore paint chips were passed out so folks could guess the baby's skin color. Everyone was happy to welcome the baby, and love him/her whatever complexion.

It seemed pretty harmless at the time, maybe 15 years ago.

That’s crazy AF!

You meant Racist AF!

As someone mentioned earlier, it isn't racism unless you are putting one skin tone above another. Like the PP example of wanting their child to be lighter to have a better life is a bit racist because it implies that lighter skin is better. It also shows a lack of willingness to work towards a society in which lighter skin isn’t seen as better, but I digress.

Here, the focus on skin tone and also likening it to paint chips seems superficial and weird.

All baby shower games are superficial and weird.

Agreed. It was a baby shower! Surely this game was meant to be funny and not taken so seriously. Presumably, a good proportion of the people attending were POC if they were playing this game so isn't it racist to tell them what they can or can't find funny?

[Anonymous]

I don’t think it is depending on how it’s asked and who asks. I dated an Asian man for years who my parents (white) liked very much and one day my mother wondered if we ever had a baby who the baby would look like more. I never took it as racist and neither did he.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it is depending on how it’s asked and who asks. I dated an Asian man for years who my parents (white) liked very much and one day my mother wondered if we ever had a baby who the baby would look like more. I never took it as racist and neither did he.

i’m curious as to what that mix would look like as well

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend whose son (Indian) married a woman of Hispanic descent.

At the baby shower, Benjamin Moore paint chips were passed out so folks could guess the baby's skin color. Everyone was happy to welcome the baby, and love him/her whatever complexion.

It seemed pretty harmless at the time, maybe 15 years ago.

That’s crazy AF!

You meant Racist AF!

How, exactly?

[Anonymous]

I don't agree with Chris on this one even though I like him overall as a comic. Context matters. It's one thing to wonder if your kids will have blonde hair and blue eyes, but if it's in the context of making sure they have Aryan features, well then that's a whole other problem. The implication in the case of the royal family is that a dark skinned child would have been seen as an imperfection in their bloodline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many commenters seem to agree that the royal family is indisputably racist and therefore any casual comment made wondering what the baby's skin might look like must have been racist. The person who said it must have hoped the baby would not have dark skin.

Chris Rock doesn't seem to agree. Any idea why he would not agree?

You have to watch his special. He does agree that the royal family is racist which is why he's not buying the fact that MM didn't realize this before marrying into the family. He's saying the skin color issue was just in laws being in laws and wasn't rooted in racism, but i think if you listen to his entire bit the underyling context is that had she known they're racist she wouldn't have been as surprised by them wondering this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not racist to wonder about it, but it IS racist to think that certain shades/features are preferable or better.

Like being proud of your baby's blue eyes?

"Proud" is a buy weird

Thinking they are beautiful is fine and normal

My kids are biracial (I am white, spouse not), and when I was pregnant with my second, someone in my family said "hopefully blond hair and blue eyes this time!"

I was actually quite offended although I chose to assume (charitably, because she is generally a good person) that she thought I would want to baby to look like me (I have those features) and was cheering for that outcome, as opposed to wanting the baby to be more white.

But still pretty offensive! Especially since my older child was already in the picture with dark brown hair, brown eyes, and tan skin. Anyway, turned out the younger one had brown hair/brown eyes too (and couldn't be cuter).