Seriously anyone who complains about Ecarlet Johansson as lead in ghost in the shell because she is not asian should remember that in the attack on titan movie, a movie about primarily northern European (German, Dutch, Sweedish, Norwegian) people was comprised of entirely Japanese actors and actresses.
+Joseph Thought the same thing, by far one of the most underrated performances, and one of the most underrated movies of the last twenty years. I love The Fifth Element.
+Joseph I'm always conflicted by this. Ruby Rhod is insanely irritating and awful, but he's meant to be, that's the point. If anything, Chris Tucker did the job TOO well. Should you punish a film for doing something too well? I find it difficult to watch, but it's intentional, so.... guh
+Joseph ruby is annoying but he also makes alot of scenes way mor funny, i don't know why people hate him so much, he was supposed to be annoying :D sorry for my bad english ^^
+SD78 Technically, the only Japanese part of Motoko Kusanagi is what's left of her brain. Everything else is artificial. Given real life Japanese culture, you bet your ass they wouldn't turn down the ability to turn their cyborg commando into a western looking supermodel.
+Jeremy As you can see in photo Motoko Kusanagi's Character has in the 1995 version CYANBLUE Eyes.... not very asian. Scarlet Johanssen is now famous for Comic/Cartoon movies like from the Avengers to be a financial success.
Those who think 'The Love Guru' is misguided and offensive obviously have no idea of what a parody, nor a satire, is. Mike Myers has based his entire career on satirising both popular culture and society as a whole. It's not meant to be taken seriously. It's just a joke.
I find it moronic that people actually find it offensive that the Siamese cats being portrayed as ( GASP ) Siamese. Please, people. I don't see Scottish people getting upset about the Scottie dog having a Scottish accent.
lol.. im filipino but i dont see any filipino actors would be box office sellers if a movie was made about a prominent figure and released worldwide.. so these movie choices(ram and mos and gkhan) dont offend me..
+razgriz821 Thank you! I'm Thai, and people keep asking me what I think about Scarlett Johannson in Ghost in the Shell. I don't care. It won't get made with an asian actress that nobody knows.
+pukebot2000 It's not even about nobody knowing the actor, there are just very few Asian actors that are good enough to appeal to Americans. I watch a lot of foreign films because I can get into the stories but much of the time I can't help but think how bad some of these actors are.
Chris Brown-DeMoreno What's interesting to me is that I don't mind bad acting in foreign films a lot of the time. I'm too busy reading subtitles to notice the acting. So I can't say I agree with you on that, but there are a lack of great asian actors in Hollywood. I've seen a couple, but they aren't recognizable.
pukebot2000 I don't mind it either, hence why I continue to watch the movies. It's like how you don't mind being on the beach in 90 degree weather. Even though you don't mind it, it's still hot and many of those actors are still bad. I'd watch a GITS movie with a bad asian actor as long as it's true to the source but again, if they are going for global appeal and a big payday, they can't. It's a far smarter move to get a good actress who will hopefully do the role justice and make a good film. On top of that, seriously, does Motoko actually LOOK Asian? Really? Stereotypes aside, nothing about that character screams Asian to me and if I didn't know any better (and a huge chunk of the people who they hope will watch this movie don't) you'd think Motoko was just a white woman.
+razgriz821 Thanks for bringing this to light. Huge A List actors are required to get people to see movies, so hiring say a real Ethiopian, a real Saudi Arabian, or a real Egyptian isn't always feasible. Also, I just watched a (really awful) ripoff of Superman filmed in Turkey in the late 70s... no one is pissed that they portrayed Superman as a Turkish guy even though original Superman is rooted in American culture and has been portrayed as a white Caucasian since day one. Why is this? Because it's *not a big deal*. If a Turkish Superman sells that movie then great, and if a white guy sells a movie about Egypt in the USA then so be it.
I don't get it. Most of these are offensive because they're playing a character outside their race. But you make a video saying Idris Elba would make a good James Bond. Which goes exactly against what you're preaching.
Similar situations does not mean identical. In some of those cases, the people who actually existed were of a different race; why not use actors of those races? In other cases, like in DUMBO or TIFFANY'S, the roles were obviously offensive caricatures. In contrast, James Bond is not only a fictional character, an excellent film theory has "James Bond" simply being a cover identity, so race wouldn't mean much.
+JC4R Not really the same, since blackface is making fun of a racial stereotype. Idris Elba playing James Bond would just be a black actor playing a black British secret agent, not making fun of a white stereotype. It's always been a theory that James Bond is actually a shared name given to agent 007, and not the same guy. How can he be if he's been roughly the same age since the 1960's, and he hasn't looked like Sean Connery in a long time. :) Now, if Mr. Elba put on makeup to make himself white, then you'd have a better point.
+David Scott So it's okay because he's a fictional character, half this god damn list is fictional characters and Scarlet Johanson is playing a fictional character, so why do those warrant hate and calls of offensiveness?
But at the end of this very video he criticises the idea of a white woman playing a Japanese girl. So there's no grounds to claim it racist as nothing has happened yet. Yet it's still bad.
Stannis Baratheon No, actually. The characters such as Long Duck Dong, Skids & Mudflap, Guru Pitka and most of the others were not just fictional characters; they were deliberately stereotypical in offensive ways. The inability to speak properly? It reinforces the stereotype that non-whites may be less intelligent or incapable of talking like the others around them. The actual historical people (Genghis Khan or Moses & Rameses in this list) were not white, so why have whites play them? Ridley Scott admitted that it was because he didn't think that he could get money for films featuring on-site. Why shouldn't that be found offensive?
The only issue I have with this list is Ruby Rhod. He's the main reason I was thoroughly interested in the movie when I was 4 or 5, and he's still kinda my fave to this day. Fifth Element is gold.
Personally I'm not picky when it comes to a character's race or gender unless it's an integral part of their character. Take Ghost in the Shell for example. The Major is a robot and her creators had final say in her appearance. They could've chosen any number of ethnicities. The only thing that needs to stay constant is her sex as it is elaborated on later in the story. The story doesn't need to take place in Japan necessarily. Ghost in the Shell just needs a futuristic metropolitan setting to work.
I said much the same when the story first came out and got trashed for it... LoL. But it's the truth, as far as I know the live action movie is an American production and the setting could easily be moved anywhere in the world without much affect on the story. Granted I agree more diversity in big films would be preferable, and too many rolls do go to white actors without a good reason, but in the case of this movie the story is already something the mainstream may not be familiar with, and bringing in a well loved and proven action star like Scarlet gives them some wanted hype.
Personally I love Ruby Rhod, but whatever. Also, I agree about the Scarlett Johansson thing at the end. If anything, Hollywood already HAS the perfect actress to play Major Kusanagi; Rinko Kikuchi. Not only did she look EXACTLY like the Major in Pacific Rim, but she also was absolutely amazing in Kumiko the Treasure Hunter. If I was Hollywood and I made a Ghost in the Shell movie, she'd be my first pick. Hands down.
So it's a list of characters that offend you personally? Here's what I find offensive, changing a characters race to appease people that get offended easily. Jimmy Olsen in the Supergirl series for example. Jimmy was never black.
Jimmy was also never a love interest for Supergirl before. Things change and characters evolve, besides his race had nothing to do with who he was as a character so he could be any ethnicity and still fill the same roll. He was draw as white because that was how most comic characters were draw at the time he came to be. It is when a race is changed in favor of an already dominate ethnic group against the history and traits of that characters history that is really the problem. For example, while I am stoked to see Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr Strange, and I love Tilda Swinton as an actress, I do wonder what the logic is behind turning an ancient Asian mystic into a white woman. If the Ancient One has been around as long in the movie universe as he has in the comic one, the gender and race swap just doesn't make sense, since a white woman in that day and age would probably not have had the opportunity to become the Ancient One regardless of ability. As for Ghost in the Shell... the character has a robotic body and could look anyway she pleases... plus we still don't even know if the movie will still be set in Japan.
If I may criticize, Motoko Kusanagi is a cyborg with pretty much just a brain casing wired into a body that can be designed to look like anyone. While she does have a Japanese origin, the line of ethnicity is wee bit philosophically blurred for her. Outside of the lore of the story, the Japanese studio responsible for GitS are aware of the pick to play the role and agree with it entirely.
and how exactly is skidz and mudflap offensive or racist? basically you're telling me you associate black people with being gangsters, otherwise you would not be offended by two gangster characters of which have no race.
Motoko Kusanagi is a cyborg, there is actually no reason to assume that she looks very asian. Given the Japanese pop-culture obsession with european eyes, its actually more likely she would not look Asian at all.
+edbadyt More toward the point that the majority of the world refer to an Englishman as a "Brit" and not the rest of the countries who are, of course, British. Usually an American, for instance, would say "look its a Welshman, and a Brit" instead "look its two Brits" Its just refreshing to hear "Englishman" instead of "Brit" Even if the host, himself is an Englishman.
also: you can be from a country with majority of brown people and practice a religion that a majority of brown people practice? just bc youre racial descent is white doesnt mean there cant be such things as "white asains" or "white indians" to claim otherwise is kind of in fact racist. regardless, the love guru was still a bad movie
I don't think that an actor of one race portraying a character of another race is racist or offensive. it's mainly just Hollywood being Hollywood. some make it and some don't and the ones that make it tend to be reused A LOT.
+clericofchaos1 I normally love Adam but I have to agree. Maybe the reason they haven't gotten many Chinese people to play Fu Man Chu or why John Wayne played Genghis Khan was because there might not have been any Chinese or Mongolian actors who could speak good enough English AND could do that part justice.
Kaltagstar96 i'm not qualified to say, i'm not a talent scout or a producer. All i'm saying is you should probably give them the benefit of the doubt in those situations.
+clericofchaos1 the issue here is; how come they haven't gotten that successful? we r just now seeing asian men paying the king of siam on broadway... not because there weren't talented enough asians to do it, its because entertainment is thoroughly white washed!!! John Wayne as Gangus Kahn is horribly wrong... it was done for the same reason Christian Bale was even in Exodus. Money, and name power... and in the "money" part of that falls the little known fact that entertainment has always preferred a "white washed" look to everything! regardless of the actual story being told. On a general level across the viewer board, it is "easier" to watch something white washed...well was easier its becoming less and less accepted. but come on Roony Mara as TIGER LILLY!?!?! wit the fuck was that!?!?!
I’m Native American (in Canada), and all I can do is laugh when we see Natives portrayed in the stereotypical way, hell I think everyone gets a laugh out of it, at least in my family
+Draken Garfinkel If anything, Watto was a caricature of any sleazy, greedy, underhanded degenerate. It's the people who scream "that's offensive" that are actually the ones comparing him to a Jew, so really it's _they_ who are being offensive. Food for thought.
But...who or what did Ruby Rhod offend other than our eardrums when he screamed and his stupid outfits? Homophobic? (He was clearly a womanizer though, maybe bi, but not necessarily portrayed a stereotypical gay archetype) I don't get it. He was obnoxious, but so are many film characters. How is he considered offensive? Annoying, I'd say, but offensive doesn't make sense to me. I'm genuinely asking, how does this make sense?
If you missed it, the inclusion of that character was a bit tongue-in-cheek. Offensive doesn't just mean racist, homophobic, immoral, inaccurate, stereotypical, rude, or anything like that. An odor or a sweater can be offensive. A loud and annoying comedian playing an even louder and more annoying role in a movie can certainly be said to be offensive. Especially when meant tongue-in-cheek.
fordhouse8b He's annoying as fuck, but I still think "offensive" is an incorrect term to use towards his character, but that's just my opinion. These days, I suppose I'm not much of a fan of the overuse of the word "offensive" because there's so many people that think the littlest things are offensive to them, or that they're triggering, etc. I don't advocate people being jerks or bigots to each other, but political correctness is really getting out of control. I think the world suffers chronic butthurt disease. lol But anyway, I still don't find Ruby Rhod offensive at all. He's just obnoxious and stupid. lol He was a poor attempt of a comic relief. But I admit he made me giggle a bit as a kid. Mainly the part when he screamed like a girl during those insane explosions in the hotel. xD
SunBunz Well, I'm using the term "offensive" in the broader, more technical form. things that cause displeasure qualify as "offensive". However, socially, you've hit the nail on the head. We're becoming a self-victimizing society.
Ghost in the shell wouldn't make as much money if they had Asian actor on the live action movie... It's not about whitewashing they're just using a actress that's been in several box office movie that has a Familiar face
+MrAnthrax not only that scarlet plays a robot from head to toe and there are no japanesse female actors who speak fluid english you could use a chinesse person but that would be racist wouldn't thinking they all look the same
+MrAnthrax Ghost in the shell has a huge following and would garner so much interest based on its own name. Plus you're trying to make it sound completely acceptable but what you're actually talking about is institutionalised racism.
+MrAnthrax Whitewashing isn't a cause, it's an action. Of course the studios don't actively try to whitewash, it's all about the money, but what they are doing, have done and are probably going to continue doing IS whitewashing. Just because there's no sinister motive doesn't make it any better.
What Mickey Rooney did in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is inexcusable because he was being intentionally and malevolently racist. But for "Exodus," how is having Christian Bale playing an Egyptian any different than all the movies where he's played an American? (What nationality of psycho was Patrick Bateman?) Shit, Bale plays more non-British people than he does Britishers! And I'd take his limey ass over true-blue American Ben Affleck to be my Batman every single time! I don't feel offended that he played such an iconic American character. So why would anybody have a problem with him being Moses?
Damn, Scarlet Johanson playing a cyborg? Raise the awarnes of cyborg rights!! Cyborgfacing!! But, no, seriously go and watch the damn anime and then talk about it...
ThePaladinsTyger I'm not on board with her is because literally the only reason they chose her is because they know that a bunch of horny dudes are gonna flock to see Scarlett Johansson in a bodysuit. Its been a long time since i read the manga/watched the old movies, but i distinctly remember seeing the Major in actual clothes and we haven't even seen that in the trailer.
I honestly don't see how Ruby Rod is a racist caricature. His character is a slam against those over the top morning radio dj's. Chris Tucker played that role exactly as it should have been portrayed. I think you are doing yourself a disservice by calling foul on the 5th element.
You say in the video that Rooney regretted the role. But that's not really the case. In 2008, he said in an interview: "Never in all the more than 40 years after we made it--not one complaint. Every place I have gone in the world people say, 'You were so funny.' Asians and Chinese come up to me and say, 'Mickey, you were out of this world'...Those who didn't like it, I forgive them."
Jessica alba doing Invisible Woman? Michael Jordan doing Human Torch? They try to do this to avoid not casting minorities but they're actually destroying the original background of characters while trying to be PC.
I was offended by the new John Storm, aka fantastic 4's human torch. In the comics and previous shows, he and Sue Reed are brother and sister, so why is he suddenly black? oh, wait, too many whites so let's backwash a character with a ton of history, instead of making a new one. Last fantastic anything I spend money on.
+sherry lee I completely agree. I never watched the last Fantastic 4 movie because of that. So sick of the movie industry shoving black people into roles in the name of "diversity". I agree they should create new characters that are black, instead of blackwashing white characters.
+RRNelson21 When did I say I was? Try not putting words in people's mouths. I believe I said I was offended that a character with previous back story and history was suddenly changed to appease peolle, not that I agree with anything else. Stop being a presumptive asshat.
Since this was made early 2016, Ill forgive the fact that Donald Trump offensively portraying an American President isnt on this list, but if you guys ever do a follow up, you better include it.
You do realize Scarlett Johannson is playing an android, right? Not a human character, it's like when people complained about Goku not being Asian in Dragon Ball Evolution. Turned out there were way bigger problems with that movie.
Again, Kusanagi is a supremely modified cyborg so her ethnicity is irrelevant at this point. To which some will obviously argue that she could as well be black. Or hispanic. Or anything else that Scarlett Johansen isn't.
Ok so the whole concept of white washing in Hollywood, i seem to remember a few videos ago Adam when you talked about who should play James Bond you basically accused anyone who thought it shouldn't be a black man as being well, racist. So why is it ok for a black man to play a character who is always been shown as white, but if a white guy plays a black man or any other race thats bad ? Im fine with who ever is the most qualifed to portray the character getting the role but this is something alot of SJW's tend to do and its why they are usually so panned by people
the only movie you're Justified I'm being offended with is Breakfast at Tiffany's. the rest man up. The Black Crows from Dumbo crows in the South so I guess they are going to be black because they're close and they're going to have accidents because they are in the south. and Disney did not think when they named one of their Crews after the bill it was not intentional joke. as for the movie Soul Man it was pointing out how racial diversity goes both ways. when we give breaks to the black people that we don't give to white people that's just another form of segregation something that Martin Luther King jr. was fighting against. so stop your worrying sensitivity and grow the hell up
Most of this stuff I don't care about. First amendment and all. But the character in Breakfast at Tiffany's kinda ruins an otherwise amazing movie. He isn't funny, and it takes attention away from Holly.
Don't be offended. Like a lot of anime characters. Major Kusanagi of the original did not look very Asian. She is also a cyborg, so the race is sort of immaterial - but if you now feel offended that I am not offended enough, rest assured I thought Lone Ranger was very offensive. Also if you were agreeing with me at first and look down on offended people, you can be offended as I disagreed with you. You can't please everyone - but you can offend everyone!
It offends me that people think they can only laugh at their own race if a member of their own race is playing said character. I don't know if that came out right. But anyway Il when Eddie Murphy and years later Dave Chappelle went white face to see how different their lives would be if they were seen as a white person was funny as f***! And I am pale blue Scottish and as white as they come but I can laugh at my own ethnicity even if it's a black purple yellow or red person portraying s white guy.. I have no idea how to actually word this but my point is people have to lighten the f****** and learn to laugh at themselves if not you will die as an old spiteful person. But yeah Eddie Murphy in Whiteface was f****** classic
To be fair, I someone called me racist just because I said on Twitter that I was ordering Chinese food, something about cultural appropriation, racism and other bullshit. Overly SJW types can be amazing sometimes.
I don't think it should be offensive for an actor to play as a different race. That is was acting is for. That said that movie where the kid took tanning pills... that is different. The movie itself is being prejudiced towards black people. Where as a white actor playing an Egyptian shouldn't be that big of a deal.
The title for this is clearly wrong. If WC want to make a list like this then that's their right but don't pretend you are dealing with broad social issues when in fact what are actually listing is “ 10 times western movies makers have been unthinkingly offensive by whitewashing and relying on racial stereotyping”. The ten examples on the list are all examples of offensive character work but as they have chosen to portray a complicated issue as being an entirely one way street they have made themselves look a little narrow minded…… OH IRONY.
Neigh Slayer If you specifically learned a language without an accent (which would be the goal), then why would you ever affect one? Her Russian had a Russian accent.
+Neigh Slayer So 've seen almost all of the anime for Ghost in the Shell, and all this pissing and moaning about Scarlet playing Motoko is a bit much. The only person on the section 9 team that even remotely looks Japanese is Aramaki. The old guy. I mean seriously, the lot of them look like they were straight recruited from non-asian cultures to begin with, and the only place I can see her vaguely looking asian is Arise and some of the 3D anime (and as for the manga, she looks like almost every girl ever printed in manga), so why be like this when she's STILL GONNA LOOK NON-ASIAN?
But, there are Japanese people who _do_ say "porice" when trying to say "police". I'm sure they laugh at American dialects trying to speak Japanese. All in good fun. lol
before I hear another fucking complaint about ghost in the shell, look at what (non-famous) japanese people are saying online. they fucking love Scarlett Johansson. if you are not the race being "discriminated" against, its not your place to feel offended.
Nobody ever mentions RDJ in Tropic Thunder. Is that because he's specifically meant to be a white guy playing a black guy as part of the plot? Is that different from Soul Man? I haven't seen the latter but this video made it sound like it was exactly the same thing, a white guy acting like a black guy as part of the plot as well.
+Chris J (IPv6Freely) To be fair, that was kind of the point. Like when he says "What do you mean YOU people?" and the Alpa Chino guy calls RDJ on it like "What do YOU mean you people?" His role was poking fun at the absurdity of the whole thing... to which he even got called out for it in the movie itself. In addition to what Resident Elect had stated.
Anthony Sforza Yea, totally agree. But wasn't that also the point of Soul Man? He was specifically pretending to be black as part of the plot. The only thing I'd say is racist about that movie is perhaps his overuse of stereotypes. But honestly, if you were a white dude trying to act black, what else would you have to go on?
Chris J Especially when black guys that don't act like stereotypes are labeled as "Acting White." Seriously, in my neighborhood, if one wanted to go to university and wasn't an athlete, it was "What you wanna be white for?"
+Chris J (IPv6Freely) You're literally missing the joke. THEY ARE MAKING FUN OF 1) METHOD ACTORS AND 2) HOW RACIST HOLLYWOOD WOULD RATHER PUT A GUY IN BLACK FACE THAN CAST A BLACK ACTOR. I mean shit, the other black actor in the film LITERALLY says this. Did you even watch the movie?
How is that racist again? Bolywood takes western movies rips them off with all Indian cast. Chinese do the same with movies, music and cartoons. So according to you the whole world is racist. It's an adaptation, you know like Santa clause or Jesus. I am not going to feel bad for the fact that people who have same skin colour as me were the most advanced and wrote poem's, novel's, songs that were meant for environment in which they were created in.
Oh... You forgot Borat! It's all may be taken as somerhing funny (mater of taste) until you don't realize that Kazakhstan is a real country and kazakhs are real nationality (asians, by the way).
A lot of the people mocking those offended by scarjo playing motoko kusanagi are the same people who got oissy over Johnny Storm being black in fantastic four. Just saying
+Mike White I hate on black johnny and white motoko equally. They are both terrible decisions because it goes against what the character was. New character being black in fantastic four or white in GITS? That's perfectly fine, but don't piss on preestablished character design.
+Marcellus I'm of the mind that if the movie is good it should be judged on its own merits. That said, as much as I like scarjo as black widow, casting her as motoko was just fucking stupid .
As a german, we are always pictured in media as those chubby, beer drinking, leathertrousers wearing people with no humor who are huge David Hasselhof fans. Despite i'm neither of those things (exept maby beer drinking ) i think i was never offendet by it and that people who get offendet all the time should stop being such massiv pain in the asses.
+blackacidlizzard omg you're right. You have enlightened me. We obviously take all your money and it's not the government's fault at all that they're in debt. Pfft Iraq?? Who said that ???
Rooney never said he felt bad about the I.Y. Yunioshi character. If you read his actual quote, it even says he forgives those that dislike it. See that. critics, he forgives you for your thin-skinned overreaction.
This is the problem, nothing on this list was racist. Racially insensitive? Maybe. But racist? Not even a little. There's a huge difference between playing up racial stereotypes and being straight up racist.
+Ebhinn Ronan yeah, I don't see black face as racist. Racism is about hatred and there's nothing remotely hateful about black face. You have to look at the intent behind these things. I'm not going to sit here in denial and say that some aren't in poor taste, but there really isn't anything really and truly racist on this list.
+Jordan Brown While agree with your sentiments. Blackface is generally racist without context. Racism isn't hatred of another necessarily its overwhelming love of ones own race and a lesser view of others. So putting on makeup to look like someone you don't think highly of while denigrating them is racist. So C Thomas Howell isn't racist nor is Mickey Rooney but the Fu Manchu is.
+Jordan Brown "You have to look at the intent behind these things" And the intent was making fun of black people and perpretate caricarturesque stereotypes that people thought were true Are you unironically defending blackface in 2016?
+Jordan Brown So your argument is that if you're too stupid to know better, you're not really racist, because the intent wasn't there? I guess by those rules you can say whatever you want, because clearly you're an ignoramus.
The Siamese cats freaked my daughter out when she was little. She is 23 now and last year we got a Siamese kitten. She was seriously hoping he would be one of those cuddly fat Siamese cats and not one of those slinky scary Siamese cats like in that movie. She said they freaked her out and still do. Of course I had to post a video of the actual clip on her Facebook. Our cat turned out to be one of the slinky kind and she just loved him so much and got over that dislike of the slinky Siamese cats.
One question , Why is everyone getting offended by the fact white people are playing non-white characters ,but it's perfectly okay for them non-white people to predominantly white characters?
Okay, I am totally against stereotypes, and issues like black face. But just want to ask this, If a white actor plays the non-white character (and I put emphasis on the word character) with complete conviction ,integrity and justice and not just some stupid stereotype, isn't it wrong to consider it racist,just for the sake of it. How is it wrong for Christian Bale to play Moses,even though he did a fantastic job of it (and is a fantastic actor)and not wrong for Samuel L Jackson (another fantastic actor)to play Nick Fury , in which he did a great job as well? Now don't get me wrong I am not saying Hollywood shouldn't diversify it's collection of racially diverse actors ,nor am I saying that non-whites shouldn't play white characters, but instead I am saying that if an actor does justice to the role ,he should be allowed to play the character. The argument itself seems kind of biased against white actors. And I would like to state that I am a non-white beforehand so as to eliminate any bias you may feel I have for white people.
