[lbo-talk] Brown White, Rich Poor

[Ira Glazer]

The phenomenon of white people predominating in advertising images is 
widespread.  It's certainly true in Peru (where my wife is from, and 
where I lived for a few years).  There, the physical differences are not 
simply ones of color, but also of facial structure (given the large 
indigenous population).  This issue is particularly salient in Brasil, 
which has more black (of African descent) people than any country on the 
planet, execpt for Nigeria, as well as large immigrant communities from 
throught the world (including the largest Japanese community outside of 
Japan).  The number of ads in Brasil with blondes in them is truly amazing.

(A btw anecdote: During Bush's first term he met with president Cardoso 
of Brasil.  Cardoso, before he became a water boy for IMF policies, had 
been a famous sociologist, mostly known for 'dependency theory', which 
dealt with relations between the third world and the hegemonic first 
world. In the meeting, Bush turned to Cardoso and said, "Do you have 
blacks, too?"  Condi Rice was left to pick up the mess.)

This issue goes beyond simple images in advertising: the BBC has 
reported procedures to 'whiten' are the rage in Vietnam.  This has been 
confirmed to me with regard to China, by a friend who has lived in 
Shanghai for seven years.  There, he has told me, the lengths people 
have gone to to 'de-orientalize' can be quite extreme: he has told me 
about operations people have undertaken in order to lengthen their 
bones, thus trying to make them taller, and, therefore, more western in 
appearance.

However, the issue can be one of life and death.  Martin Jacques, the 
former editor of Marxism Today, wrote an extraordinary aticle, The 
Global Hierarchy of Race, 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4757714-103677,00.html as a 
result of the death of his wife, who was Indian-Malaysian (her family 
was from India, but she was born and /or raised in Malaysia).
His wife died, in Hong Kong, as a reult of medical negligence, that 
according to Jacques was caused by the lack of urgency in treating her 
because of her skin color.  An almost exact scenario was related to me 
by my friend, Rafael, in Shanghai, who told me how he went to a hospital 
for a relatively minor matter, and was given immediate attention.  
Meanwhile, in the corridors there were people, who according to Rafael, 
were in very bad condition, and who were being ignored.  My friend tried 
to tell the doctors that they should deal with the other patients first, 
as his condition was not urgent.  They paid no attention to what he 
said. Rafael ascribed this in no uncertain terms to 'a hierarchy of 
race'. He added that a white westerner (from Europe or the U.S.) would 
have no doubt been given precedence over him, since he has latino 
features (he's Peruvian).

For a long time now I have been convinced that there is truly a global 
passport: one's skin color.