"American Girl" ~ Que Va?

Man, talk about stereotyping ~ even our dolls have to flee their "dangerous" city communities to pursue the American Dream in the 'burbs!  Check out the new Mexican "American Girl" doll (story below).  I agree with Alejandra L. Ibanez, quoted in the story ~ leaving our communities (ai, and for the suburbs no less) should not be the watermark for improving our lives ~ improving the communities we already live in...that should be the mark.(!)  Below the story, you should check out the thoughtful comment posted by my good friend Ginger ~ who is my eyes, ears, and brilliant mind in Chicago, where she has lived for many years as a single woman, a kick-ass mom, and now a kick-ass attorney.  Now, on to the story, from YahooNews:

CHICAGO - Some residents of Chicago's largely Hispanic Pilsen section are upset over a new doll in the popular American Girl series because her storyline says the Mexican-American  youngster and her family left the "dangerous" neighborhood for a better life in the suburbs.

Many in the West Side neighborhood say the characterization is insulting and inaccurate.

"It's very offensive and it's really a slap in the face to the hardworking people of the Pilsen community," said Alvaro R. Obregon, who lives near where the doll, Marisol, supposedly lived before setting out for suburban Des Plaines.

According to the biography that accompanies the doll, which was introduced just after Christmas, she is the daughter of a transit worker and an accountant. One day her mother tells Marisol the family is leaving their apartment for a house in the suburbs.

The old neighborhood "was no place for me to grow up," the doll's story says. "It was dangerous, and there was no place for me to play."

American Girl officials said that they never intended to insult the community.

"Our feeling is that when people read the book in its entirety, I think they'll see the picture that we painted of Marisol in the book is from a very warm, lively and very close-knit community," American Girl spokeswoman Stephanie Spanos said Wednesday.

Spanos added that the "dangerous" comment was a reference to traffic in the big city and that Marisol's parents moved to Des Plaines because they wanted a house and a yard for their daughter to play in. {Sidebar: The fact that American Girl believes its own explanation only serves to highlight the fact that general statements and assumptions like theirs are based on inherent prejudices and stereotyping ~ people of color primarily comprise our city communities, it is a fact that suburbs are primarily white; and so to make blanket statements about a Mexican girl leaving "her dangerous neighborhood" for the safety and opportunity of the suburbs, without taking into consideration the inherently offensive nature of the statement, not to mention the effect, well...poor marketing is the least of American Girl's problems.}

Police spokesman Pat Camden said Pilsen's crime level is pretty typical for Chicago. "Crime there is not the highest and it's not the lowest," he said.

Although crime was down 6 percent last year in Pilsen, the neighborhood still grapples with gang violence and high dropout rates.

"It's a community that doesn't give up and doesn't run from its problems," said Obregon, who works with the community group The Resurrection Project. "It's a community of faith, of hardworking people, and that's why when this comes out I'm sort of taken aback."

Pilsen has long been a port of entry for immigrants in Chicago. From the early 1900s until about 30 years ago, mostly Eastern Europeans lived in the area. Now it is one of the biggest Mexican communities in the United States. In the summer it is known for its outdoor Catholic Mass and festivals that fill the streets with the smell of tamales and the sound of mariachi bands.

American Girl dolls were introduced in 1986. The dolls, which have become a must-have for many girls, also feature other ethnic characters, including a Hispanic girl living in colonial New Mexico, a black girl during the Civil War and an American Indian girl.

Alejandra L. Ibanez, executive director of the community group Pilsen Alliance, said American Girl missed an opportunity.

"I wish that they would not have had Marisol leave her community so that little girls like Marisol living in the inner city can be proud of their neighborhood and not have the perception that they must leave the neighborhood so that they can do better for themselves," Ibanez said.

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On the Net: http://www.americangirl.com

Comments

[StarTrekCaptain]

Oh, matty, I wanted to answer your question- I collect AG dolls so I know- that is what the catalogs and website have said ever since she came out for sale. They haven't changed the wording.

[startrekcaptain]

Okay, I agree and disagree with the article. I agree that people should try to make their communities better...WHEN they don't have children. If Marisol's parents didn't have her yet, sure they should try to fix whatever they think is wrong with Pilsen, join groups, do clean-ups, have a crimewatch...oh, don't get me wrong, I have never been to Pilsen so I do not know if they need these things or not. I am only suggesting these dieas because the person who wrote the article said that people should try to fix their communities instead of leaving them.
Now that's where I partially disagree: If you DON'T have kids, go ahead and try to fix it. But once you have kids, your first priority is to those kids, not to the neighborhood. If you think it is bad, then get out and raise your kids where you think it will be better. That's the responsibility of a parent. That is a higher responsibility than the one to fix up your neighborhood. So if your single or with no kids then I think you should stay and try to make it better, but once you have kids you need to be thinking about what you think is best for them, not what you think is best for the neighborhood.

And as for the actual book, I seriously doubt that many people protesting have even read the book completely.
I have read it completely and although it's not the greatest book, they NEVER act like it is some hot crime area.
Marisol's parents make it perfectly clear that they live in an apartment in the city, and they just want a house with a yard so Marisol doesn't have to play in the street! And to me that makes sense! What parents wouldn't want their kids to have a backyard to play in? Why do you think lots of city people move to the suburbs once they have kids? For that very reason!
And, in the book, if you actually read it, you will see that Marisol really loves her neighborhood and does not want to move. She speaks fondly of all the different neighbors she has and of her school and the community in general. Poeple are blowing this way out of proportion, and I think that most of them haven't even read the book.
Also, I think when people protest this they are just out to gain something for themselves, like Pilsen students were demanding that Mattell pay for their school things and fix up their boys and girls center or soemthing like that because of the book. Asking for that, to me, just seems like trying to milk it, and also- the very things they were asking for point to the fact that MAYBE it isn't such a great area. AS I said, I have never been there so I don't know if its good or bad- but the things the students are trying to get Mattell to pay for make it sound like they don't have anything.

[April]

Pilsen does have some really dodgy areas. And people can go ahead and get upset all they want, but it's the truth. I don't know...is gunplay considered dangerous anymore, or is it politically incorrect to call attention to the fact that a neighborhood that has some small amount of shooting going on might NOT be the best place to raise a kid?

Neither is the suburbs, for that matter.

Pilsen isn't an art gallery now, either. I disagree. It's still possible to find cheap rent(in the dodgier areas!)

[matty]

Funny that the American girl website says this: "Marisol Luna was born to dance. She loves her close–knit neighborhood and her dance classes—so when her parents decide to move, she’s devastated! But then a friend helps her see that a real dancer never loses her faith. Lively, confident, and imaginative, Marisol has a story to tell that’s all her own"

was it changed recently, i wonder, or is this the simple front to cloud what stereotyiping there is. however, we shouldn't forget that the American Girl dolls do provide products with a fair amount of historical context in the storylines.

[Streak]

This has historical roots. For all the talk of community and family, white Americans have celebrated minorities more when they have abandoned their community and extended family for middle class life.

[cindylu]

She is fair skinned, but Elena you should know as much as anyone else that we come in all colors.

[elenamary]

oh one other thing, doesn't anyone find this "American girl" to be rather fair skinned? Is the other Latina from New Mexico light skinned too?

[elenamary]

Yes, I too wish that "...little girls like Marisol living in the inner city can be proud of their neighborhood and not have the perception that they must leave the neighborhood so that they can do better for themselves," ignoring that however for a minute, I have not found Pilsen to be a dangerous place. No, I've never been there really late at night but whenever I think of Chicago I think of Pilsen, I think of las Panaderias, las tiendas, los familias, I can't wait to go back to Pilsen. BTW I once read that Chicago is the 4th largest city of ethnic Mexicans (After Mexico City, Los Angeles, and Guadalajara).

[glo]

hey lady --

chicago is a community of varied (and predominantly segregated) flavors, styles, colors, ethnicities and sexual preferences. . . pilsen is an art gallery area now -- i am not even sure if i could find an apartment with an affordable rent there -- there WERE some good lofts there a few years ago, and it was supposed to be a good place to buy for less than other areas, mostly b/c no one was really buying there -- what is odd to me is that if this girl (american girl doll) grew up in brooklyn (i know, this is a fictional character -- hear me out) she would be proud of being from brooklyn -- bed/stuy do-or-die!! if she were from washington heights or jamaica, queens, she would be proud -- she would be a SURVIVOR, and she would be giving BACK and not giving UP (okay, her PARENTS) -- i wonder if her parents were second-generation immigrants, in the story -- sometimes it seems to me, that the second-generation may be MORE race- and class-concious, almost as much so as whites-

anyhow, i agree with your assessment and your frustration -- it is a sad ommentary. it's a modern problem, living in an urban area -- i have left several neighborhoods in chicago b/c of crime and fear (for my own safety, as a single woman), and i have fled others b/c the gentrification drove up the rents, and i could no longer afford to live there -- i don't know. i sometimes want to be an urban pioneer, but there are other times when i am just annoyed with the lack of services in the pioneer areas, or that i am too afraid of gang activity to take odessa to the park --

so glad you are back on line!!
xo,
glo