Saturday, February 4, 2017

Life After: White Kids

[Originally posted at Ana Mardoll's Ramblings.]

"Who are you people?"

"We are," Jacob paused for effect, "the whitest team imaginable."

"Not white," Bonnie said.

"Right, sorry," Jacob said. "We are the whitest team imaginable plus Bonnie."

"It should be 'Bonnie' first," Tara said.

Kim shot a glare at Tara.

"What?" Tara asked. "'Bonnie and the White Kids' sounds like a band name."

"I'm actually already in a band," Josh said.

"How's the touring circuit these days?" Jacob asked.

Kim's palm seemed to have embedded itself in her face. Shin had her hands clapped over her ears. Ron seemed to be alternating between watching with amusement and trying not to let Kim know he was amused.


Kim Possible is a very white show and adding Jacob doesn't help because . . . well I haven't gotten to parts where this matters, but it's kind of significant to his character that economic injustice is the only kind he's ever known firsthand and as a result, while on a good day he's a decent ally, on a bad day that's all he sees or cares about.  He can forget entirely about racism for a spell because he's white in a white-dominated country.  He's got that privilege.

The creators of the show were obviously in a "white is default" mindset (we could probably add "Anglo-Saxon" to that as well), so it's possible that Bonnie is meant to be seen as perpetually tanned Caucasian, however the cheer squad has got to be the most racially diverse group in Middleton, so it's possible she wasn't.

I don't give a shit how she was meant to be seen.  The show doesn't give one much so I take what I can get.

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