Topic #2. the tv show...
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1. the tv show...
Tue, Sep 14, 1999 - 12:11 PM/EST
sergio

i first heard about the tv show through a story on public radio.. being an ethnic type guy who is invovled with a white female, i listened with mild interest.. then, i heard the bill sims was a guitar player.. my interest lifted a little..

then, i heard him play both simon and garfunkel and keb mo.. the show had to be cool, so i watched the first two nights.. i was hooked..

i will probably be only able to watch it on a hit and miss basis for the rest of the week..

...sergio

2. the tv show
Tue, Sep 14, 1999 - 1:17 PM/EST
terry

I knew the show was coming on television because of advertisements. The first 4 hours I have enjoyed very much. The parents in my opinion have done a great job in raising their children, however the children have been sheltered from the realities of the world. It was sad for me to see Cicily being put down by people of color. Their reasoning I didn't understand. They didn't seem to have a tolerance for difference among their own kind.

The one comment 'she likes telling people her mother is white' I didn't understand. My take on the situation was one where a child is proud of their parent.

3. the tv show
Tue, Sep 14, 1999 - 1:34 PM/EST

By chance I watched the show. The parents hooked me. I come from a similar background. I think the parents have done a great job also. But as far as the girls being sheltered. They live in Queens, NY. I find it hard to believe that they did not see any other family like their own.

4. the tv show
Tue, Sep 14, 1999 - 2:17 PM/EST
viennes

Being a father of 6 mixed children black/white,I can understand why the parents would try to shelter them the best they could,my ex-wife did and still does preach family is everything,it is a haven when the pressure becomes to great at times.

I found that blacks are kinder then whites when it comes to mixed children,what are you're experiences....

5. the tv show..
Tue, Sep 14, 1999 - 3:34 PM/EST
mrhys1

as far as experiences with which race is more open to our multiracial child i would have to say both equally-so far-however he is only 1 and hasnt gone to school or any groups of other children yet...what have other parents experienced?

6. Tv series
Tue, Sep 14, 1999 - 3:37 PM/EST

I loved the show. I thought the mother was a

superb loving caring parent. Dad was loving too,

but he also admits he had a bit of growning up to

do. Together,they provided a very protective and

loving environment.

I was disturbed by the behavior of African

American kids on the trip. I think they've

bought into being "victims" of the racism in this

country in a way that is extremely harmful. It

seems that they enter each new experience with

whites by defining all the parameters of

interactions at the outset. I absolutely

understand the urge to make those choices, but I

would argue that they should stand back and review

their options.

I know they could make a legitimate argument for

their behavior based on the many times they had

allowed themselves to be vulnerable only to find

themselves humiliated by some racist attitude or

behavior. But as Cecily said, "two wrongs don't

make a right." You can't say you abhor racism and

then turn around and treat someone else poorly

because of their racial background

7. re:dana
Tue, Sep 14, 1999 - 4:06 PM/EST
mrhys1

thanks for your insights into the african- american kids on the trip i had some trouble grasping where they were coming from with their logic in their interaction with whites until i thought about their experiences in the larger context of race relations. Obviously i cant trully understand how they feel since i havent gone through what they went through.

I was really surprised by the white kids they seemed spoiled and ignorant of how the african american kids felt and incapable of even attempting to try to understand their positions.

8. TV Series
Tue, Sep 14, 1999 - 4:30 PM/EST
alda

I found the first night of the series a little hard to follow, but still enjoyed it very much. Last night was interesting and brought back a lot of painful memories. Like the Sims children, I grew up in New York, and though you don't see Biracial families walking down the street every day.(Believe it or not we are not that much of a melting pot) you do have often have the luxury of interacting with people from different backgrounds every day. I wasn't surprised by Cicily's experience at College and the culture shock it must have been for her. I attended a all white private college in Idaho and was amazed at the lack of color or differences in people. It was the first time in my life that I was a aware I was black, even though I already new it. If that makes any sense. I look forward to watching the rest of the series.

9. the tv show
Tue, Sep 14, 1999 - 5:22 PM/EST

We have also enjoyed the first 2 nights of the show. There were so many interesting quiet messages that we could relate to, such as:

-The family's brief apprehension before entering restaurants on the trip to/from Cicily's college.

-The multicultural friendships the couple had developed with others (i.e. visitors to their home)

-The insistence of the family unit being SO important- protective vs. sheltered??

-The couple's willingness to allow each other to do what they wanted to do- his music, her decorating (while she was so sick? Not me!)

-Bill's feelings/excitement about Cicily's African trip was a cultural thing that Karen couldn't personally relate to

-Watching Cicily struggle with her identity and the other group members in Africa and sadly seeing how little progress has been made in terms of multicultural group relations, if this trip was a true example

-Mom is always right! Her baby goes off into the world and comes back with malaria!

Looking forward to more episodes...

Connie

10. Alda
Tue, Sep 14, 1999 - 5:45 PM/EST
viennes

It does make sense what you are saying (alda)

Unfortunatley in this society,if you have a drop of black blood, you are considered black,I don't blame her for letting it be known that her mother is white,she should be proud of the fact that she is bi-racial,hiding one or the other is demeaning to the parents,who love them with all there heart.

11. definition of race
Tue, Sep 14, 1999 - 6:05 PM/EST
lynn

What amazed me about Cicily's trip to Nigeria was that in that country she was considered white and in the US she's considered black. Doesn't that kind of make the whole idea of the assignment of race seem like a philosophical construct? She is no more white in Nigeria than whe is black here. As she says, she's just Cicily.

I was speaking with a dark skinned friend the other day and saying that there will always be ways humans find to define someone else as "other". In Ireland, one certainly can't tell by looking whether a person is friend or enemy, but that doesn't make the animosity any less than among US whites and blacks.

If you look at the Sims parents together you find that, yes, one is very dark skinned and one is very light skinned. You also notice that one is very tall and one is very short. The daughters, just as they are darker skinned than their mother are also taller. Imagine telling them they have to decide if they are short or tall based on those attributes in their parents. They are what they are, neither all of one parent or all of the other.

12. Sheltered or protected
Tue, Sep 14, 1999 - 6:22 PM/EST
lynn

This program is helping me understand what it is to fear that you might be a target of hate. Bill Sims says that being black in America is a high tension job. That hadn't occured to me. The idea that each time you leave the safety of your home anyone out there could target you.

Connie, you mentioned "The family's brief apprehension before entering restaurants on the trip to/from Cicily's college". Karen had said something like, "You want to eat here, with all the pick up trucks with guns in the back?" It really hit home, didn't it?

Of course Karen and Bill want to protect their family from those guns. By having done so successfully for the past 20 years, does that mean that the daughters don't see the guns? As michelel said, the family lives in Queens NY. How sheltered could they be? But I guess there's a difference between knowing the guns are out there and thinking they could one day be pointed at you.

13. Self-inflicted wounds.
Tue, Sep 14, 1999 - 6:33 PM/EST

While I find the series absolutely compelling, it is also troubling.

I keep asking myself why Cicily feels so disliked, and I think it has little to do with her being bi-racial. Unless she told people, no one would know that she's bi-racial. She MAKES it a big deal. She seems uncomfortable with who she is, and she telegraphs this to everybody she comes in contact with. I know that she's only 20, and she has a lot of growing up to do--she needs to toughen up a little and lighten up a lot. More confidence will come with time, I suppose.

I'm a bit disturbed by Bill. I fear that for many, he reinforces the stereotype of the drinkin' druggin', barely workin' black man. Shoot me, but I wish his hair was combed, neat and natural instead of fried dyed and laid to the side.

Frankly, for once I'd like to see a documentary about some of the successful African American Harvard/Yale grads I grew up with.

Many of them have faced as many obstacles as the Simms family. The difference-they talked the talk AND walked the walk.

Carol seems to wander about in a bit of a fog--but I like her best.

14. Pick up Trucks and Guns
Tue, Sep 14, 1999 - 7:07 PM/EST

I'd just like to add that I live along the route that The Simms family took while driving Cicily to Colgate. While it made for great drama, there is little chance that they would have been harassed at the Roscoe Diner.

This is a hunting and fly fishing mecca. EVERYBODY has a gun.

There are even a few interracial couples in the tiny village where I live. It's not a liberal area by any means-very Christian Right, but no one is shocked at the sight of an interracial couple.

15. The tv show
Tue, Sep 14, 1999 - 10:05 PM/EST
smuro97743

I am hooked on the show. I can identify with the mother all the way,and also feel for the children.It is interesting to see the racial issues from a different location. I just thought New York was much more tolerant, and that in college life, Cicley would be protected by the academic life where everyone would be more enlightened.It is sad to see how in many ways we have still so far to go. The talk of how if white seperatists took over how much it would affect the family was eerie.