Perhaps racism caused global warming, too

Confession.  I have loved Disney's animated movies over the last twenty years.

Soon after we got married, my bride and I went to "Black Cauldron."  Haven't heard of it?  Not surprised.  We found it a foul film.  I thought Disney to be doomed.  Not so.

They reentered family friendly fare with a couple of Rescuer movies and then began to hit 'em out of the park like Josh Hamilton at the Home Run Derby starting with "The Little Mermaid."  When Disney married with Pixar to birth "Toy Story," smash followed smash.

Okay, I didn't see "Mulan" and the PC of "Pocahantas" made it a no-go for me, but those are the only hiccups in my mind.

Because of my affections for what Disney has done in the recent past, my eyes snagged on an article in my local paper yesterday criticizing Walt's company for taking so long to do a film with a black princess (here).  Let's see.  "The Little Mermaid" is a Danish tale if memory serves.  No surprise that Ariel would be pasty white.  "Pocahontas," being a Native American (which I think immigrated from across the Bering Straight, but that's beside the point), was portrayed as -- you guessed it -- a Native American.  Could you set "Mulan" in Ghana?  Yes, I guess you could.  But it's a Chinese tale.  Why would you do such a thing?  Esmerelda, the gypsy in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," was a gypsy, and so the artists at Disney portrayed her with fairly swarthy skin.

The gist of the article is that in this era of Obama, Disney's making up for not ever having a black princess by tossing the black community a bone by making the fairy tale "The Princess and the Frog" hip-hop.  It might turn out to be a cute idea.  It didn't do much for "The Wiz" or "Blackula," but you never know.

My beef with the author (Lana Sweeten-Shults) comes from her imposing racial purpose on Disney.  If in fact the company did make their film to satisfy some color-angst, is that not of itself a racist act?  Personally, I think Disney is color-blind despite the vivid hues of their movies.  If they found a grand story from Guinea-Bissau, I bet they'd make it.  Racism?  I don't think so.  Jasmine seemed awfully Arabian to me.  And I loved "Frozone" in "The Incredibles."

So I wrote Ms. S-S; My keyboard had hardly cooled when I start catching wind of an opinion piece by one of the most race conscious (if not racist) writers on the planet, Eugene Robinson, clubbing Tiger Woods.  If there's anyone in public America that deserves a good whup up side the head, it's Mr. Woods, but Mr. Robinson does not thump him for him (hard) for his adulteries.  He calls him on his choice of ladies!

Here's my real question, though: What's with the whole Barbie thing?


No offense to anyone who actually looks like Barbie, but it really is striking how much the women who've been linked to Woods resemble one another. I'm talking about the long hair, the specific body type, even the facial features. Mattel could sue for trademark infringement.


This may be the most interesting aspect of the whole Tiger Woods story -- and one of the most disappointing. He seems to have been bent on proving to himself that he could have any woman he wanted. But from the evidence, his aim wasn't variety but some kind of validation.

Now if the lassies were all one-armed, six-and-a-half footers with a uni-brow, I think we might wonder about Tiger's choice on about level eight or nine of the discussion.  But Mr. Robinson (ironic name to this discussion), can't get past skin deep.

But the world is full of beautiful women of all colors, shapes and sizes -- some with short hair or almond eyes, some with broad noses, some with yellow or brown skin. Woods appears to have bought into an "official" standard of beauty that is so conventional as to be almost oppressive.



His taste in mistresses leaves the impression of a man who is, deep down, both insecure and image-conscious -- a control freak even when he's committing "transgressions."

What's Eugene's beef? Tiger didn't bed any black women! He's trying to fit in with the crackers! That's his problem!  Adultery is okay, but don't be an Uncle Tom transgressor.

If that's not about the biggest pile of racist manure, I don't know what is.  Entitled to his opinions?  You bet, but that an editor or a publisher would give such a Jafar, Frollo, Ursula, Syndrome, or Hopper a nation-wide voice is beyond me to peddle such guano is beyond me.

Let's indict the indictable (an adulterous superstar), but let's call a decade long moratorium on blaming race for anything, especially when it comes to kiddie movies.  A crime's a crime whether race is causal or not (or sexual preferences or religious malice).  Making an animated princess black might have occurred simply because it fit a unique twist on an old story and not for any deep-seated need for racial reparation.

Let "The Princess and the Frog" stand on its own merit.  And let the Tiger fall on his.