February 22, 2007-Thursday

Well today I experienced Kabuki Theatre....It's traditional Japanese Theatre. All the cast members are men even if there is a character that's supposed to be a woman. It was an amazing experience. I didn't see the last act which consisted of a lot of dancing. I don't think I expected it to be as long as it was. I got to Higashi-Ginza around 10:10am, which is an hour away from me....anyway, the doors opened at 11am and I stayed through 3pm. My friend Kayoko treated me....talk about hospitality...those tickets were sooo expensive. I couldn't thank her enough. We had box seats on the 1st floor. Now these aren't traditional box seats. I thought we were going to have to sit Indian Style on the floor because the seats were on the floor....try to picture a chair with no legs....however, there was an opening in the ground where you placed your feet....It was awesome. The play was in complete Japanese, however they had English translations through a portable radio of sorts, where you could place earphones in it and and hear the English narration. I loved it, yet I needed to get to the post office and run some errands....

On another note, the Topic Voice class I was going to do last weekend was shut down....I was told I couldn't do my topic on Racism....isn't that a trip? I was told that it's too controversial. I'm sorry(gomenasai), but I don't think that for people coming to a school to learn Conversational English, we as teachers should just talk about happy-go-lucky superficial things. Racism is a real conversation topic that plenty of people talk about, and furthermore, if we encouraged more dialogue instead of sweeping it under the carpet, maybe the discussion would broaden people's minds....who knows? just a thought..(smile) Racism is real in Japan, like it's real in America...and I'm not just talking about Majority races against Black people.....So, since I can't talk about it in class...for those of you who have my blog, here's my take on it....I'm not going to go into ad-nauseam about it, I just want to bring up a couple of points:

• My African Studies teacher in college told me this and ever since 1994, I would cringe when I heard someone use the word Racism in the wrong context....but let me not just quote my former professor...let me give you the definition of Racism according to Webster's Dictionary
• Racism- is the intentional or unintentional use of power, to isolate, separate and exploit others
• Racism is not Stereotyping or bigotry....all three are wrong, but let's face, we all stereotype to some degree or another, whether it's on race, socio-economic class, gender or whatever, we all stereotype...so, let's examine the meanings of Stereotype and Bigotry
• Stereotype-a prejudiced attitude or uncritical judgement....now here are my words....an uncritical judgement is not based on any fact, it's basically based on your perception....again the bold letters are from Webster's dictionary
• Bigot-a person who stubbornly and without thinking holds to certain opinions and will not listen to other views...or a prejudiced and narrow minded person ....again out of Webster's Dictionary....I think two are from the collegiate dictionary and one is from the new world websters dictionary....

* So, all of this to say, when folks say that Black people are racists....I say, they haven't looked up the true definition of it.....because by the sheer definition of it, Black people in America cannot be.....what power or real power by this world's standards do we have in America....none....or none that we have mobilized on a greater level....now, if someone said some Blacks in the Bahamas were Racist, I wouldn't or couldn't dispute that....Why? Because they are in the majority there, and hold real economic power there....and isn't that what it comes down to....economics? The buying power of Black Americans is enormous in America, however our priorities are out of wack as a whole, so until, that changes it won't be possible for us to be classified as Racist.....what a sham and total misuse of a word........

* I also wanted to open the dialogue in the Voice Room to racism that students have experienced or even their parents or grandparents experienced during WWII....,but that's another topic, we're not supposed to talk about.....I wanted to know if they've ever committed racist acts toward foreigners here based on pre-conceived ideas and if their reformed or if they have friends that feel negatively about foreigners....I thought it would be a good dialogue, but, it was shut down....but for those of you reading this blog who are in voice on the weekends, please feel free to post a comment on the blog, or email me privately at kduvalblue@yahoo.com....

and in the words of Rodney King,"Can't We All Just Get Along?"

.....until next blog

K