I know the big headline that emerged from the Obamas’ first state dinner last week was the party crashing couple who got past Secret Service, but ColorLines magazine writer Julianne Hing brought up an interesting sidebar issue from the event, which honored Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Hing opened her ColorLines blog with these lines: “You ever had the experience where a white guy invites you over for dinner? And you show up and he’s cooked you a Chinese buffet to show you just how much he respects your cultural identity? He thinks it’s a compliment, but you’re (okay, I’m) just creeped out. That’s what last night’s White House banquet to honor the prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh, and his wife Gursharan Kaur felt like.”
Hing goes on to point out how decorations for the posh White House affair included floral arrangements of hydrangeas, roses and sweet peas in plum, purple and fuschia that were meant to evoke India’s state bird, and how the First Lady Michelle Obama wore a dress designed by the Indian-born Naeem Khan and piles of churis, traditional Indian bracelets, on her wrist. It also sounds like some white guests, including half of that party-crashing pair, Michaele Salahi, took the occasion as an excuse to don their saris.
Yes, there’s a fine line between cultural sensitivity and cultural fetishism. We can only hope the event’s organizers had the tact not to put curry and samosas on the menu, and that the Indian prime minister and his wife didn’t have to endure comments like, “Harold and Kumar is my all-time favorite movie!”
FOR ONLY $28!
Featured Event
It’s the new year, and Yim Jae Beum is coming to town! After a sold-out show in Los Angeles last October, he is coming back to hold two U.S. concerts for the 2012 Lunar New Year. Everyone already knows this man can sing! He’s got an impressive resume, debuting as a rock singer back in 1986, releasing Korean classics, such as “For You,” and most recently, joining and winning first place twice on the MBC show, “I am a Singer.”
Seattle and New Jersey, get ready! We are happy to announce that we will be giving away TWO (2) pairs of tickets! read more
LINKS
Featuring Recent Posts Wordpress Widget development by YD
That is so true. After all, if I’m invited to an Italian household in Rome or something, I’d like to have pasta and drink chianti till the sun sets, not have a bunch of Italians dress up in hanboks with Nikes to “appease” my Korean American culture. I understand it’s a hazy grey middle ground when it comes to the White House and foreign dignitaries, but we need to understand that the best way to accept someone into their culture is to share a part of ours. And if they have problems with that, they can do a Pat Buchanan and ‘go back to where they came from.’ I suggest to Obama’s social secretary (whoever it may be next since it looks as if Desiree Rogers might soon be out the door) that the next time they invite an ambassador and their respective state head, it would do them well to adorn the West Wing in hay, John Deere, and serve McDonald’s because isn’t that what American culture is all about?