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thank you for this. It's obvious to anyone who knows American history, but, we'll have to explain that later on to the children as they get older. I loved, that, in the end, we SAW Naveen work with Tiana, so she could build her dream, pretty much, brick by brick. He didn't use family money to have someone else do it; THEY did the work on it.

all i can add is: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

black woman + black man = black babies. disney doesn't want to see anymore of that!

thank you for this. It's obvious to anyone who knows American history, but, we'll have to explain that later on to the children as they get older. I loved, that, in the end, we SAW Naveen work with Tiana, so build her dream, pretty much, brick by brick. He didn't use family money to have someone else do it; THEY did the work on it.

all i can add is: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

black woman + black man = black babies. disney doesn't want to see anymore of that!

A couple of observations in response: African or Indian royal dignitaries were welcomed to the United States, but it was a mixed bag, and they weren't necessarily always given keys to the city or invited to the White House. I don't think Indian/Pakistani royals were given any countenance until the days that Aly Khan cut a wide swath and married Rita Hayworth (I am dating myself here). So I don't think Naveen had to have been white or have ambiguously white privilege. But when you talk about Charlotte being courted by the guy; this makes me think of some of Faulkner's or George Washington Cable's short stories about secret race-mixing.

There is also a precedent of Indian, Iranian and Pakistani traveling salesmen (remember Ado Annie running after Ali Hakim in Oklahoma! and how Elijah Muhammad learned about Islam from a Pakistani traveling salesman, W.D. Fard) catering to black tastes in the Southern countryside. Some of them were considered honorary whites in a way.

I liked your last note about Naveen finding a job, like his parents wanted, and giving up privilege and status for the woman he loves. It makes a lot of sense in the culmination of the film. In real life, the voudou queen Marie Laveau contracted a placage arrangement with Louis-Christophe Dumesnil de Glapion, but it's still a matter of conjecture whether Glapion was a black or white Creole. He chose to live with her, nominally a black woman until the end of his life; so technically, he became black as well.

Again, thanks.

The second reason Naveen had to be “other” was because he initially is courting Charlotte, a rich, spoiled white girl who was Tiana's childhood playmate. Again, no way Charlotte's daddy would have allowed that to happen in 1920s Louisiana. (It's not probable that he would have allowed Naveen to court his daughter, either, but it is possible: Naveen's royal status overcoming his “not quite white” status). This plot point is important: Charlotte is the traditional blond, blue-eyed princess in love with the prince, yet she doesn't win his heart; Tiana does.

Another thing to note is that after their marriage, Naveen remains in New Orleans and helps Tiana open her restaurant. In doing so, he basically made a decision to become a black man. What I mean is, in the eyes of the law and society, once he married her and stay in NOLA, he would have been considered black. The privileges that his ambiguous ethnicity and royal status would have brought him at the beginning of the movie are gone. He gave them up, for her.

But yeah, he tends to have a thing about Evangeline…

Some of these responses are ludicrous. Because I wanted to see a black prince, I'm “set in my ways,” or backward or plain ignorant; that I wanted to keep Disney from even running the film; that I should be happy with what Disney has done for black folks (ha!) and on and on. The hostility is really uncalled for. Some of it gets really personal, and I have to respond in kind, because these children are out of their minds. As Spike Lee once put it in When We Were Kings about black youth, the depth of their knowledge and the lack of an attention span, they don't know nothing.

Then there's the Bollywood contingent who want to make Naveen Indian. Because he has an Indian name, he must be Indian and his mother wears a sari, etc., et al. Ad nauseum. Naveen has a Brazilian accent, like Bruno Campos'. And then I'm contradicted because someone says he has a French accent.

What disturbs me even more is now beyond just my wanting to see a black prince with Tiana. It is almost worshipful of this corporation who has in the past demeaned black people and has neatly avoided pairing a black man with a black woman. I do mean, worshipful. They refuse to see that it is my informed choice that motivates me to disagree–history, not just color politics, and economics, especially when it comes to Disney. The worship of business over that of culture and people makes me shake my head in horror.

What Disney appears to have done too is flatten history. My grandparents were segregated in New Orleans in the 1930s. Naveen and Tiana would have never been allowed to marry–or race mix–in the United States at that time. Naveen might have been asked to leave the country. And Tiana probably would not have been given a passport to go with him.

I plan to see Tiana and 'nem when it is second-run in one of the $5 movie houses here in Madison (or elsewhere). I'm sure that it is enjoyable, in the grand old tradition of Disney feature length cartoons. I know that there are thousands of little black princesses all over being enthralled by it, and going to sleep in their Tiana outfits.

But I'm a lot older and wiser from my short time as a little pageant princess with Shirley Temple curls and my grandmother's Eastern Star crown–just before I was diagnosed as nearsighted and had to wear glasses. Things are not as they seem. And I would hope that eventually, as these new little black princesses outgrow their Tiana outfits, that their queen mamas tell them some things. Tell them what's real.

And maybe, that there might be a prince for them.

Maybe a black prince.

Oh, but I guess little black boys don't mean shit to Disney.