Views: A Store (and Eventually Country) For All Americans

[Common Dreams]

A Store (and Eventually Country) For All Americans

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http://www.commondreams.org/further/2012/06/16-1

[Andrea]

An enlightened Happy Father's Day from JCPenney, who in their newest catalog featured real-life Dallas dads Todd Koch and Cooper Smith with their children Claire and Mason. The usual uproar from the usual suspects. When will they get it? Change is life: Deal with it.

What a great picture. They are all so happy. I just wish we could see the little girl's face better.

Here's an essay that the dad on the right, Cooper Smith, wrote about appearing int he catalog:

http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2012/...s-day-gift

p.s. Happy Father's Day to all the Elmer Dads out there.



(Edited because upon reflection I was more interested in seeing the little girl's face than her fact. Silly typo!)

[ima_sinnic]

I see parallels with the acceptance of black people in the media, which came along with desegregation; I can remember a time when no black people appeared in TV shows, or only minimally, as "servants" or what-have-you, for example, Jack Benny's "valet-chauffeur" Rochester.*

I totally applaud JCPenney for this groundbreaking ad; as with the situation with nonwhites, exposure leads to acceptance, especially exposure that breaks stereotypes. It can be hoped that this ad will lead to more, by other advertisers, until the appearance of LGBT parents and ordinary citizens in the media is taken matter-of-factly by [intelligent] people (actually, gay couples frequently appear in magazines such as Country Living showing off their beautifully decorated homes). Until now, JCPenney had pretty much been off my radar, but now I have a warm & fuzzy feeling about them and will try to give them some business -- I'll at least send them a message noting my approval.

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*Turns out (I did not know this until now), Jack Benny was also a groundbreaker:

Quote: Rochester was allowed to one-up his vain, skinflint boss. In more ways than one, with his mock-befuddled one-liners and his sharp retorts, he broke a comedic racial barrier. Unlike many black supporting characters of the time, Rochester was depicted and treated as a regular member of Benny's fictional household. Benny, in character, tended if anything to treat Rochester more like an equal partner than as a hired domestic, even though gags about Rochester's flimsy salary were a regular part of the show.

Rochester seemed to see right through his boss's vanities and knew how to prick them without overdoing it, often with his famous line "Oh, Boss, come now!" Benny deserves credit for allowing this character and the actor who played him (it is difficult, if not impossible, to picture any other performer giving Rochester what Anderson gave him) to transcend the era's racial stereotype and for not discouraging his near-equal popularity. A New Year's Eve episode, in particular, shows the love each performer had for the other, quietly toasting each other with champagne. That this attention to Rochester's race was no accident became clearer during World War II, when Benny would frequently pay tribute to the diversity of Americans who had been drafted into service.

After the war, once the depths of Nazi race hatred had been revealed, Benny made a conscious effort to remove the most stereotypical aspects of Rochester's character. In 1948, it became apparent to Benny how much the times had changed when a 1941 script for "The Jack Benny Program" was re-used for one week's show. The script included mention of several African-American stereotypes (i.e. a reference to Rochester carrying a razor), and prompted a number of listeners, who didn't know the script was an old one, to send in angry letters protesting the stereotypes. Thereafter, Benny insisted that his writers should make sure that no racial jokes or references should be heard on his show. Benny also often gave key guest-star appearances to African-American performers such as Louis Armstrong and The Ink Spots.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Benny

[Andrea]

What an interesting paragraph about Jack Benny, Ima. Thanks. I always enjoyed listening to his show when my parents had cassette tapes of old radio shows. Good to know he was a decent guy, in addition to being a comedic genius.