Discussion: Why Mindy Kaling Refuses to Talk about Race—and Why I Care So Much

Discussion for article #232947

Kaling is her own person with her own point of view. She has something in common with the author of this piece, but in the end, her life experiences are her own. Her work and her exposure are benefiting women, South Asians, etc. Good for her, and good for the author, and good for us. It’s just unfair to expect/demand more.

One note: The author should have a proofer take a last read of her articles before they’re posted. The “We are neither black nor white; there is no blueprint to discuss the nuances of our own experiences” line appears twice in the text (as well as the sidebar).

9 Likes

I love the Mindy show and I think Mindy is brilliant. If she has something to prove, she has proven it. I don’t think you can tell much about her politics from the show as, after all, it is a comedy. She is what she is and she obviously feels uncomfortable about talking about the issues of race as it applies or does not apply to those of Indian heritage. I think she should be left alone. If there is a race issue, applauding her success would seem to be a positive for her race.

5 Likes

That was a bug with the pull quote–it has been fixed, thank you!

1 Like

I kinda understand why some celebrities stay away from speaking about politics, religion or race. Particularly since their work and success depends primarily on how much they are liked by an audience. And if you somehow say the wrong thing, you are endlessly mocked, excoriated or shunned because of your views.

At the same time, I feel since she is not your “normal” Hollywood sitcom star, people have a natural curiosity on where she stands or how she feels being a South Asian actress in a time where most stars don’t look like her. People (myself included) wonder how she feels, how easy or difficult it was for her to get where she is, if she struggled, if she is sad or proud she’s broken ground in that field, they want to hear if she’s had to overcome adversity and if so how. People love triumphant stories like that.

I don’t think it’s out of line to be curious about things like that, and I am almost certain hearing where she stands on the issue might help someone else that looks like her.

Thanks to the author for this article. IT was an eye-opener for me. I feel I learned a little more about a culture that I am unfamiliar with. Very thought provoking.

3 Likes

I feel that the author was spot on. There is no excuse for a minority celebrity not speaking about issues of their race or skin color. There were black celebrities (I am old enough to remember, first hand) who boldly and proudly shunned the “Mr. Bojangles” stereotype to become spikes persons for the issues confronting their race. And then there were the actors and musicians who pandered to the “Blackface” stereotype.

Nat King Cole is a Black musician who was a proud early participant in the Civil Rights Movement Then there was the “Flip” Wilson characters who were characterized as “Uncle Tom” descendants who played to the Black stereotypes Whites held about people of color. In Mr Cole’s case, there is no doubt that it cost him record sales and attendance at his public concerts. Flip Wilson used his role as “Geraldine Jones” to play to White stereotypes. My father, though I love the memory of him dearly, was a proud racist and former KKK member. The only reason he gave up the KKK is that it would have cost him his security clearance after about the late ‘60’s’. I heard words tumble from his lips that still cause me to blanch.

Flip Wilson was one of his favorite actors. When I tried to play Nat King Cole records, I was told (yelled at, actually) to “…take that Goddamn N****r off my record player…”. When I would remind him that the stereo had been given to me as a birthday present, I would be told, in no uncertain terms. '…that it had been bought with his money and it was in his Goddamn house…" and as long as i was living in his house, I wouldn’t play those Goddamn records in his house (in case you are wondering, I was a VERY rebellious teenager).

So, to my mind, Samhita Mukhopadhyay has a very valid point. If I, as a White teenager, could demand the right to be racially tolerant, Mindy Kaling, as a South Asian American, can be a role model for other South Asian American people and discuss boldly the issues facing people with her skin color. Just as an aside, Samhita Mukhopadhyay came up on my spell check as being an erroneous word while the 'Mindy" in Mindy Kaling came up as properly spelled; I say interesting because Mindy was obviously chosen, either by Ms. Kaling as a stage name or by her parents as her actual name, as a name that sounds ‘acceptable’ to a White, racist USA audience ‘Kaling’ is also a name that has been deliberately chosen to ‘sound’ more of a person of White heritage that a foreign person of color. I’m sympathetic with people who don’t want to be a role model for other people of a particular people of color, because it is a heavy burden to bear; a burden that I, as a child of White privilege, couldn’t really begin to understand. But I can empathize with a person in such a position.

Nevertheless, the person of color who chose a career as a person who would, potentially someday, be in the glare of the public spotlight,must bear the burdens that accompany that position of privilege with the obligatory demand to be a spokesperson for their people of color and the issues that a person of her color faces on a daily basis. Mindy Kaling is such a person and she must bear the burden that accompanies her current celebrity status.

6 Likes

I must admit I don’t know who she is and never heard of her

1 Like

Thank you. That was an excellent post. I enjoyed it. I could relate to growing up in a home with a racist father - not a KKK member but racist for certain. He never stopped me or us from listening to black music however. I had two much older brothers whose favorites were NKC, The Mills Brothers, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn so thank goodness he wasn’t as bad as your dad. I too have fond memories of my dad because he loved us and his family but I didn’t enjoy some of the words that passed his lips. His racism was learned from others. He never met any black people or had experience with them. We grew up in a very small town and there were no black people living close to us

1 Like

Mindy Kaling is a comedienne. If she’s funny, she’s done her job.

4 Likes

Excellent post!

As another Bengali person in my 30s, who watched The Office semi-regularly, I

  1. am surprised I never picked up on that part of Kaling’s heritage, or ever looked it up.
  2. identify, all too strongly, with large portions of this article.
  3. don’t have an issue with Kaling NOT addressing those matters of race, even while I understand where the author of the piece is coming from.

I still feel like we’re in an era where if someone speaks to these sorts of issues, it will be held against them, whether as a target for Fox News chuckleheads, or in TV executive land. There’s a part of me that wonders if Kaling’s LACK of pronouncements on race is a factor that allowed her to get her show, as in network executives thinking, “hey, she’s funny, and she won’t scare/alienate/piss off people, we’re safe to give her a show!”

There will come a time when there are more faces on TV that look like me, and I believe that will happen regardless of whether this particular comedienne makes a huge deal about it.

6 Likes

I don’t think it’s out of line to be curious about things like that, and I am almost certain hearing where she stands on the issue might help someone else that looks like her.

I fully agree, but at the same time I think it is somewhat out of line to demand that someone like Kaling talk about those things, and to feel as if they’re letting your entire group down by not doing so. Which is what I took away from this piece.

4 Likes

not talking about things doesn’t make them go away, in fact putting some things out there to be discussed is the first step in changing society for the better. while i don’t want to be too judgmental of her, as one of a handful of south asian descent on tv, she has a responsibility to the others who want to follow in her footsteps. being an african-american, i’ve had friends and family members who thought that the answer to success was assimilation and giving up their own cultural identity, and the all eventually came to face a hard truth that no matter how much they thought they were in “the club”, they weren’t. when you don’t have anybody in your circle who has dealt with that to talk to because you were so busy shedding the things that made you different, you’re in a very lonely place.

as much as she just wants to be mindy kaling, comedienne, the first thing people notice when they see her is that she’s indian (or pakistani) and they make certain judgments based on that. perhaps she has had the experience of a director to tell her to “sound a little more [insert minority here]…you know how you guys talk” and doesn’t understand how insulting that would be. or perhaps she has and wants to forget it. no matter what, i hope she finds the right way to deal with the elephant in the room, because it always needs to be cleaned up after.

3 Likes

I can understand the desire to have any prominent/famous minority speak out on race, as if it’s their duty to humanity, but I also respect Mindy Kaling’s need to just be herself, a typical American, and not always have to be “The South-Asian-American-Woman.”

There is something to be said for any famous minority presenting themselves as just a regular person (or in this case a very funny person)-- we all want a world where race doesn’t matter, and she is (more or less) presenting that world to us: “here it is, get used to it.” There are probably a lot of people out there who won’t be receptive to anything Mindy Kaling has to say aloud about race, but who will subconsciously relax their prejudices just by seeing a very funny, relatable, South Asian face on TV.

8 Likes

I just came back to see what other comments have been written. I became interested enough in Kaling’s story to check out her write-up on Wikipedia. It contains a lot of enlightening information, I think, including the origin of the name Mindy.

It seems to me Kaling simply does not relate as strongly to her ethnicity as many other non-white Americans do, and it makes sense when one examines the circumstances of her life, her upbringing, education, career track, etc.

This all made me think of my best friend from younger days. He went to Mexico as an exchange student in high school, and now lives in Madrid with a Spanish wife and two sons. I remember someone asking him how he could do so well in a strange culture. All he said was, “Total cultural immersion!” When he was in Mexico, he was a Mexican. Now he’s a Spaniard. Mostly, though, he identifies with himself. He’s one of the sanest people I know.

2 Likes

Flip Wilson did not have “Uncle Tom Characters”. The Geraldine character was a tough woman. She was black because Flip is black. When Dustin Hoffman played a tough woman in Tootise, was he doing a white stereotype? Are there only white tough women? How about when Robin Williams played a old English lady? We he being bigoted?

Same with his Reverend LeRoy character. Flip was spoofing evangelicals (along with Redd Foxx when he appeared). Obviously a black one, since he is black. Don Imus used to do the Reverend Billy Sol Hargas. Not even close to as funny as Flip, but he was doing the same bit, a spoof on evangelical nuts who jive the people, and laugh all the way to the bank. Those people exist, they are even on TV now on the religion channel. And they are both black and white.

Ever see the old Andy Griffith show, or Green Acres? Makes lots of white people look very foolish. Is it “racist”? Of course not. It’s funny. And the notion that black people can’t be laughed at is just silly.

In fact, Flip Wilson did more to ADVANCE things for black people by NOT making a big deal of his race. Same with Cosby. He felt the way to advance things was just to talk about everyday situations so people would say “oh yeah, black people have kid problems, spouse problems, work problems, etc., damn, they are just like me”. If you look at the Studio audience of the Flip Wilson show, there were lots of black people. The audience was very hip, both white and black. There were no KKK in the studio audience, and if you think that KKK people at home were tuning in to the Flip Wilson show, you are definitely mistaken.

Oh, I am not referring to the Stymie and Buckwheat characters in the Our Gang comedies, or Willie in My Little Margie. THOSE were horrible stereotypes, totally different than the very shrewd characters of LeRoy and Geraldine by Flip. The Our Gang characters were just “blacks are all dumb” stereotypes.

Your post makes it seem like I can’t like both NKC and Flip. I loved both. I also loved Sarah Vaughan, Ella, Billie, etc. I don’t care what color they are. I could not stand Jerry Lee Lewis not because of his color. He just sucked.

Like the old saying goes, think of your self as a person, not a black (or whatever race) person. THAT is how things get advanced. Constantly reminding people and yourself that you are “separate” is not how you come “together”.

As to all the KKK nuts, ignore the assholes. Engaging them serves no useful purpose, and actually sets back the cause. Shows like All in the Family were a far better mode of advancement. You ridicule the racist. Many a racist watched that show and thought to themselves “damn, do I really look that stupid”. Did wonders.

A celebrity, or anyone else, has no obligation to talk about race or any other topic. They can make the world a better place however they wish to do it. Live and let live.

7 Likes

My husband is Indian by way of Trinidad. When we were at a new (very good) Indian restaurant he asked the waitress to explain an item on the menu. The waitress looked at him like “what don’t you get?” He had to explain to her that he never lived in India.

Now this from an Indian writer. I am sorry she is so disappointed. Do Chinese, Vietnamese, and Japanese actors have to address their race? Do Latin American actors have to address their race EVERY TIME they are on camera? Come on!

Mindy Kaling has a very irreverent sense of humor. I love her for that.

The author states she does not want to sound like she is criticizing the “only South Asian woman” on television but that is exactly what she is doing. How Mindy Kaling conducts or not conducts her life is no one’s business. Whether she wants to be a role-model or not is also no one’s business. Is she not Indian enough for you Ms. Mukhopadhyay?

10 Likes

What’s the problem here? Mindy doesn’t trumpet her race/politics and wants to just keep working hard and being successful. That’s bad?

7 Likes

Exactly, and by not focusing on her race, she actually is doing good things for race.

3 Likes

Ah, you get it too. THAT is how you do it.

One of the best lines in cinema ever here. Whole scene is worth watching, “the line” is at 3:33

We need a lot more thinking like that.