Tag Archives: gift guide

Sometimes a gesture that was meant to be politically correct and progressive actually turns out to be offensive. Take, for instance, the New York Times‘ gift guide for people “of color.” Not only does this guide assume that blacks, Asians, and Hispanics don’t like the same things as whites, but it also assumes its target audience has the same tastes. I (and probably most Hindus) would not want a gospel cruise and can’t understand why non-white people need specific nail polish colors. And just so you know, black women don’t want to receive hair products as gifts, especially when our hair is described as “problem hair.” It’s not a problem for us, and if it is a problem for you New York Times folks, well, then that’s your problem. And we probably already know what products work on our hair, thank you very much. I know the Times‘ intentions were positive, but you can’t wrap three races and several nationalities into a neat little gift and slap a bow on the package. What they should have done was simply add the race-specific ideas to the other gift guides. Maybe white people would like their children to read about President Obama or Sonia Sotomayor too. [NY Times] Keep reading »